‘Tobacco’ aerosol with vapor characteristics

A novel hybrid product that combines e-cigarette technology with fresh tobacco, called “glo iFUSE,” has been shown to successfully deliver natural tobacco flavors without impacting the potentially reduced-risk nature of the aerosol produced, according to British American Tobacco scientists.

E-cigarettes are believed to be substantially reduced risk compared to cigarettes, and the simple composition of the vapor compared with that of cigarette smoke is an important factor in this.

Flavorings are an important part of the vaping experience, but currently available e-cigarette flavors are food grade and the tobacco flavorings are unsatisfactory.  This hybrid technology delivers a natural tobacco flavor without having to directly heat or burn the tobacco, thereby eliminating many of the toxicants that would be produced by excessive heating or burning of the tobacco leaf.

“E-cigarettes have proven hugely popular, but one size does not fit all, which is why we are developing a range of innovative tobacco and nicotine products, in addition to e-cigarettes, to give consumers a greater choice of less risky products,” said Ian Fearon, principal scientist, at British American Tobacco.

Glo iFUSE is a patented novel tobacco product that combines e-cigarette technology with carefully selected tobacco.  When the device is used, a heated coil warms an e-liquid to create a vapor that is drawn over a bed of blended tobacco with every puff.  The aerosol cools from around 35 degrees Celsius to 32 degrees Celsius as it passes over the tobacco, and the resulting energy exchange draws tobacco flavors from the tobacco into the vapor.

Sensory testing confirmed that the tobacco flavors were detectable and a comprehensive chemical comparison revealed that the vapor produced was almost indistinguishable from the parent e-cigarette vapor, which suggests that the tobacco blend is not adding any toxicants.

The chemical comparison was made between the vapor produced by glo iFUSE, a commercial e-cigarette Vype ePen and a 3R4F reference cigarette.  Up to 113 compounds of interest were targeted by advanced chemical analyses.  Among them, 29 compounds were measured on a per-puff basis for all three aerosols.  A reduction of at least 98 percent for all 29 compounds was recorded for both glo iFUSE and Vype ePen, compared with the reference cigarette.

There were small amounts of some aldehydes, semi-volatile compounds and phenolic compounds present in the aerosol and negligible amounts tobacco-specific nitrosamines compared to the reference cigarette.  In most cases, the vapor produced by the hybrid product, glo iFUSE, was indistinguishable from that produced by the e-cigarette.

Many in the public health community believe e-cigarettes offer great potential for reducing the public health impact of smoking.  Public Health England, an executive body of the U.K. Department of Health, recently published a report saying that e-cigarettes are 95 percent safer than cigarettes.