Organic vapor phase composition of sidestream and environmental tobacco smoke from cigarettes

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has received considerable attention because of its contribution to indoor air pollution. While some studies have attempted to estimate the exposure of humans to ETS constituents by extrapolating from information gleaned from investigations of sidestream smoke (SS), few studies have reported a direct comparison between the composition of SS and that of ETS. In the study reported here, the authors describe the relative compositional similarities and differences between the vapor phase of SS and that of ETS. SS was generated under different conditions. Both a new laminar flow chamber, which prevents significant alteration of the near-cigarette environment, and a modified Neurath chamber were used for SS generation. ETS samples were collected from an office environment. Vapor phase samples were collected on multi-media resin sorbent traps and analyzed using thermal desorption gas/liquid chromatography employing flame ionization, nitrogen-specific, and mass selective detection. Influences on the compositional profiles by the manner in which the SS is generated are described, as well as the differences between SS and ETS composition resulting from phase transition