Grant Number:	1R37CA296976-01A1 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Mercincavage, Melissa
Organization:	Rutgers Biomedical And Health Sciences
Project Title:	A Randomized Trial of Charcoal-Filtered Cigarettes on Product Perceptions, Smoking Behaviors, and Toxicant Exposure
Fiscal Year:	2025

PROJECT ABSTRACT “Light” cigarettes were marketed by the tobacco industry – and perceived by consumers – as safer cigarettes for decades before researchers determined that flaws in their filter design increased harm to their users, illustrating the necessity of understanding how cigarette design and perceptions influence smoking behavior and toxicant exposure. Cigarettes using charcoal filters (versus traditional cellulose acetate filters) have been shown to reduce exposure to certain toxicants, but these findings are based on machine-generated estimates of smoking behavior that previously failed to capture the compensatory smoking that occurred with actual human use of “light” cigarettes. Thus, it is unknown if findings demonstrating potential benefits of using charcoal-filtered cigarettes translate to real-world use of these products, given characteristics of the filter (e.g., design, type/amount of charcoal), potential for compensatory smoking, and/or limitations on charcoal’s absorption abilities. Nevertheless, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company recently introduced a new charcoal- filtered cigarette under its Natural American Spirit (NAS) brand called 'Sky' and has been promoting it implicitly as a reduced harm product. Given NAS’s continued market growth while other brands are in decline, and a general industry movement towards promoting various lower risk tobacco products, this action could foreshadow greater industry interest in this type of product. Since other brands often mimic NAS’s marketing tactics to promote sales, understanding consumer experiences with Sky could help predict its longer-term commercial success and the likelihood of other companies introducing similar products. Given that use of charcoal-filtered cigarettes is widespread in other countries, the need for ecologically valid research on their use and effects on toxicant exposure, and NAS’s popularity with U.S. consumers, we seek to empirically examine this novel product now, before it gains traction in the U.S. market. We will recruit 210 adults who smoke cigarettes daily to complete a 5-week laboratory-based, open-label, parallel-design randomizing participants, after a 1-week baseline period of smoking their preferred brand, to use one of three types of cigarettes for a 4-week experimental period. Cigarette types are matched on key constituents and characteristics, and will include two charcoal-filtered cigarette varieties (NAS Sky and Tareyton) and a control non-charcoal cigarette (NAS Yellow). Participants will complete weekly sessions to assess primary outcomes of: smoking behaviors (daily cigarette consumption, puffing behavior), product perceptions (subjective ratings, perceptions of harm), and toxicant exposure (carbon monoxide levels, urinary biomarkers of nicotine, volatile organic compounds, and tobacco-specific nitrosamine exposure, and charcoal granule release). Data acquired from this project may be used to inform cancer prevention and control and/or tobacco regulatory efforts.





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