Tobacco product innovation has surpassed our ability to conduct non-clinical, standardized machine testing with commercial, benchmarked apparatus. Existing smoking and vaping machines, designed to hold rods of a certain diameter and mass, require a leak-free seal between the machine and the product mouthpiece.

Design and test a smoking machine adaptor that seals well with the variety of newer tobacco product geometries and sizes.

A prototype universal smoking machine adaptor (USMA) that interfaces with existing cigarette, cigar, and e-cigarette smoking/vaping machines was designed and fabricated. Using the USMA, emissions were generated from e-cigarettes (n=7 brands), cigars (n=2), cigarillos (n=2), and a heated tobacco product, encompassing a variety of product geometries and weights for the most popularly used US products. To benchmark and validate results, reference tobacco products for cigars, cigarillos, and cigarettes were tested alongside the commercial products. Three comparison adaptors, the standard cigarette, Cerulean cigar, and CDC’s JUUL adaptor, were also used to generate emissions. Mainstream nicotine and total particulate/aerosol matter (TPM/TAM) were quantified. Product variability was compared across adaptors using non-parametric Wilcoxon Rank Sum testing.

For mainstream nicotine and TPM, the USMA had greater precision and accuracy than the standard cigarette adaptor when testing a certified reference cigarette (1R6F). Replicate data (n=10 per brand) indicate repeatability across all products tested generally meets or exceeds that for the comparison adaptors and extant data.

The USMA seals well with a variety of e-cigarette, cigar, cigarillo and heated tobacco product geometries. Variability among replicates for product consumption, mainstream nicotine and TPM/TAM was similar or smaller when machine smoking/vaping with the USMA vs the other adaptors. Precision and accuracy when testing the 1R6F with the USMA were excellent. The USMA is more user friendly, has fewer parts, and takes less time to assemble/ disassemble than existing commercial adaptors.