The results from this study have provided us with information on
tar per puff, nicotine per
puff and menthol per puff in terms of predicting
impact and menthol perceptions. It was
determined that each of the three
variables interact together to affect impact and menthol
perception and that
all three need to be taken into account when predicting impact and menthol
perception for new models. For example, it was determined that relative to
nicotine per puff
and menthol per puff, increasing tar per puff has very
little effect on impact.
In addition to the variables interacting together, it was also
determined from this study that
the interactions were more complicated at
high levels mostly because of the way the ratings
changed (decreasing or
decreasing and increasing); however, discussions with other persons
involved
with similar studies (Gullotta and Ennis) suggest that these interactions may be
real.
In order to get a better feel for what is going on at the high levels,
we would like to further
investigate the effect of tar per puff, nicotine
per puff, and menthol per puff at high levels.
Although our primary interest was the acceptability ratings
ascribed to
the various cigarettes, however, the subjective strength and
menthol level
ratings also proved to be interesting -- particularly the
menthol level
ratings. Based upon the strength ratings, it would appear that
menthol
delivery may be an important determinant of subjective strength (or
smoke
impact) in menthol cigarettes. Supporting this notion is the fact that
whenever overall significant differences in strength ratings were detected
among the 5 cigarettes tested, two of the experimental cigarettes were al-
ways rated significantly different from the Alpine, viz., they were rated
significantly higher. These cigarettes were not both higher in nicotine
delivery than Alpine -- one was but the other was not. Both cigarettes,
though, were higher in menthol delivery than was Alpine.
{next
sentence was actually crossed out in original document}
And that
cigarette, of the ???????? always achieved the highest strength
ratings was
the cigarette which had the highest menthol delivery.
Obviously, nicotine is
a
very important determinant of subjective smoke strength (or smoke impact)
--
probably much more so than menthol. But it would appear from the present
investigation that the influence of menthol on subjective strength ratings
over-rode the influence of nicotine. This suggests that the magnitude of
sensory experiences resulting from small variations in menthol delivery may
be greater than there resulting from small variations in nicotine delivery.
If true, this may have some practical consequences; it may be possible to
increase smoke impact in low density menthol cigarettes by utilizing
somewhat
higher menthol delivery levels than usual.