Control of cigarette smoking topography: smoke filtration and draw resistance.

Systematic changes occur in the topography of puff and inhalation behavious as a cigarette is smoked. The role of various physical properties of the cigarette in controlling puff and inhalation behaviors was investigated in two experiments. The first experiment manipulated presmoking cigarette length while the second manipulated smoke filtration and cigarette draw resistance in an independent fashion. The characteristic progressive decrease in puff volume observed with each succeeding puff of a cigarette was not due to smoke satiation, fatigue, or visual cues. Although draw resistance can be a major determinant of puff volume, it did not appear to be a central mechanism accounting for the progressive decrease within normally smoked cigarettes. Rather, this decrease in puff volume appeared to be a response to the increasingly less filtered, more concentrated smoke. Although inhalation and exhalation volumes appeared weakly responsive to smoke satiation and/or fatigue, the subjective qualities of smoke "taste" and "satisfaction" also appeared to control these respiratory parameters. The present study provides some evidence suggesting that inhalation parameters may play a role in determining smoke exposure.