Blending for Nicotine Delivery

Blending for Nicotine Delivery

Early Nicotine Manipulation

A 1935 American Tobacco Company document noted that the “removal of nicotine produces an emasculated cigarette, some of those very qualities which give a cigarette character and appeal.”  1935, American Tobacco Company brochure.

“Cigarette smoke should contain as little as possible (preferably at the zero level) of the polycyclic hydrocarbons, should possess satisfactory flavor to please the consumer, and should contain sufficient nicotine to supply the necessary requirements of the smoker with respect to this compound (nicotine).”
1959, Dr. Alan Rodgman, Analytics Chemist, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

The nicotine delivery of a cigarette is carefully engineered into the product ”we can regulate fairly precisely the nicotine and sugar levels (in tobacco) to almost any desired level management might require.”
1963, R.B. Griffith, Brown & Williamson Director of Research

“In a sense, the tobacco industry may be thought of as being a specialized, highly ritualized, and stylized segment of the pharmaceutical industry. Tobacco products uniquely contain and deliver nicotine, a potent drug with a variety of physiological effects.”

1972, Claude Teague, Assistant Director of Research, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

“…a cigarette with substantially lowered nicotine could not deliver the smoking satisfaction to sustain consumer purchase.”
1980, Richard Smith, Group Brand Manager, New Products, Lorillard Tobacco Company

Industry Denials

While publicly downplaying the role of nicotine in cigarette design, inside the companies the role of nicotine in cigarette design was front and center.