Menthol vs nonmenthol cigarettes: Effects on smoking behavior

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine intraindividual differences in smoking behavior between smoking regular and mentholated cigarettes. Methods. Healthy male smokers (n = 29) smoked either a regular or a mentholated cigarette in two separate sessions 1 week apart. Commercial brands with comparable tar, nicotine, and CO content were used. Smoking behavior was constrained by fixed 15-second interpuff intervals, but puff volume and number of puffs were unconstrained. Results. When smoking the non- mentholated brand of cigarettes, participants smoked 22% more puffs and had 13% higher mean volumes per puff than they did when smoking the mentholated brand of cigarettes. The aggregate 39% excess exposure to cigarette smoke in the regular-cigarette condition was not accompanied by commensurate excesses in expired carbon monoxide or in physiological measures normally correlated with nicotine exposure. Conclusions. These findings parallel differences in physiological correlates of exposure to nicotine found in cross-sectional comparisons of African-American and White smokers and are consistent with the results of emerging laboratory investigations.