Effect of environmental temperature on the aerosol generation characteristics of mainstream cigarettes smoke

Aerosols generated during cigarette combustion and smoking pose significant risks to human health and the environment. To investigate the effect of environmental temperature on the generation characteristics of cigarette aerosols, two types of cigarettes (flue-cured and blended) were examined, under varying storage and smoking temperatures (10 °C, 25 °C, and 40 °C). The study analyzed cigarette combustion behavior and the physicochemical properties of the resulting aerosols, including particle size, number concentration, and chemical composition. The results showed that the combustion process was divided into five stages: water evaporation, volatile release, oxidative cracking, coke combustion, and final combustion. The fourth stage was marked by intense aerosol production, with mass loss exceeding 35% and heat release greater than 4700 kJ/kg. The particle size distribution of the aerosols followed a log-normal distribution, as puff number increased, particle number concentration decreased while the median particle diameter (D50) increased. For the flue-cured type, D50 increased from 174.7 nm to 414.2 nm at 25 °C, while for the blended type, it rose from 216.7 nm to 399.5 nm. As environmental temperature increased, the rate of D50 growth declined, number concentration stabilized, and the contents of total nicotine and total particulate matter followed similar trends to the total number concentration, the total glycerol content decreased.Copyright © 2025 American Association for Aerosol Research