Recent scientific studies reveal that cigarette manufacturers have been increasing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. This independent scientific research makes known that nicotine levels in cigarettes has been increased by more than 10 percent in recent years. Nicotine is the addictive chemical in tobacco smoke.

As a respiratory therapist, I have always had a keen interest in how the lungs absorb and allow nicotine to enter the blood that then transports the nicotine to the brain. The accepted view was that nicotine is delivered as a particle in cigarette smoke into the lungs and then absorbed by the blood. The more nicotine present in the tobacco smoke, the more nicotine absorbed by the lungs and then delivered to the brain.

New research and internal tobacco industry documents shed new light on how nicotine is delivered to the brain. That nicotine when heated has the potential to become two different types of nicotine, depending on the pH of the cigarette smoke: free-based or non-free-based. Free-based nicotine is missing a hydrogen ion, and this allows it to vaporize into a gas. This “gaseous free-based nicotine” is distributed throughout the entire lung, diffusing instantly into the blood. Free-based nicotine can thus reach the brain in milliseconds. The non-free-based nicotine remains a solid, is swallowed and then absorbed from the stomach, being distributed throughout the body in a much slower manner. The rapid delivery of free-based nicotine into the brain is believed to be one of the reasons for the extreme addictiveness of nicotine.

To me, the most interesting part of how nicotine is delivered into the brain is the identification of what makes nicotine become the free-based type when the cigarette is lit. Interestingly, it is not the amount of nicotine present, but the pH of the cigarette smoke. With this knowledge, cigarette manufacturers found the way to convert as much nicotine into the free-based type by adding chemicals to make the pH of tobacco smoke alkaline.

There is documentation from internal tobacco industry records that cigarette manufacturers are aware of the need to alter the pH of the tobacco smoke and to increase the amount of nicotine. Tobacco manufacturers congratulate themselves for identifying this as a way of increasing the nicotine kick when first inhaling tobacco smoke.

However, if cigarette smoke is acid, only non-free-based nicotine is formed. Nicotine is then delivered to the brain only after absorption from the stomach, and that is not quick enough to satisfy cravings or to addict new users. Cigarette manufacturers not only increased the amount of nicotine but also found the way to instantly deliver it into the brain. By adding chemicals such as ammonia and urea, they assure a proper alkaline pH, allowing all nicotine to be converted into the free-based form.

By increasing nicotine levels and assuring the proper pH of cigarette smoke, tobacco manufacturers believe they have positioned their product to addict replacement smokers well into the 21st century. Our coalition, a funded partnership with the New York state Department of Health Tobacco Control Program, is committed to changing that strategy, thereby allowing all New Yorkers to live longer, healthier, smoke-free lives.

Article by Robert J. Korabik on the Times Herald Record Oct 13, 2006