Nicotine content of domestic cigarettes, imported cigarettes and pipe tobacco in iran.
BACKGROUND
There are many different kinds of cigarettes and tobacco available in the market. Since nicotine content of various brands of cigarettes are very variable, therefore evaluation and comparison of nicotine content of different brands of cigarettes is important. The goal of the present study was to determine and compare nicotine content of various domestic and imported cigarettes available in the area.


METHODS
Fourteen popular imported brands and nine popular domestic brands of cigarettes and three available brands of tobaccos were investigated for the amounts of nicotine content. Nicotine was extracted from each cigarette and tobacco samples and was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method.


RESULTS
The amount of nicotine in each cigarette was from 6.17 to 12.65 mg (1.23 ± 0.15 percent of tobacco weight in each cigarette) in domestic cigarettes. It was between 7.17-28.86 mg (1.80 ± 0.25 percent of tobacco weight in each cigarette) for imported cigarette, and between 30.08- 50.89 mg (3.82 ± 1.11 percent) for the pipe nicotine. There was significant difference in nicotine amount between imported and domestic brands of cigarettes. There was also no significant difference in nicotine content between light and normal cigarettes in imported brands.


CONCLUSIONS
Nicotine content of all tested cigarettes, imported and domestic brands, were higher than the international standard.
PhD Student, Department of Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Sahar
S
Taghavi
Instructor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Zahra
Z
Khashyarmanesh
Instructor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Hamideh
H
Moalemzadeh-Haghighi
Instructor, Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, BuAli Research Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Hooriyeh
H
Nassirli
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Pyman
P
Eshraghi
Instructor, Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, BuAli Research Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Navid
N
Jalali
Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Mohammad
M
Hassanzadeh-Khayyat
Brand; Cigarettes; Human health; Nicotine; Tobacco