The Effect of Flow Rate on a Third-Generation Sub-Ohm Tank Electronic Nicotine Delivery System—Comparison of CORESTA Flow Rates to More Realistic Flow Rates

Evan Floyd, Sara Greenlee, Toluwanimi Oni, Balaji Sadhasivam and Lurdes Queimado
Additional contact information
Evan Floyd: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Hudson College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
Sara Greenlee: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Hudson College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
Toluwanimi Oni: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Hudson College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
Balaji Sadhasivam: Department of Otolaryngology, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
Lurdes Queimado: Department of Otolaryngology, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-13

Abstract: Many types of electronic cigarettes (ECs) are currently in use, but the default flow rate used to simulate puffing is centered on tobacco cigarette flow rates. CORESTA offers several methods and technical guides for evaluation of ECs but there are few puffing topography studies focusing on sub-ohm ECs; differences between real-world usage and that found in the literature appear large. This study focuses on how power and flow rate affect the nicotine yield of a sub-ohm EC. A puffing system (Puff3rd) has been designed and used to produce and collect EC aerosol. Nicotine yield was measured by GC–MS at three power levels and four flow rates. Data analysis was conducted in SAS using the MIXED procedure. Power, flow rate, and their interaction were all significant predictors of nicotine yield. Nicotine yield increased with both the vaping power and the puff flow rate with significant interaction of the two. Findings indicate that using the current CORESTA flow rate (1100 mL/min) to evaluate third-generation ECs underestimates nicotine yield and likely overestimates pyrolysis products. Real users are expected to have 2–3× the nicotine dose measured at 1100 mL/min, which could confound epidemiological studies seeking to link nicotine delivery to product satisfaction and acceptability.

Keywords: electronic cigarettes; nicotine yield; flow rate; power settings; CORESTA; PMTAs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7535/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7535/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7535-:d:594779

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().