The purpose of the smoking machine adaptor design project is to develop a standardized and validated adaptor, or family of adaptors, for attachment to existing smoking and vaping machines to ensure the accuracy and reliability of scientific data obtained from the study of the physical and chemical properties of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), cigars, and heated tobacco products (HTPs). Equally important, the project will produce a set of protocols for the generation and collection of mainstream yield data for these four product types. For the proposed research efforts, the Ohio State University (prime contractor) will collaborate closely with the Food and Drug Administration?s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), and with our proposed team members, including our Particle and Aerosol Characterization Laboratory, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tobacco Products Laboratory (CDC-TPL); our smoking and vaping machine industry partner, Cerulean; and former Borgwaldt KC USA linear smoking machine design implementation engineer, Jeremy Jones, President, Produced Better. The project is comprised of four main phases: 1) Feasibility, 2) Prototype Design and Testing, 3) Adaptor Validation, and 4) Continued Stakeholder Support. Once the validation of the adaptors is complete, our team will be responsible for the manufacture, sale, and continued device support, including continuous design improvement, of the USMA in the final phase of the project and after CTP sponsorship has concluded. The project will provide a public benefit by ensuring that stakeholders can generate accurate scientific data and reduce measurement variability to help fill current scientific gaps regarding the chemical and physical properties of ENDS, cigars, and HTPs. These data will assist FDA in their mission to protect Americans from tobacco-related death and disease by regulating tobacco products and by educating the public, especially young people, about tobacco products and the dangers their use poses to themselves and others.
To inform regulatory decision making, manufacturers and researchers seek to quantify the properties of the emissions generated by e-cigarettes, cigars, and heated tobacco products. A Universal Smoking Machine Adaptor that works reliably with existing smoking machines and the newer tobacco products would be ideal. This project will determine the feasibility of such an adaptor, then design, validate, manufacture and support its use in the tobacco science community.
