A description of a new automated smoking system is presented which directly measures the puff-by-puff tar of a single cigarette. A smoking machine sequentially collects whole smoke and extracts it in a trap containing 2-propanol. The 2-propanol whole smoke extract is then continuously analyzed for tar by fluorescence at an excitation wavelength of 350 nm while monitoring emission at 430 nm. Tabulated results of tar delivery per puff for a single cigarette are available as soon as it has been smoked. The lower detection limit of the smoking system is 0.01 mg of tar. The puff-by-puff tar profiles correlate with profiles from procedures where TPM is collected on Cambridge filter pads. Comparative tar profiles have been studied on model cigarettes of different ventilation and tobacco types. Preliminary investigations have shown that the polar fraction of whole smoke is chiefly responsible for the fluorescence in these studies. A large number of compounds in this fraction contributes to the total fluorescence measured. These include the indoles, hydroxy-coumarins, phenols, and polyphenols. The accuracy and precision of the system to conventional smoking procedures for FTC tar have been compared.