The use of monitor cigarettes and control charts has become standard in nearly every smoking lab. But what can be done when the smoking results of the monitor cigarette reach control limits? There are many factors that can affect the smoking results, sometimes making troubleshooting a long, drawn out process. Thus it is helpful to know how deviation from a parameter can influence the smoking results of the monitor cigarette. In practice, small parameter deviations are particularly difficult to recognize; this is why changes in the parameters that are just barely outside of the permissible limits have been examined here. Smoking tests on a Smoking Machine RM 200 were done with the CORESTA Monitor CM 2. The following parameters were changed:

Parameter

1st setting

Standard setting

2nd setting

Puff volume 34 ml 35 ml 36 ml Puff duration 1.8 s 2.0 s 2.2 s Puff frequency 1 puff per 58 s 1 puff per 60 s 1 puff per 62 s Butt length 31 mm 30 mm 32 mm Air flow 15 mm/s 20 mm/s 25 mm/s Conditioning humidity 50% R.H. 60% R.H. 70% R.H. Lab humidity 50% R.H. 60% R.H. 70% R.H. The results of the tests demonstrate which parameters require special attention when attempting to account for and eliminate deviations of the smoking results for the monitor cigarette.