Menthol is the most widely used flavour in cigarettes and other consumable products. There are several methods for applying menthol to the cigarette filter: direct injection of molten menthol (A), menthol solution (B), mentholated thread (C) and menthol capsule (D).

In this study we compare puff-by-puff menthol delivery to smoker using various menthol application methods. A, B, C and D filters were compared keeping menthol amount, pressure drop and other key physical parameters constant. Cigarette sample with filter (D) was smoked in two regimes: capsule crushed before smoking (D1) and another way in the middle of smoking (D2). In addition, we have tested a filter containing two menthol capsules: one crushed just before smoking and second one in the middle of smoking.

Cigarettes with the above described filters were made using CM7 tobacco column. The smoke was collected on Cambridge filter pads using the ISO smoking regime with some machine adjustments, to get puff by puff results. Menthol analyses were made using Agilent 5973N GC-MS.

This study provides very practical and insightful data into flavour delivery dynamics in ever so popular mentholated cigarettes including brand new double capsule filter.