In 2021, a proficiency study was carried out by the CORESTA Heated Tobacco Products (HTP) Task Force in an effort to determine and recommend suitable methods for the analysis of propylene glycol, glycerin, nicotine, nitrogen oxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, aerosol collected mass and device mass loss when applicable in HTP products. A protocol was drafted describing a testing strategy that allows participating laboratories to use their own methodology for quantifying the basic analytes across all three HTP product configurations.

After receiving results and running statistics, it was discovered that many of the laboratories were analysing the samples using similar methodology and yielding comparable results. Due to the similar analytical methodology, this study can in essence be considered both a proficiency study as well as a collaborative study.  As such, the results of this study were leveraged to create CORESTA Recommended Methods (CRMs) 99, 100, 101, and subsequently 107.