Types of nicotine-containing products

Tobacco products come in many forms and differ in both their composition and how they are used. Whether the product contains tobacco or not, it is basically used to deliver nicotine to the body.

What are tobacco products?

A tobacco product is a product made in whole or in part from tobacco, intended to be smoked, chewed, sucked, or inhaled through the nose. Tobacco products are divided into:

• Smoking tobacco products. For example, cigarette, cigar, cigarillo, hookah.
• Smokeless tobacco products . Tobacco intended for oral consumption that does not require a combustion process. For example, e-heat tobacco products, chewing tobacco, snuff, snus.

Tobacco products include products used in a manner similar to conventional tobacco products that mimic the use of tobacco products, as well as products that substitute for tobacco products, regardless of the nicotine content of the products. For example, e-cigarettes, nicotine pads.

Tobacco products for smoking

Tobacco products for smoking usually include cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, handmade cigarettes (“self-twists”), and hookahs. What are cigarettes, cigarillos and cigars and how they differ we have already analyzed in the article . Therefore, we propose to briefly examine these concepts and not yet disclosed.

Cigarette is a tobacco product for smoking in the form of a tube of special cigarette paper filled with shredded tobacco, to one end of which is attached a special filter, partially preventing the penetration of chemicals and compounds into the body (but there are cigarettes and without a filter).

Tobacco smoke is produced as a result of smoking when tobacco burns, during which more than 4000 chemicals and compounds are released. The most harmful to health are nicotine, carbon monoxide, tar, heavy metal salts and residues from combustion.

Famous brands of cigarettes include Parliament, Marlboro, L&M, Bond, Philip Morris and others. You can see more details and order on the website.

A cigar is a tobacco product made of tightly rolled tobacco leaves. Cigars are intended to be smoked by inhaling the smoke produced by burning tobacco leaves.

Cigarillos are thinner and longer than regular cigars and are shaped like cigarettes. Unlike cigars, cigarillos are filled with ground tobacco. Neither cigars nor cigarillos have a filter, so their smoke cannot be inhaled deeply.

Among cigars in Ukraine are known such brands as Hoyo De Monterrey, Romeo Y Julieta, Partagas, Trinidad, Cohiba, Montecristo, Punch. The main offers of cigars on our market are Marvel, Harvest, Captain Black, Café Creme, Moods, Al Capone.

Hookah is a traditional oriental or Asian device for smoking tobacco. Flavorings are added to hookah tobacco to keep the taste of the tobacco from being too strong. This may be why people who do not smoke cigarettes also smoke hookah.

Hookah smoking is believed to be a harmless pastime, supported by the misconception that water-filtered hookah smoke is not as harmful to health as cigarette smoke. Hookah is as harmful to health as all other tobacco products. In many ways, it also affects your health just like regular cigarettes. Keep in mind that a typical one-hour hookah smoking session can contain 100 times more toxic smoke than a single cigarette.

Smokeless tobacco products

Like most smoking tobacco, smokeless tobacco products contain nicotine that is easily addictive, both physically and behaviorally. These addictions are very difficult to break. However, many studies have shown that smokeless tobacco products are a less harmful alternative to regular cigarettes and other smoking tobacco products because there is no combustion process and therefore no tar release. The simultaneous use of smokeless tobacco products and regular cigarettes increases nicotine dependence.

Snus is vaporized tobacco powder. It can be in wet powder format, which is rubbed with fingers and placed under the lip, or already packaged in small tea bags.

A lump or packet of oral tobacco is placed between the lip and gums and held there without chewing for several minutes to several hours, depending on the flavor. The constant contact produces a mixture of saliva and tobacco (called tobacco juice) that is spit, held in the mouth, or swallowed. When oral tobacco is used, nicotine is absorbed through the oral mucosa directly into the bloodstream and from there travels to the brain. Because lip tobacco has longer contact with the mucosa, nicotine stays in the body longer and levels are more evenly distributed than in regular cigarettes. In addition, it is possible that more nicotine will enter the body this way. This is the reason why users of this type of tobacco have a higher risk of developing nicotine dependence than those who smoke regular cigarettes.

Snuff (snuff ) – powdered dried tobacco that is crushed into a powder and intended to be snuffed up the nose. After a short time, a large dose of nicotine enters the user’s bloodstream. The nicotine in snuff is more quickly addictive to the user than a cigarette is to a smoker.

Chewing tobacco is one of the oldest ways of consuming tobacco leaves. Chewing tobacco is made from a mass obtained by grinding tobacco leaves and stems, and flavorings are usually added to it to soften the unpleasant taste of tobacco.

A nicotine pad (also often called snus) is a white colored portioned pouch containing tobacco-derived nicotine or synthetic nicotine. Because nicotine pads do not contain tobacco, they are called tobacco-free snus.

When using nicotine pads, the user places a portioned packet between the lip and gum and leaves it there until the flavor emerges and the nicotine is absorbed through the gum. Nicotine pads usually have a longer lasting effect and duration of action than regular snus. Using half to a full pack of nicotine pads per day (depending on the strength of the product) is equivalent to smoking one pack of cigarettes. Smoking one cigarette releases 1 mg of nicotine into the body, while using one 10 mg pad releases 1-2 mg of nicotine into the body.

What is an electronic cigarette?

An electronic cigarette, or vape, is a battery-powered device that heats a liquid whose aerosols are inhaled by the user’s mouth.

Electronic cigarettes use both nicotine and nicotine-free liquids, which are chemical mixtures of different composition. The variety and nicotine content (strength) of e-cigarettes and their liquids vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. E-cigarettes come in many shapes and sizes. They can look like traditional cigarettes or everyday items such as flash drives or even pens. To increase interest in these products, various flavorings (apple, mango, berries, etc.) are added to e-cigarette liquids.

E-cigarettes are disposable (the liquid runs out and the device cannot be reused) and reusable (devices with replaceable cartridges/pods).

The procedure for using a disposable can take different amounts of time depending on the model and capacity of the container. Usually it is more than 300 puffs, which in terms of the amount of nicotine produced can be the equivalent of two packs of cigarettes. It is the number of puffs that affects the cost of an e-cigarette.

Among the reusable e-cigarettes (also known as POD systems), the following brands are common: IQOS VEEV, Relx, STLTH, JUUL and others.

Electronic heating tobacco products

E-heat tobacco products are a combination of an electronic device and a specialty cigarette, correctly called a stick. Instead of burning tobacco in the device, it is heated to 350 degrees. Instead of smoke, the heated tobacco product releases an aerosol that is inhaled by the user.

E-heated tobacco products are not the same as an e-cigarette, although both electronic devices mimic a regular cigarette. Given that the tobacco does not burn in a tobacco stick, it is safer for your health than a regular cigarette. However, the tobacco stick is not completely safe and contains the same dangerous chemicals found in regular cigarettes, including nicotine.

Among tobacco products for electronic heating, the undisputed leader is the IQOS tobacco heating system and its tobacco sticks HEETS. The manufacturer of IQOS also presented a system with a slightly different working principle – LIL SOLID and sticks for the device FIIT.

How to make the right choice

First of all, a potential buyer should pay attention to such a criterion as the nicotine content of this or that product. This is really very important for those who want to control the strength of the product used.

Before choosing a particular type of tobacco-containing product, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with the entire product line. Given the large number of types and a wide range of products, it will be quite difficult to do this. In the selection process, it is necessary to take into account all the details, from the possible regularity of smoking, to analyzing the risks of using a particular type of tobacco product. Having determined these components, you can focus your search for the right variant of a certain format, strength and a certain number of permissible puffs/uses.

It is also important to familiarize yourself with the manufacturers. Especially when it comes to e-cigarettes, as the product is popular and is produced by dozens of well-known brands and hundreds of little-known companies that have recently entered the market.