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Laboratory emissions testing of electronic cigarettes continues to be a focus in the tobacco research community. In particular, to inform policy regarding appropriate test protocols to regulate the manufacture, marketing and sale of tobacco products. This study aims to enhance current understanding of the way laboratory systems used to generate topography profiles and capture resultant emissions from inhaled tobacco products may interact with the device under test. A programmable emission system (vaping machine) is introduced and characterized. The operating envelope of this system is presented. This study demonstrates that the performance of an emissions system may be influenced by various factors, resulting in discrepancies between command puff parameter inputs and the observed puffs generated. The study findings conclude that any emissions system should be characterized with the desired test device to determine the effective operating range of the system under "Load" conditions. Furthermore, reporting emissions from electronic cigarettes as a function of "command" puff flow rate and cumulative volume result in under-estimation bias and may give rise to incorrect conclusions regarding the impact of product characteristics on emissions. Conversely, reporting emissions in terms of "observed" puff flow rate and cumulative volume reduces bias errors and limits opportunity for intentional misrepresentation of results.

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) offer an alternate means to consume nicotine in a variety of flavored aerosols. Data are needed to better understand the impact of flavors on use behavior. A natural environment observational study was conducted on experienced ENDS users to measure the effect of e-liquid flavor on topography and consumption behavior. The RIT wPUMTM monitor was used to record to record the date and time and puff topography (flow rate, volume, duration) for every puff taken by N = 34 participants over the course of two weeks. All participants used tobacco flavor for one week, and either berry or menthol flavor for one week. Results provide strong evidence that flavor affects the topography behaviors of mean puff flow rate and mean puff volume, and there is insufficient evidence to support an influence of flavor on mean puff duration and mean puff interval. There was insufficient evidence, due to the low power associated with the limited number of observation days, to establish a relationship between flavor and cumulative consumption behavior. While the results indicate that an effect may be evident, additional observation days are required to establish significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results of an observational, descriptive study quantifying topography characteristics of twenty first generation electronic nicotine delivery system users in their natural environment for a one week observation period are presented. The study quantifies inter-participant variation in puffing topography between users and the intra-participant variation for each user observed during one week of use in their natural environment. Puff topography characteristics presented for each user include mean puff duration, flow rate and volume for each participant, along with descriptive statistics of each quantity. Exposure characteristics including the number of vaping sessions, total number of puffs and cumulative volume of aerosol generated from ENDS use (e-liquid aerosol) are reported for each participant for a one week exposure period and an effective daily average exposure. Significant inter-participant and intra-participant variation in puff topography was observed. The observed range of natural use environment characteristics is used to propose a set of topography protocols for use as command inputs to drive machine-puffed electronic nicotine delivery systems in a controlled laboratory environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]