Two commercial kretek cigarettes typical for the Indonesian market and a reference kretek cigarette were
compared to the American-blended reference cigarette 2R4F by smoke chemistry characterization and
in vitro cytotoxicity and mutagenicity assessments. Despite the widely diverse designs and deliveries
of the selected kretek cigarettes, their smoke composition and in vitro toxicity data present a consistent
pattern when data were normalized to total particulate matter (TPM) deliveries. This confirms the
applicability of the studies’ conclusions to a wide range of kretek cigarette products. After normalization
to TPM delivery, nicotine smoke yields of kretek cigarettes were 29–46% lower than that of the 2R4F. The
yields of other nitrogenous compounds were also much lower, less than would be expected from the
mere substitution of one third of the tobacco filler by clove material. Yields of light molecular weight
pyrolytic compounds, notably aldehydes and hydrocarbons, were reduced, while yields of polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons were unchanged and phenol yield was increased. The normalized in vitro toxicity
was lowered accordingly, reflecting the yield reductions in gas-phase cytotoxic compounds and some
particulate-phase mutagenic compounds. These results do not support a higher toxicity of the smoke
of kretek cigarettes compared to American-blended cigarettes.
2014 Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license