A New Standard for Measuring Harmful Elements in Tobacco

SRM 3223 Inorganic Constituents in Cigarette Tobacco Filler was created to help manufacturers and importers meet the federal requirement for reporting harmful or potentially harmful constituents (HPHC) in tobacco products and tobacco smoke. Development of this SRM was initiated after a technical meeting between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to support measurements of the elemental HPHC content of tobacco-based products.

Excess tobacco leaves from the production of SRM 3222 Cigarette Tobacco Filler, which were air-cured, low-nicotine tobacco processed commercially using the normal procedures for the production of cigarette tobacco filler, were repurposed for the production of SRM 3223. The excess tobacco leaves were cryogenically milled to the specified particle size for homogeneity, irradiated for stability, and packaged into individual SRM units.

NIST SRM 3223 is a tobacco filler that is certified for amounts of cadmium, lead, mercury, and nickel, which are inorganic elements on the list of HPHCs. Measurements were made at NIST and the CDC. Cadmium, lead, and nickel were determined at NIST using Isotope Dilution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ID-ICP-MS). Mercury was determined at NIST using Cold Vapor (CV) ID-ICP-MS with confirmation by results from direct mercury analyzers. Additional inorganic elemental HCHPs are provided as non-certified values.

A unit of SRM 3223 consists of approximately 30 g of ground cigarette tobacco filler in a 125 mL amber high-density polyethylene bottle sealed in an aluminized polyethylene bag.

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Yu L.L., Bryan Sallee C.E., Ellisor D.L., Fales C.N., Fort J.T., Gray N., Hoguet J.C., Klingsick J.R., Menking-Hoggatt K., Moors A., Ness J., Pappas R.S., Yen J.H. (2026) Certification of Standard Reference Material® 3223: Inorganic Constituents in Cigarette Tobacco Filler. (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD), NIST Special Publication (SP) 260-268. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.260-268