Montebello Research Conference, 1982

The first entry in the minutes for the 1982 Montebello research conference, under the heading "Subjects of Major Group Importance," is "Human Smoking Behaviour."

More must be known about how different consumers smoke different products and derive different levels of satisfaction or response therefrom. We are concerned with two aspects:

The minutes refer to work under way in Germany on precise nicotine dose measurements in consumers; Canadian studies of puff duplication techniques to measure how the smoker smoked the cigarette; and work planned in the United States at B&W on surreptitious videotaping of smoking to measure smoking behavior in natural settings. Similarly, the Southampton program, although it was aimed at identifying market

segments based on "smoking bahavioural characteristics," also was paying attention to "the biochemistry and pharmacology associated with the inhalation of major smoke components" {1179.01, p. 3}. The minutes of the Montebello conference specify a design objective for new products:

to enhance or maximise sensory and pharmacological sensations, ie to 'make the smoke work harder' so as to achieve maximum sensation at a given delivery level without encouraging the smoker to compensate [emphasis added]. {1179.01, p.3}

Once again, the R&D staffs of BAT and B&W show their understanding of the purpose of a cigarette as a nicotine delivery device. Pharmacological sensations are not only intended to occur; they are to be manipulated so that the consumer can get the desired dose of nicotine without taking in more tar than intended.

BAT's R&D group at Southampton held a series of informal discussions on the characteristics of cigarette smoke in late 1982 or early 1983. These discussions seem to have been sparked by recommendations made at the 1982 Montebello conference. Colin Greig, a participant in the Southampton discussions, compiled his notes, and C. I. Ayers circulated them to the heads of BAT research labs in the United States, Germany, Australia, Brazil, and Canada in February 1984 {1179.02}. Under the heading "Physiological Consequences," Greig's notes include the following comment about nicotine:

It is well known that nicotine can be removed from smoke by the lung and transmitted to the brain within seconds of smoke inhalation. Since it is the major or sole pharmacologically active agent in smoke, it must be presumed that this is its preferred method of absorption and thus why people inhale smoke. {1179.02, p. 10}

In short, the purpose of cigarette smoke inhalation is the absorption of nicotine and the transport of nicotine to the brain.