Testing of a commercial waterpipe electric heater and a research-grade waterpipe electric heater

INTRODUCTION: The capability of a commercial waterpipe electric heater to simulate the waterpipe charcoal heating system using waterpipe tobacco consumption as a metric was evaluated, and a research-grade waterpipe electric heater to standardize waterpipe tobacco emission testing was designed. METHODS: The experiment was conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, tobacco was heated using either charcoal or a commercial electric heater. The tobacco temperature was recorded during a 57-minute machine-smoking session and tobacco consumption was measured. In Phase 2, a similar procedure was followed using a novel research-grade electric heater. RESULTS: In Phase 1, tobacco consumption using either charcoal or the commercial electric heater averaged 31.35% and 20.56%, respectively. In Phase 2, tobacco consumption using the research-grade electric heater, set at target temperatures of 470, 430, 400, 380, 370 and 350°C, averaged 55.74, 41.22, 40.18, 39.10, 31.57 and 26.14%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The commercial electric heater did not reach consumption levels seen in the charcoal heating system, whereas the research-grade electric heater did and can be used as part of a standardize waterpipe tobacco emission testing regimen.