부산대학교 도서관

The significant growth in the volumes of bulk tobacco and tobacco products illicitly traded in Bulgaria, in Europe and worldwide in the last years substantiated the conduct of this study. The main objective was to assess and analyze the profile of the illicitly traded tobacco derivatives and smoking products in the country, in terms of the decisive physical and chemical indices. The objects of analysis were officially provided to the Tobacco and Tobacco Products Institute by legitimate state structures, under the conditions of external contracting service. The determination of the physical and chemical characteristics of the respective sample types was carried out according to the standardized methods. It was found that the frequency of tobacco cut width and fractional composition determination in the sample pool of 2020 year significantly exceeded the rest of the relevant analyses, thus supporting the observed trend of increased consumption of natural tobacco intended for roll-your-own cigarettes, as an economically more feasible tobacco product. The importance of the sieve analysis confirmed the need to raise consumer awareness of the risks posed by the consumption of the technological tobacco waste, i.e. the "scrap" category, illicitly traded as a single tobacco product. Another finding from the study was that 81% of the provided counterfeit cigarettes were with moisture contents far below the levels set by the standards for commercial cigarettes, thus impeding their correct legally-bound assessment and changing smoke formation and composition. Moreover, the nicotine content in the tobacco samples submitted for analysis varied in a very wide range, from 1.18% to 3.02%, which implied negligence of the greater risks from consumer exposure to those illicit tobacco products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]