Herbal cigarettes can be as harmful as tobacco cigarettes: IITGN-Illinois University study
Herbal cigarettes produce emissions that can be comparable to – or even more damaging than — tobacco smoke, it says
Widely marketed in India and abroad as “natural, tobacco-free and even therapeutic alternatives” to conventional cigarettes, herbal cigarettes produce emissions that can be comparable to – or even more damaging than — tobacco smoke, the study, released ahead of the World No Tobacco day (May 31), said. (AI generated image) Herbal cigarettes, which are outside India’s tobacco control laws, can be as damaging as tobacco cigarettes, a joint study by Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), US, has found.
Widely marketed in India and abroad as “natural, tobacco-free and even therapeutic alternatives” to conventional cigarettes, herbal cigarettes produce emissions that can be comparable to – or even more damaging than — tobacco smoke, the study, released ahead of the World No Tobacco day (May 31), said.
Notably, the study compared emissions from two of India’s best-selling tobacco brands and four popular herbal cigarettes containing combinations of basil, clove, cinnamon, mint, green tea, water lily, and chamomile. Two of the herbal brands used tendu (ebony) leaves as wrappers, identical to those used in bidis – the most-widely consumed smoking product in India.
The research, titled ‘The lure of ‘Healthier Smoke’: Comparative physical, chemical, and oxidative potential characterization of emissions from herbal and tobacco cigarettes’, was published last week in the ‘Journal of Hazardous Materials’. The research paper was co-authored by Alok Kumar Thakur and Sameer Patel from IIT Gandhinagar and P S Ganesh Subramanian and Vishal Verma from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, US.
“The research paper presents a comprehensive comparison of the physical, chemical, and oxidative properties of smoke from commercially available herbal and tobacco cigarettes in the Indian market,” co-author Prof Sameer Patel, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering, IITGN, told The Indian Express.
“Our findings challenge the widely held belief that tobacco-free means risk-free. Emissions from herbal cigarettes are comparable to or exceed those from tobacco cigarettes on nearly every metric we measured. Leaf-wrapped herbal variants turned out to be the most hazardous of all the samples tested,” Prof Patel said.
Study findings
As part of the study, each cigarette was combusted inside a sealed, automated two-chamber rig designed to replicate human inhalation rate. The cigarette emission was funnelled into instruments, and filter samples were collected for physical and chemical characterisation of particles. To find the potential toxicity of emissions, the oxidative potential of the collected samples was quantified.
A key finding was that sub-500-nanometer particles emitted at approximately 20 per cent higher concentrations in herbal smoke than in tobacco smoke. These fine particles are increasingly linked to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
The team also measured ‘Oxidative Potential’ (OP), a measure that quantifies the smoke’s capacity to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) which are aggressive molecules that can drive inflammation, lung tissue remodelling and the vascular changes underlying heart disease. Particulate matter from herbal cigarettes had a higher OP, compared to tobacco cigarettes, the researchers said.
“Tendu leaf-wrapped variants showed OP roughly 49 per cent higher than paper-wrapped versions. Chemical analysis revealed one herbal cigarette, filled with basil and being marketed as ‘chemical-free with 100% natural filler for a healthy lifestyle’, had the highest lead concentration,” Prof Patel added. Prof Vishal Verma, research collaborator and an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, added, “That finding is important because many consumers associate nicotine-free products with reduced harm.”
‘Regulatory gap’
The study also lays bare the issue of regulatory gap surrounding herbal cigarettes. India’s Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (COTPA), regulates tobacco products through warning labels, advertising restrictions, and public-smoking rules, but products marketed as ‘tobacco-free’ often fall outside these frameworks. Similar regulatory gaps exist in several other countries too.
According to lead author Alok Kumar Thakur, several of the herbal cigarettes they tested were marketed with claims of relieving cough, improving sleep, or easing anxiety. “However, there is limited scientific evidence evaluating the emissions and toxicological impacts of these products,” he pointed out.
Thakur completed his PhD at IITGN as a Prime Minister Research Fellow and is currently pursuing postdoctoral research at Colorado State University, US.
The researchers emphasised that the study does not make direct epidemiological claims about disease outcomes. Instead, it focuses on measurable properties of the emitted smoke particles and their potential biological reactivity.
“Combustion, fine particles, soot, trace metals, and the wrapper around them all matter more than what is written on the box,” said Dr P S Ganesh Subramanian, a postdoctoral researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, U S.
“With the herbal cigarette category potentially attracting younger consumers and first-time smokers using wellness-oriented language, there is an urgent need to develop frameworks to regulate the marketing of tobacco alternatives. This study adds to a growing body of scientific evidence that could help inform evidence-based regulation and public-health discussions around alternative smoking products,” the study said.
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