It has found levels varying from 16.5mg to 27.5 mg per cigarette. This provoked more gobbling in the tobacco industry than in a turkey farm at Thanksgiving. The official figures printed on the packet show 0.6 to 1.2 mg per cigarette. The measurement basis is entirely different between the two camps, as the industry measures the nicotine ingested when the cigarette is smoked by a typical smoker, whereas the ESR measurement was of absolute nicotine content. The point, they say, was not the different measure, but the comparative content between New Zealand cigarettes and those overseas.
American cigarettes have about half the content of the New Zealand ones.
The ESR figures were laid open to question by the allegation that the cigarettes in the packs of 10 were higher in nicotine than those in the packs of 20. The industry points out that the same cigarettes are diverted to different packing lines, but are otherwise identical. Hoskings aroused the ire of long time Morning Report listeners by his abrasive and hyped up style which were seen as more appropriate on the commercial stations. The announcement has prompted a series of analyses on TV and other media which seem divided between relief at the departure of someone prone to gratuitous violence, and sorrow at the loss of a talented player. Loe had the grace to express regret over the infamous eye-gouging incident.