The gas phase includes carbon monoxide, ammonia, dimethylnitrosamine, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and acrolein. One study has established the link between smoking and lung cancer at the cellular level. Cigarette and smoke composition. Tar , also known as total particulate matter, is inhaled when the smoker draws on a lighted cigarette. In its condensate form, tar is the sticky brown substance which can stain smokers fingers and teeth yellow-brown.
All cigarettes produce tar but the brands differ in amounts.
Until January 1992, information about tar yields of cigarettes was given in a general fashion on cigarette packets and advertisements as a result of a voluntary agreement between the tobacco industry and the Government. The same figures are printed on cigarette advertising, along with the health warning, as part of a voluntary agreement between the industry and the Department of Health. Under the current EU tar yield directive, cigarettes with a tar yield of 15mg or more were phased out by the end of 1992. From the 1st January 1998, an upper limit of 12mg per cigarette was applied to all cigarettes sold in the EU with the exception of Greece which was granted an extension until 2006. For further information on tobacco regulation, see Fact Sheet 20, Tobacco Policy in the European Union.