Differences in nicotine dependence, smoke exposure and consumer characteristics between smokers of machine-injected roll-your-own cigarettes and factory-made cigarettes

Abstract Background Consumption of machine-injected roll-your-own (RYO) filtered cigarettes made from pipe tobacco increased almost 7-fold from 2008 to 2011 in the United States. Methods We used data from the Pennsylvania Adult Smoking Study to compare the differences in sociodemographic, smoking topography, nicotine dependence, and cotinine levels between 280 smokers using factory made (FM) cigarettes and 68 smokers using RYO cigarettes. Results RYO smokers were older (41 vs. 37, P = 0.053), had significantly lower levels of income (P  Conclusions Machine-injected RYO cigarettes made from pipe tobacco are cheaper than FM cigarettes but may have higher abuse liability. Smokers who might otherwise reduce their cigarette consumption or quit altogether may continue to smoke RYO cigarettes due to their affordability.