Martin Johnston writes in the New Zealand Herald about research from Victoria University suggesting that roll-your-own cigarettes (rollies) might be more expensive than their ‘tailored’ counterparts.
This could be due to rollies having a higher tar/nicotine ratio, with tar also containing a number of addictive elements.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“Dr Lewis said tar extracted from a range of cigarettes using a smoking machine was applied to human cells to measure its effects on proteins involved in tobacco addiction.
“She also showed tobacco smoke increased the amount of a protein, in cells, that helps to mediate the effects of drugs of abuse. This indicates the Mu opioid receptor protein is also a likely tobacco addiction factor.
…
Public health specialist Dr Murray Laugesen said that if rollies were in fact more addictive, that would help explain New Zealand’s higher rate of smoking than Australia’s (20 per cent, compared with 17 per cent).”