Study Suggests Herbal Cigarettes May Be As Harmful As Tobacco – Asian Scientist Magazine

AsianScientist (Jun. 28, 2026) – Marketed as natural, tobacco-free and even therapeutic, herbal cigarettes have gained popularity among smokers in India seeking what they perceive to be a healthier alternative to conventional cigarettes. But a new study suggests these products may be just as harmful—if not more so—than tobacco cigarettes.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), in collaboration with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), compared the physical, chemical, and oxidative properties of mainstream smoke from commercially available herbal and tobacco cigarettes in India. Their findings, published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, challenge the widespread assumption that tobacco-free smoking products are inherently safer.

Putting herbal cigarettes to the test

The study compared emissions from two of India’s best-selling tobacco brands and four popular herbal varieties containing ingredients like 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, India’s most widely consumed smoking product.

To isolate the emissions, each cigarette was burned inside a sealed, automated two-chamber rig designed to replicate human inhalation rate. The cigarette emission was funnelled into real-time instruments, and filter samples were collected for physical and chemical characterisation of particles.

“Our findings challenge the widely held belief that tobacco-free means risk-free,” said Prof Sameer Patel, an Assistant Professor at IITGN’s Department of Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering. “Emissions from herbal cigarettes are comparable to or exceeded 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.”

Fine particles, oxidative stress and heavy metals

The study found that herbal cigarettes emitted around 20 per cent more sub-500 nanometre particles than tobacco cigarettes. These fine particles are increasingly linked to cardiovascular and respiratory disease.

The team also measured a property called oxidative potential (OP), which quantifies the smoke’s capacity to generate reactive oxygen species, aggressive molecules that drive inflammation, lung tissue remodelling, and the vascular changes underlying heart disease. Particulate matter from herbal cigarettes recorded significantly higher OP than that from tobacco cigarettes.

Herbal cigarettes wrapped in tendu leaves showed oxidative potential approximately 49 per cent higher than paper-wrapped variants.

Chemical analysis also revealed unexpectedly high levels of lead in one basil-filled herbal cigarette, despite being marketed as “chemical-free with 100% natural filler for a healthy lifestyle.”

A regulatory blind spot

Beyond the health findings, the researchers highlighted regulatory gaps surrounding herbal cigarettes. In India, 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. Comparable regulatory gaps exist in several other countries.

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,” said Thakur, who completed his PhD at IITGN and is currently pursuing postdoctoral research at Colorado State University, USA.

The researchers emphasised that the study does not directly assess disease outcomes in smokers. Instead, it evaluates measurable characteristics of smoke known to influence biological responses.

“Combustion, fine particles, soot, trace metals, and the wrapper around them all matter more than what is written on the box,” said P S Ganesh Subramanian, a postdoctoral researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, USA.

The research stated that 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.

—

Source: Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar ; Image: chayanuphol/Magnific

Study link: The lure of ‘Healthier Smoke’: Comparative physical, chemical, and oxidative potential characterization of emissions from herbal and tobacco cigarettes

Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.