eTop: Puff Topography Instrument

eTop puff topography instrument developed to monitor how users puff tobacco and nicotine devices during real-world use.

About the eTop puff topography instrument

eTop (electronic cigarette puff topography instrument) is a compact research instrument developed to measure and record smoking and puffing behavior across a range of tobacco and nicotine products.

The system was designed to capture how devices are actually used, rather than how they are assumed to be used. It records flow and timing data during smoking sessions and produces outputs that are immediately interpretable by researchers, without requiring extensive post-processing.

Since its introduction, eTop has been used to study cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and waterpipes, supporting both exploratory and standardized laboratory work.

Measurement approach

eTop is designed around the observation that inhalation behavior clusters into a limited set of practical flow regimes, even across very different devices.

The instrument combines a stable flow measurement core with adaptable mouthpieces and external calibration, allowing experiments to be tuned at the interface level while keeping the measurement system itself unchanged.

Development context

eTop was developed with long-term research use in mind, prioritizing reliability and consistency across studies rather than optimization for any single device or protocol. The system was designed to remain stable over time while accommodating variation at the interface level.

This allowed the same instrument to be used across different devices and study designs without requiring modification for each experiment. Adaptation occurs through interchangeable components and calibration, while the underlying measurement core remains unchanged.

Use in research

eTop is used in laboratory studies examining puff topography, inhalation patterns, and exposure-relevant parameters.

Recorded sessions can be replayed on smoking machines, enabling real user behavior to be reproduced under controlled conditions and supporting standardized experimental protocols.

Publications

Data generated using eTop have contributed to multiple peer-reviewed publications in tobacco and aerosol research.

Adoption

eTop has been adopted by multiple research groups internationally and remains in active use across different study designs and laboratory environments.

The map below shows current universities and research groups using the instrument.