Ten smokers participated in a study to compare the absorption of nicotine from the smoke aerosol of a new cigarette that heats, but does not burn tobacco (test) with a cigarette that burns tobacco (reference). The average plasma nicotine concentrations obtained by the 7th test cigarette (13 ng/ml) and 7th reference cigarette (24 ng/ml) were proportional to the nicotine yielded by the two cigarettes as determined under Federal Trade Commission machine-smoking conditions. These data demonstrate that the smoke aerosol obtained by smoking a cigarette which heats tobacco produces plasma profiles of nicotine that are similar to the profiles obtained from smoking a cigarette that burns tobacco.