Forensic chemical profiling of flavouring additives in seized mu’assel (shisha) by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)

Abstract Background Water-pipe tobacco smoking obsession has again spread worldwide. Especially, the younger generation is besotted with mu’assel (shisha) and avidly use these for smoking. Numbers of additives are being added in commercial brands of mu’assel (shisha) to impart diverse taste with amusing aroma. The name of only one of the masking flavours like strawberry, chocolate, vanilla etc. and not the chemical ingredients are printed on the packets of mu’assel. The manufactures remain silent about mentioning the chemical ingredients used for flavourings as they may not have scientific data about chemical compounds attributing to multiple flavours. There is also a shortfall in quality control owing to non-availability of technical procedure(s) to identify masking multiple flavouring additives. Many of these flavoured additives are either carcinogenic or potentially hazardous for human health. Ignoring health hazards, the avaricious manufacturers are intentionally adding multiple additives to make their products more addictive in order to increase their sales. The need of the hour is to unequivocally establish a technique for chemical profiling of the flavouring additives in mu’assel. In this paper, seven popular commercial brands of mu’assel were extracted, sonicated and analysed by GC-MS technique for detection of flavouring additives. Results Twenty-eight flavouring additives, i.e. camphor, linalool, benzyl ethanol, β-citronellol, menthol, vanillin, ethyl vanillin, eugenol, eucalptol, patchouli alcohol, nerol, rheosmin, musk ambrette, musk ketone, phenyl ethyl methyl ether, anethole, estragole, limonene, benzaldehyde, terpineol, phenyl ethyl butyrate, phenethyl isobutyrate, piperonal, methyl isobutyrate, methyl dihydro jasmonate, anisyl alcohol, trans-geraniol and sabinene along with nicotine were detected in varied proportions by GC-MS technique in seven seized popular commercial brands of mu’assel. Conclusion A study on chemical profiling of flavouring additives in commercial mu’assel has yet not been reported. Henceforth, this forensic attempt was aimed to secure public health by chemically profiling the flavouring additives of mu’assel. Many of the detected additives may cause severe health problems. Moreover, the smoker may suffer from neuroticism and psychoticism that may lead to a number of cases pertaining to physical assaults and sexual harassment.