Technical note: Application of Handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometers in forensic analysis of cigarette ash

Cigarettes are part of a collection of objects found everywhere and smoked by a large part of the population. Cigarette butts can be an essential piece of evidence in identifying a certain suspect/witness, as they can suggest the positive identification or exclusion of one or more brands by comparison or even DNA analysis. The main objective of this study is to test the capability of Handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (HHXRF) to analyze the elemental concentration of individual cigarette ash of several tobacco brands and investigate if it is further possible to discriminate the different brands based on their ash 's elemental concentration. This study reveals the capability of HHXRF to discriminate tobacco brands based on their ashes ' elemental concentration, with the great advantage of the analyses being non-destructive and can be carried out on a small sample. In addition, this equipment can measure the ash 's elemental concentrations on-site, allowing for less contamination and sample loss.