The investigation deals with an assessment of carcinogenicity and mutagenicity of samples of smokeless tobacco now on the Russian market as well as ash from alternative cigarettes made of aromatic herbs. Our data showed that the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile and tobacco-specific N-nitrosoamines complied with the standards in the producer-countries. Smokeless tobacco extracts failed to show (Ames) any mutagenic effects such as the "read-out frame shift" or "base-pair replacement" patterns. No tobacco-specific N-nitrosoamines were identified in herbal cigarettes. However, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and volatile N-nitrosoamines content appeared to be identical to that of tobacco. Herbal cigarette smoke extracts mutagenicity induced by side-effects of carcinogenic substances was of similar magnitude as well.