Abstract: To study the effects of airflow pathway design parameters on puff-by-puff smoke components of a heated tobacco product (called natural smokes cigarette, or NSC), the effects of different perforation parameters on the puff-by-puff releases of key components in the aerosol of NSC, the retention rate of the components in each section of the cigarette after smoking, and the average temperature and draw resistance at the aerosol outlet were investigated. The results showed that: 1) With the proceeding puffs, the releases of total particulate matters (TPMs) and moisture in the aerosol of NSC initially increased and then decreased, the release of nicotine increased, the release of glycerol initially increased and then remained stable, and the release of propylene glycol showed an increasing trend until it slightly decreased in the last puff under different perforation conditions. 2) With the same perforation location, the releases of key components decreased and their retention rates in the tobacco and filter sections increased, the transfer rates of key components to the aerosol decreased, and the average aerosol temperature and draw resistance at the outlet gradually decreased as the number of perforations increased. 3) For the same number of perforations, the releases of key components and their transfer rates to the aerosol increased, while their retention rates in the tobacco and filter sections decreased as the distance between the perforation location and the tobacco section decreased. However, the effects of the perforation location on the average aerosol temperature and draw resistance at the outlet were not apparent. 4) When the area of each hole was the same, the lower the number of perforations and the shorter the distance between the perforation and the tobacco section, the shorter the effective migration pathway of components, which was conducive to the migration of aerosol components.