In the suite of laboratory measurements described here and in companion articles we deal with the hygroscopic growth and activation behavior of coated soot particles synthesized to mimic those of an atmospheric aerosol originating from biomass combustion. The investigations were performed during the measurement campaign LACIS Experiment in November (LExNo) which took place at the Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator (LACIS). The specific goals of this campaign were (1) to perform a critical supersaturation measurement intercomparison using data sets from three different cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) instruments (two static thermal gradient type, one stream-wise thermal gradient type) and LACIS, (2) to examine particle hygroscopic growth (hydrated particle size as function of relative humidity) for particle characteristics such as aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) measured soluble mass and particle morphology, and (3) to relate critical supersaturations derived from both measurements of soluble mass and high-humidity tandem differential mobility analyzer (HH-TDMA) determined growth factors to critical supersaturations measured by means of the CCN instruments. This paper provides information on the particle synthesis techniques used during LExNo, an overview concerning the particle characterization measurements performed, and, by proving relations between measured composition, hygroscopic growth, and activation data, lay the foundations for the detailed investigations described in the companion studies. In the context of the present paper, excellent agreement of the critical supersaturations measured with three different CCN instruments and LACIS was observed. Furthermore, clear relations between coating masses determined with AMS and both hygroscopic growth factors at 98% RH and measured critical supersaturations could be seen. Also, a strong correlation between measured hygroscopic growth (growth factors at 98%) and measured critical supersaturation for all of the differently coated soot particles (coating substances being levoglucosan and/or ammonium (hydrogen) sulfate) was found. This is clearly indicative of the possibility of predicting the critical supersaturation of coated soot particles based on hygroscopic growth measurements using Köhler theory. Copyright 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.