An experimental study was conducted to elucidate the effect of mass transfer on the rate of heat transfer to stationary spheres exposed to an argon plasma tail flame (temperature up to 4 300 K). Argon, helium and neon were injected through porous graphite spheres (diameters 6-mm, 8-mm and 9-mm) to simulate mass transfer on the surface of the particles. Heat transfer rates from the laminar plasma jet to the spheres were determined with and without mass transfer. The particle Reynolds number ranged from 40 to 110 and the temperature ratio (between the particle and the bulk flow) from 0.38 to 0.56. The results indicated a decrease of 15% on the average in the value of the heat transfer coefficient in the presence of mass transfer.