Cigarette filter

Filters in a new and used cigarette. Filters were designed to turn brown with use to give the illusion that they were effective at reducing the harmfulness.[1][2]
Components of a filter cigarette:
  1. Cigarette filter
  2. Imitation cork tip paper
  3. Cigarette paper
  4. Tobacco

A cigarette filter, also known as a filter tip, is a component of a cigarette, along with cigarette paper, capsules and adhesives. Filters were introduced in the early 1950s.[3]

Filters may be made from plastic cellulose acetate fiber, paper or activated charcoal (either as a cavity filter or embedded into the plastic cellulose acetate fibers). Macroporous phenol-formaldehyde resins and asbestos have also been used.[4][5] The plastic cellulose acetate filter and paper modify the particulate smoke phase by particle retention (filtration), and finely divided carbon modifies the gaseous phase (adsorption).[6]

Filters are intended to reduce the harm caused by smoking by reducing harmful chemicals inhaled by smokers. While laboratory tests show a reduction of "tar" and nicotine in cigarette smoke, filters are ineffective at removing gases of low molecular weight, such as carbon monoxide.[7] Most of these measured reductions[which?] occur only when the cigarette is smoked on a smoking machine; when smoked by a human, the compounds are delivered into the lungs regardless of whether a filter is used.[2]

Most factory-made cigarettes are equipped with a filter; those who roll their own can buy them from a tobacconist.[2]

  1. ^ Kennedy, Pagan (8 July 2012). "Who Made That Cigarette Filter?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 14 March 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Harris, Bradford (1 May 2011). "The intractable cigarette 'filter problem'". Tobacco Control. 20 (Suppl 1): –10–i16. doi:10.1136/tc.2010.040113. eISSN 1468-3318. ISSN 0964-4563. PMC 3088411. PMID 21504917.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Monograph13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Francois de Dardel; Thomas V. Arden (2007), "Ion Exchangers", Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (7th ed.), Wiley, pp. 1–74, doi:10.1002/14356007.a14_393, ISBN 978-3527306732
  5. ^ Seymour S. Chissick (2007), "Asbestos", Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (7th ed.), Wiley, pp. 1–18, doi:10.1002/14356007.a03_151, ISBN 978-3527306732
  6. ^ T. C. Tso (2007), "Tobacco", Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (7th ed.), Wiley, pp. 1–26, doi:10.1002/14356007.a27_123, ISBN 978-3527306732
  7. ^ Robert Kapp (2005), "Tobacco Smoke", Encyclopedia of Toxicology, vol. 4 (2nd ed.), Elsevier, pp. 200–202, ISBN 978-0-12-745354-5