What does a cigarette filter filter?

Cigarette filter- part of many cigarettes, a cylinder of acetate fiber wrapped in paper. Attached to the cigarette rod using a rim. The filter is advertised as being designed to reduce the amount of tar and nicotine in inhaled cigarette smoke. Filtration efficiency cigarette smoke supposedly depends on the length of the filter, the diameter of the threads, and additional compounds. As an additive, manufacturers can use activated carbon.

Conventional filters remove some of the suspended particles in smoke. If the filter also reduces the nicotine content of the smoke, then smokers will adjust their smoking to achieve a satisfactory dose of nicotine. The smoker can do this by taking more puffs, taking deeper puffs, smoking more of each cigarette, or smoking more cigarettes. This process is called "compensation". In 1976, a lawyer for the tobacco firm Brown & Williamson, E. Papples, wrote: “In most cases, a smoker of filtered cigarettes gets the same amount of tar and nicotine as he would get from an unfiltered cigarette. However, he gives up unfiltered cigarettes in an attempt to reduce health risk." The value of a filter therefore depends on the extent to which it can selectively remove tar components without removing nicotine. For many years, the tar to nicotine ratio has been approximately 10 to 1, although there has been a modest improvement in this ratio.

If you make tiny holes in the filter, air is sucked into the smoke to dilute it. Of course, this also dilutes the nicotine in the smoke, and smokers compensate by inhaling more smoke. In addition to taking deeper puffs, smokers can also block the holes in the filters to keep air out and ensure they are drawing in enough smoke to get an adequate dose of nicotine. Neither of these methods guarantees the smoker a supply of less harmful tar, and certainly does not reduce the amount of tar that the smoker inhales to anything close to what is measured by the smoking machine. A person smoking a 6 mg tar cigarette will likely ingest almost as much tar as a person smoking a 12 mg tar cigarette.

The consumer proceeded from the assumption that if one pack of cigarettes says 10 mg of tar, and the other - 1 mg of tar, then by switching to smoking second cigarettes, his body will receive 10 times less tar, which will have a beneficial effect on his health. The tobacco industry strongly supported this opinion, calling the new cigarettes “light” and “ultra-light” and actively advertising them. However, studies conducted over the past 15 years have shown that the numbers indicated on cigarette packs do not correspond to reality. Smokers can easily get as much nicotine from light cigarettes as from regular cigarettes. To do this, they increase the volume of the puff, puff more often and harder, and also block the holes in the filter and as a result receive much more nicotine, and therefore tar.

The complexity of the situation can be illustrated by comparison with alcoholic drinks. A bottle of vodka and a bottle of beer have a measurable alcohol content, and that is how much alcohol the person drinking them absorbs. In the case of cigarettes, there is the nicotine content in tobacco (about 11 mg), the nicotine intake measured by the smoking machine (from 0.1 to 1.5 mg depending on the filter, ventilation, etc.) and the actual intake into the smoker’s body, which differs from person to person. different smokers and in one smoker, depending on the time of day, state of the body, etc. and ranging from 0.5 to 3 mg or more. Thus, the equivalent of the same cigarette can be both a bottle of beer and a bottle of vodka. When switching to cigarettes from reduced content tar smokers may increase the number of cigarettes they smoke and inhale the smoke more deeply.

It is beneficial for tobacco companies to stimulate the transition to “light” cigarettes: they are more expensive and smokers smoke more of them. What is even more important for the tobacco industry is that “light” cigarettes prevent many smokers from quitting. A declassified 1971 document from the British American Tobacco Corporation openly states: “This is exactly what management expects from the research and development department: how much sales will cigarettes with low content tar and nicotine. The question of whether such cigarettes are actually less dangerous is irrelevant."

Compensatory behavior may negate any benefits of low-resin products or even increase health risks. Smoking low-tar filter cigarettes can cause adenocarcinoma, a special type of lung cancer.
One study found that between 1959 and 1991, the incidence of adenocarcinoma, which is found in the periphery of the lungs, increased 17-fold in women and 10-fold in men. Researchers believe that those who smoke filter cigarettes with low tar and nicotine content make deeper and more long breath to get the nicotine hit, and therefore increase the impact of smoke on their lungs.

Thanks to tobacco additives, “light” cigarettes are subjectively perceived by smokers as not as strong as regular cigarettes, so they easily believe that these cigarettes are less hazardous to health.

Two large long-term studies of switching to light cigarettes found no health benefits, as smokers puffed deeper to compensate for the reduced nicotine intake. Back in 1979, BAT Corporation researcher P. Lee concluded that “the result of switching to low-tar cigarettes may be an increase rather than a decrease in the risk of smoking.”

The Canadian Ministry of Health recently released a report detailing the measurements. chemical composition smoke from the main brands of cigarettes sold there. The measurements were carried out under different smoking modes: according to the FTC standard and according to the intensive mode (the puff volume increased from 35 to 56 ml, the interval between puffs decreased from 60 to 26 seconds, the holes on the filter were blocked).

As a result of the tests, it was revealed that tests under intensive conditions led to an increase in all indicators of the composition of “ultra-light” cigarettes by an average of 3-4 times (tar content - by 4.5 times!), and the differences between conventional and “ultra-light” cigarettes were almost not found. It is significant that in any test mode, the differences in the side smoke of conventional and “ultra-light” cigarettes were, as a rule, within the error limits. These data indicate that all differences in "ultra-light" cigarettes are explained by the design of the filter, and when the holes on the filter are blocked, these differences disappear.

Based on the tests, the Ministry of Health concluded: “Many smokers believe that light cigarettes are safer than regular cigarettes and that when smoking light cigarettes they inhale less causing cancer substances or less nicotine.

New smoking tests conducted in British Columbia show that this belief is completely wrong. Reports from tobacco companies show that light cigarettes appear to deliver the same amount (or more) into the smoker's body. toxic substances just like regular cigarettes."

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) itself no longer supports its own approach to measuring harm caused by cigarettes. In 1998, she wrote to the US Department of Health saying that the machine's method of measuring tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide was under serious criticism and needed significant rethinking. In a press release, the FTC states, "New evidence shows that the limited health benefits previously thought to be associated with low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes are likely absent."

The British American Tobacco Corporation was forced to admit in 1997: “We take into account the concerns of the medical community when developing “lighter cigarettes”, but we cannot advertise them as “less dangerous” cigarettes because we simply do not have enough understanding of chemical processes."

Nowhere in the world are there regulations requiring tobacco companies to reduce or control the concentrations of certain harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke. The concept of “resins” is not suitable as a basis for regulation tobacco products. It is shown that various cigarettes produce resin with highly variable concentrations of key toxins. As new tobacco products are developed in the future, the concept of "tar" may change beyond recognition.

Thus, current forms of tobacco regulation and harm reduction approaches are not working. Any reductions in harm that occur are likely unanticipated side effects rather than as a direct result of deliberate and pro-health regulatory policies. The tobacco industry continues to advocate current approach, knowing that it is completely wrong and misleading to smokers.

Cigarette filter

Cigarette filter before and after use.

Cigarette filter- a cylinder of acetate fiber wrapped in paper. Attached to the cigarette rod using a rim. The filter is designed to reduce the amount of tar and nicotine in inhaled cigarette smoke. The effectiveness of filtering cigarette smoke depends on its length, thread diameter, and additional composition. As an additive, manufacturers can use activated carbon, which is known to selectively remove certain components from smoke. For example, carbon filters can remove up to 40% of carbon and nitrogen oxides, 80% of hydrogen cyanide and 70% of benzene.

In nature, it takes more than 3 years to decompose.

The history of the cigarette filter dates back to the day when, in 1925, Hungarian M. Boris Aivazh applied to the patent office to register a patent for a filter made of folded paper and a machine for producing such filters. Aivage then approached investors (the Bunzl family in Vienna) with a proposal to start producing filters from special paper. After the necessary production adjustment period was completed, in 1927 the filter was first introduced into the cigarette industry.

Soon the “filter revolution” began in Europe, where the filter was used mainly to prevent tobacco from entering the smoker's mouth. However, at that moment the filter had not yet received widespread in the tobacco industry, since there were no machines yet capable of connecting the tobacco column in a cigarette with a filter so that the cigarette did not disintegrate. It wasn't until 1935 that a British company developed a machine to connect the tobacco column of a cigarette with a filter. It was initially viewed as a specialty product until it was introduced more widely in 1954 under pressure from doctors and scientists considering possible connection between lung diseases and smoking.

From this moment we can count down the great changes that took place in the tobacco industry in subsequent years. New technology, which formed the basis for the operation of the English machine, made the production of filters a commercially profitable business, and, as soon as real supply appeared, demand for new product began to grow quickly.

In Kent cigarettes, filters made from a type of asbestos were first used.

Because filter cigarettes were considered “safer,” they have dominated the market since the 1960s.

How do filters work?

Larger modern filters with holes let in more air with each puff and are easier on the throat. Smokers compensate for this effect by inhaling deeper and taking more puffs in an attempt to get the same dose of nicotine.

This reduces smokers' contact with non-smokers a large number carcinogens, but increases their exposure to more harmful smoke components in the gaseous phase as it passes through filters and into peripheral airways.

This has led to a surge in adenocarcinomas over the past 30 years as more smoke travels to the periphery of the lungs, where these glandular cancers usually appear.

A study of evidence that filters cause cancer found that vent filters were associated with an increase in fatal adenocarcinomas, leading to a recommendation to ban vent filters. In addition, filter fibers break off and penetrate into the lungs, which can also lead to cancer.

Why is this type of cancer important?

A 2012 Japanese study found that patients with adenocarcinoma had slightly more cancer-related deaths than patients with squamous cell carcinoma. It turns out that the first one is more deadly.

All over the world, women are choosing to smoke what they consider to be “lighter” (filter) cigarettes. People are dying from lung cancer in Australia. more women than from breast cancer. Although breast cancer is more common, its survival rate is much higher than that of lung cancer.

A 2014 report in the surgical journal Surgeon General on tobacco smoking confirmed that changes in cigarette design have led to an increase in adenocarcinomas since the 1960s as cigarette design changed in the 1950s.

Australian and international researchers have been urging a ban on filters since the early 2000s, as well as regulations to regulate the contents of cigarettes and their composition.

What about the environment?

Cigarette filters are becoming bullshit. In Australia, bull calves consistently become the most frequent sight pollution in national cleanup days. Almost seven billion bullheads end up as litter in Australia every year. Filters are harmful environment, because they contain plastic and are not biodegradable.

Our urban environment, sea life, oceans, rivers, beaches - all of this would benefit immensely if filter cigarettes were no longer sold.

In 2011, the medical journal BMJ Tobacco Control reported that the presence heavy metals harmful in bulls marine environment. Researchers found that just one goby killed half the fish exposed to it. chemicals in laboratory conditions.

Why doesn't anyone regulate this?

Union Government [ official name states of Australia - Commonwealth of Australia / approx. transl.] in 2009 took measures to change the production of cigarettes to reduce the risk of fires. Some states have banned fruit-flavored cigarettes because they were designed to attract children.

Local governments and the federal government have the ability to force tobacco companies to sell less attractive, less lethal, less powerful addictive cigarettes.

Since 2014, the Union has failed to respond to two comprehensive reports on effective cigarette regulation. Filter cigarettes should be recalled from sale, and the tobacco industry should be forced to pay local governments to clean up toxic waste from water and soil.

We should not deceive citizens with “safe” cigarettes. They don't exist. But without filters the number of deaths cancer diseases can be reduced, more smokers will decide to quit the habit due to the stronger taste, and fewer young people will start smoking. published

Cigarette filter

Cigarette filter before and after use.

In nature, it takes more than 3 years to decompose.

Soon the “filter revolution” began in Europe, where the filter was used mainly to prevent tobacco from entering the smoker's mouth. However, at that moment the filter had not yet become widespread in the tobacco industry, since there were no machines capable of connecting the tobacco column in a cigarette with a filter so that the cigarette did not disintegrate. It wasn't until 1935 that a British company developed a machine to connect the tobacco column of a cigarette with a filter. It was initially considered a specialty product until it was introduced more widely in 1954 under pressure from doctors and scientists considering a possible link between lung disease and smoking.

From this moment we can count down the great changes that took place in the tobacco industry in subsequent years. The new technology underlying the operation of the English machine made the production of filters a commercially profitable business, and as soon as real supply appeared, the demand for the new product began to grow rapidly.

In Kent cigarettes, filters made from a type of asbestos were first used.

Because filter cigarettes were considered “safer,” they have dominated the market since the 1960s.

Filter (values)- * Filtration is the process of purifying a liquid or gas from mechanical impurities. * Filter (electronics) a device for highlighting the desired components of the spectrum of an analog signal and suppressing unwanted ones. * Digital filter device for processing... ... Wikipedia

Cigarette- Cigarette (from the French cigarette small cigar) a paper cylinder, inside of which there is crushed ... Wikipedia

Geiger counter- SI 8B (USSR) with a mica window for measuring soft β radiation. The window is transparent, under it you can see a spiral wire electrode, the other electrode is the body of the device ... Wikipedia

Cigarette butts

Cigarette butt- an incompletely smoked cigarette or cigarette. Cigarette butts... Wikipedia

Pyhta- Cigarette Cigarette in an ashtray A cigarette is a small paper tube (twisted), often with a filter, into which tobacco is stuffed for smoking. Most of the paper used to make cigarettes is made from flax or flax fiber. She... ... Wikipedia

The most common cigarette filter today, despite various technological innovations, remains filters made from acetate fibers. This material is not only able to contain nicotine and tar, but also prevents the penetration of aromatic additives into the lungs, which is especially important in menthol cigarettes.

Acetate fiber initially has the appearance of a syrup that flows freely to form threads. During the casting process, these threads are cut to certain sizes and twisted in a special way, resulting in a material of different structure; basically, the structure of the material when used in filters should be corrugated.

Since the cigarette filter has direct contact with the oral mucosa, certain requirements apply to the material during the production of acetate fiber. So acetate fiber should be perfectly white, which means that no chemical additives have entered the fiber, but such fiber contains titanium dioxide, which literally absorbs harmful substances, present in cigarette smoke, for example, a substance such as phenol or pyrocatechol emitted by tobacco, is not captured by other filters.

Strange as it may seem, tobacco companies use acetate fiber filters not to care about the health of smokers, but because its density can be adjusted, resulting in different types of cigarettes, with different flavors and nicotine content. In addition, the filter can be made selective. That is, it will actively retain certain substances and provide greater throughput of others. This, of course, does not always have a good effect on your health, but it is in great demand among consumers.

Increasing requirements for the safety of cigarettes not only had a beneficial effect on the quality of tobacco in cigarettes and contributed to the spread of filter cigarettes, but also pushed scientific thought to search for materials that could more successfully contain harmful substances formed from the combustion of tobacco. One of the materials that has been good at insulating the smoker's lungs from tar is coal. Initially, carbon filter cigarettes were not very popular because the taste of smoking was very nasty. But gradually the optimal dosage of coal was selected and a more favorable formula for its use was found, and cigarettes with a carbon filter received their start in life.

The most effective way to reduce the emission of harmful substances released by tobacco into the atmosphere today is the use of carbon inclusions in acetate fiber. Such inclusions are very well absorbed by fiber. The thing is that acetate fiber is a very flexible material that has a rough surface. Activated carbon adheres well to such a surface and is an additional element capable of retaining chemically active substances well, at the same time, without disturbing the air circulation in the cigarette filter.

Not all carbon is suitable for use in cigarette filters. Some types negatively affect the taste of the cigarette or impede filtration exchange. Therefore, in the production of acetate fiber filters, fine-porous carbon is mainly used. There's a lot of coal like this good properties, but there is a significant drawback: it does not absorb condensate well, which affects the occurrence of high humidity in the filter.

In order to avoid such a negative factor as the accumulation of moisture in the filter, manufacturers resort to various tricks. For example, some brands of cigarettes use balsa wood to make the filter housing. Such cigarettes are capable of providing many varied and refined tastes to cigarettes, but they are quite expensive and therefore are not so readily purchased by consumers. Another approach to reducing humidity in the filter is to use a special insert called a carbon filter cartridge. In combination with acetate fiber, the carbon cartridge is able to retain the greatest amount of harmful substances in the filter, preventing them from escaping into the filter. external environment. Cigarettes made with such a filter are quite inexpensive and are now finding more and more fans, gradually displacing other brands of filtered cigarettes from the market.

Later, as a result of the fight against counterfeit products, a filter called “double active acetate” or as it is called in English-speaking countries AAD appeared. It is impossible to fake such a filter, but if such a craftsman is found, the cigarettes will still be of very good quality. This filter uses granular activated carbon, which is embedded in the filter. This manufacturing process requires high-tech equipment and the use of specially composed cellulose, otherwise the coal will simply spill out of the cigarette, and the taste of the counterfeit product will be capable of causing a persistent aversion to smoking. In order to avoid copying, these filters also use a shaped end segment, by which you can immediately determine whether the product in front of you is a fake or not. In addition, the end segment promotes better air penetration into the filter.

In response to technological innovations in Western countries, the Chinese, not wanting to give up their achieved position in the cigarette production market, invented their own super filter, called a titanium filter.

Research conducted by the Chinese has shown that titanium dioxide, used as a nanomaterial, can effectively contain harmful substances formed during the combustion of tobacco. Such a discovery was not made immediately; it was preceded by a long research path, passed by the Chinese, who tried to adapt various nanomaterials for use in the manufacture of tobacco filters. Initially, the emphasis was on such a traditional material as carbon, but as it turned out, carbon does not hold back tar and nicotine as well as we would like.

Titanium dioxide, in addition to its good filtering qualities, turned out to be a fairly cheap material. The created production technologies make it possible to produce cigarette filters at a cost much lower than, for example, a carbon filter. 5

Cigarette manufacturers all over the world are trying to somewhat protect the smoker, but at the same time not to lose their consumers, but even more by inviting people to purchase cigarettes. As a concern, the current use of special cigarette filters is stated, which are formed using materials such as cellulose acetate, which is able to absorb the tars released, absorb tobacco smoke and nicotine. As in many other fields, cigarette industry developers have tried to apply nanotechnology to create cigarettes.

They used carbon nanotubes as a basis to improve standard filters. Laboratory tests are currently being carried out. Despite the fact that expensive material was used, scientists cannot yet give a clear answer to the question of what effect such a cigarette will have on the smoker’s body. However, Chinese scientists went a little further in their research - they used cheaper materials, which are also based on carbon. Their results showed that such filters actually reduce the amount of tar and nicotine consumed. Moreover, a decrease in the level of phenol structure was noted. Researchers have already stated that this experience will be widely used in the formation of an air purification system in gas masks. 6