The history of the cigarette filter. Part 1: getting started.

Henry Tudor

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Apr 7, 2021

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Oris cigarette advertisement, 2020

You may be surprised, but the usual cigarette filters were not invented to reduce tar and nicotine in smoke. And in general, by that time, the manufacturer cared more about the end consumer, because the “tobacco wars” were in full swing and it was the smokers who ultimately decided who would emerge victorious from this battle. As you may have guessed, this article will focus on the history of the most important invention — the cigarette filter.

C. Colombos catalog page, 1914–1915

Until the early 1920s, cigarettes were still not the dominant tobacco product and were considered the lot of the poor in many countries. Aristocrats and ordinary richer people preferred more traditional ways of consuming tobacco — cigars and pipe tobacco, as well as chewing tobacco and snuff.

Murad cigarette advertisement, 1916

The design of cigarettes in the mid-1910s was extremely simple — a paper sleeve with shredded tobacco inside. There were no standards or formats yet, or rather there were, but each manufacturer had its own. The only significant problems with cigarettes of those times were two factors — the cigarette getting stuck to the lips, and the tobacco getting into the mouth when smoked. Neither first nor the other added to the comfort of smoking.

Advertising for Marlboro cigarettes, 1930.

If they learned to deal with the problem of sticking cigarette paper quite quickly, gluing cork mouthpieces to the sleeve or simply wrapping part of the sleeve with colored paper, they still did not know what to do with tobacco getting stuck to their tongue for a long time.

Advertising for Pall Mall cigarettes, 1925.

The history of the cigarette filter began in 1925, when a certain M. Boris Ayvazh applied to the patent office with the invention of a completely new cigarette holder made of paper layers that could be produced in bulks on machines. The search for an investor and further assembly of the new production line took two years, and only in 1927 the first cigarette with the prototype of the modern filter saw the light. But, as we know, in the late 1920s, the cigarette filter was never widely adopted by cigarette manufacturers. No, the filter solved the set task, but at that time there were no technologies for combining the production of filter cigarettes into one line. The “hand-assembled” element always increases the price of the final product.

Advertising for Chesterfield cigarettes, 1935

It was only in 1935 that a machine for the automatic production of filter cigarettes was invented by English engineers and the mass production of filter cigarettes became possible. The problem was finally solved, but … But the consumer did not want to accept the novelty! And there were a lot of reasons — the filter got wet when smoking, it was harder to smoke, the taste of smoke (it was still there) was lost, and filter cigarettes were more expensive.

Philip Morris cigarette advertisement, 1945

Until the end of the 1940s, filtered cigarettes did not receive recognition among smokers, they were produced, but by literally a few brands. Moreover, back in the early 1950s, there was an opinion that filter cigarettes were the lot of weaklings or women. Having lit such a cigarette in a male society, one could easily become the object of offensive ridicule.

HB cigarette advertisement, 1957

Only in the late 1950s did the explosive demand for filter cigarettes began and what contributed to it was… Lung cancer! Doctors of those times established a link between an increased risk of a fatal illness and nicotine consumption. True, the same doctors, it happened, argued the opposite, for an appropriate reward. And if I were a supporter of “conspiracy theories”, I would assume that the “cancer version” is not a “conspiracy of doctors”, but an invention of tobacco corporate groups.

Advertisement for Kentucky Kings cigarettes, 1960.

The manufacturer himself figured out that when using a filter, keeping the length of the cigarette, you can use less tobacco and get additional profits. But the problem is that smokers did not want to buy such cigarettes. And to arouse interest, you need a powerful impulse. The threat of a fatal disease was such an impetus. When one considers things realistically, how is it that for all the publicity surrounding the Marlborough Cowboy story, these cigarettes are still the world’s best-selling cigarettes? Maybe this is also an advertising campaign, brutal, but effective?

Pall Mall cigarette advertisement, 1961.

But back to our research. So, the 1960s was a time of innovation in the use of cigarette filters. The very first type of filter was a construction consisting of a short crepe paper “drum”. However, this type was quickly replaced by a fresh invention — cellulose acetate fibers. The new type of filter did not do its job better, but it was significantly cheaper to manufacture and soon acetate filters became the basis for all designs and are still used today.

The evolution of the filter didn’t stop at crepe paper and acetate fiber. The pressure on tobacco manufacturers soon increased and they were forced to come up with newer solutions to keep up with the current realities of the times. The real technology revolution took place in the late 1960s for many reasons. But I will tell you about this in the second part of the article!

Filter in cigarettes that reduce nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide

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]

History

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In 1925, Hungarian inventor Boris Aivaz patented the process of making a cigarette filter from crepe paper.[8]

From 1935, Molins Machine Co Ltd [9] a British company began to develop a machine that made cigarettes incorporating the tipped filter. It was considered a specialty item until 1954, when manufacturers introduced the machine more broadly, following a spate of speculative announcements from doctors and researchers concerning a possible link between lung diseases and smoking. Since filtered cigarettes were considered safer, by the 1960s, they dominated the market. Production of filter cigarettes rose from 0.5 percent in 1950 to 87.7 percent by 1975.[10]

Between the 1930s and the 1950s, most cigarettes were 70 millimetres (2+3⁄4 in) long. The modern cigarette market includes mainly filter cigarettes that are 80, 85, 100, or 120 millimetres (3+1⁄8, 3+3⁄8, 3+7⁄8, or 4+3⁄4 in).[11]

Cigarettes filters were originally made of cork and used to prevent tobacco flakes from getting on the smoker's tongue. Many are still patterned to look like cork.[1]

Manufacture

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Spent cigarette filter

Colour change

The cigarette smoking public attaches great significance to visual examination of the filter material in filter tip cigarettes after smoking the cigarettes. A before and after smoking visual comparison is usually made and if the filter tip material, after smoking, is darkened, the tip is automatically judged to be effective. While the use of such colour change material would probably have little or no effect on the actual effectiveness of the filter tip material, the advertising and sales advantages are obvious.

— Claude Teague, the inventor of the colour-changing filter[2]

Cigarette filters are usually made from plastic cellulose acetate fibre,[3] but sometimes also from paper or activated charcoal (either as a cavity filter or embedded into the cellulose acetate).

Cellulose acetate is made by esterifying bleached cotton or wood pulp with acetic acid. Of the three cellulose hydroxy groups available for esterification, between two and three are esterified by controlling the amount of acid (degree of substitution (DS) 2.35-2.55). The ester is spun into fibers and formed into bundles called filter tow. Flavors (menthol), sweeteners, softeners (triacetin), flame retardants (sodium tungstate), breakable capsules releasing flavors on demand, and additives colouring the tobacco smoke[citation needed] may be added to cigarette filters.[12][13] The five largest manufactures of filter tow are Celanese and Eastman Chemicals in the United States, Cerdia in Germany, Daicel and Mitsubishi Rayon in Japan.

Starch glues or emulsion-based adhesives are used for gluing cigarette seams. Hot-melt and emulsion-based adhesives are used for filter seams. Emulsion-based adhesives are used for bonding the filters to the cigarettes.[14] The tip paper may be coated with polyvinyl alcohol.[15]

Colour change

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The tobacco industry determined that the illusion of filtration was more important than filtration itself. The pH of the cellulose acetate used is modified, so that its colour becomes darker when exposed to smoke (this was invented in 1953 by Claude Teague, working for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company).[16] The industry wanted filters to be seen as effective for marketing reasons, despite not making cigarettes any less unhealthy.[3][failed verification]

Health risks

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In the 1970s epidemiologic evidence relative to tobacco-related cancers and data for coronary heart disease indicated a reduced risk among filter smokers for these diseases.[17] Between 1970 and 1980 some studies showed a 20-50% reduction in risk of lung cancer for long-term smokers of filtered cigarettes as compared to smokers of non-filtered cigarettes (IARC, 1986) but later studies indicated a similar risk for lung cancer in smokers of filtered and non-filtered cigarettes.[18] The risk reductions depend on different aspects such as the gender or whether a person is athletic, the study location, the age of the person, and when only studies providing both unadjusted and adjusted estimates were considered. Whether or not relative risk estimates are adjusted for cigarette consumption is not crucial to the conclusion of a clear advantage to filter cigarettes and tar reduction.[19]

Various add-on cigarette filters ("Water Pik", "Venturi", "David Ross") are sold as stop-smoking or tar-reduction devices. The idea is that filters reduce tar and nicotine levels, permitting the smoker to be weaned away from cigarettes.[20]

Light cigarettes

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The tobacco industry has reduced tar and nicotine yields in cigarette smoke since the 1960s. This has been achieved in a variety of ways, including use of selected strains of tobacco plant, changes in agricultural and curing procedures, use of reconstituted sheets (reprocessed tobacco leaf waste), incorporation of tobacco stalks, reduction of the amount of tobacco needed to fill a cigarette by expanding it (like puffed wheat) to increase its "filling power", and by the use of filters and high-porosity wrapping papers. However, just as a drinker tends to drink a larger volume of beer than of wine or spirits, many smokers tend to inversely modify their smoking pattern according to the strength of the cigarette being smoked. In contrast to the standardized puffing of the smoking machines on which the tar and nicotine yields are based, when a smoker switches to a low-tar, low nicotine cigarette, they smoke more cigarettes, take more puffs and inhale more deeply. Conversely, when smoking a high-tar, high-nicotine cigarette there is a tendency to smoke and inhale less.[21]

In spite of the changes in cigarette design and manufacturing over the last fifty years, the use of filters and "light" cigarettes neither decreased the nicotine intake per cigarette, nor lowered the incidence of lung cancer (NCI, 2001; IARC 83, 2004; U.S. Surgeon General, 2004).[22] The shift over the years from higher- to lower-yield cigarettes may explain the change in the pathology of lung cancer. That is, the percentage of lung cancers that are adenocarcinomas has increased, while the percentage of squamous cell cancers has decreased. The change in tumor type is believed to reflect the higher nitrosamine delivery of lower-yield cigarettes and the increased depth or volume of inhalation of lower-yield cigarettes to compensate for lower level concentrations of nicotine in the smoke.[23]

Safety

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Structure formula of cellulose diacetate with one of the acetate groups on the cellulose backbone shown by the red circle

Cellulose acetate is non-toxic, odorless, tasteless, and weakly flammable plastic. It is resistant to weak acids and is largely stable to mineral and fatty oils as well as petroleum. Smoked (i.e., used/discarded) cigarette butts contain 5–7 mg (~ 0.08-0.11 gr) of nicotine (about 25% of the total cigarette nicotine content). Cellulose acetate is hydrophilic and retains the water-soluble smoke constituents (many of which are irritating, including acids, alkali, aldehydes, and phenols), while letting through the lipophilic aromatic compounds.

Waste

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A cigarette butt littered on the ground

Cigarette butts are the most littered anthropogenic (man-made) waste item in the world. Approximately 5.6 trillion cigarettes are smoked every year worldwide.[24] Of these, it is estimated that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts become litter every year.[25] The plastic cellulose acetate in cigarette butts biodegrades gradually, passing through the stage of microplastics.[26] The breakdown of discarded cigarette butts is highly dependent upon environmental conditions. A 2021 review article cites an experiment where 45-50% of cellulose acetate mass was fully degraded to CO2 after 55 days of controlled composting and another where negligible degradation took place after 12 weeks in pilot-scale compost.[27][28][29]

During the act of smoking, plastic cellulose acetate fibers and tipping paper absorb a wide range of chemicals that are present in tobacco smoke. After cigarette butts are discarded, they can leach toxins including nicotine, arsenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals into the environment.[30] Smoked cigarette butts and cigarette tobacco in butts have been shown to be toxic to water organisms such as the marine topsmelt (Atherinops affinis) and the freshwater fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas).[31]

Atmospheric moisture, gastric acid, light, and enzymes hydrolyze cellulose acetate to acetic acid and cellulose. Cellulose may be further hydrolyzed to cellobiose or glucose in an acidic medium. Humans cannot digest cellulose and excrete the fibers in feces, because, unlike ruminant animals, rabbits, rodents, termites, and some bacteria and fungi, they lack cellulolytic enzymes such as cellulase.[citation needed]

Ashtray full of cigarette butts

Many governments have sanctioned stiff penalties for littering of cigarette filters; for example Washington State imposes a penalty of $1,025 for littering cigarette filters.[32] Another option is developing better biodegradable filters. Much of this work relies heavily on the research about the secondary mechanism for photodegradation. However, making a product biodegradable means making it vulnerable to humidity and heat, which does not suit filters made for hot and humid smoke.[16] The next option is using cigarette packs with a compartment for discarded cigarette butts, implementing monetary deposits on filters, increasing the availability of cigarette receptacles, and expanding public education. It may even be possible to ban the sale of filtered cigarettes altogether on the basis of their adverse environmental impact.[24]

Recent research has been put into finding ways to use the filter waste in order to develop other products. One research group in South Korea have developed a one-step process that converts the cellulose acetate in discarded cigarette filters into a high-performing supercapacitor electrode material. These materials have demonstrated superior performance as compared to commercially available carbon, graphene and carbon nano tubes.[33]

Another group of researchers has proposed adding tablets of food grade acid inside the filters. Once wet enough the tablets would release acid that accelerates degradation to around two weeks, instead of using cellulose triacetate and besides of cigarette smoke being quite acidic.[34]

See also

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References

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