Cigarettes

A cigarette is a small paper-wrapped cylinder (generally less than 10cm in length and 10mm in diameter) of cured and shredded or cut tobacco leaves which is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder for the purpose of allowing inhalation of its smoke from the other end, inserted in the mouth. The term, as commonly used, typically refers to a tobacco cigarette, but can apply to similar devices containing other herbs , such as cannabis (aka marijuana ).

A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping; cigars are typically composed entirely of whole leaf tobacco. A small, cigarette-sized cigar is called a cigarllo . Cigarettes were largely unknown in the English-speaking world before the Crimean War .

In practice, commercial cigarettes and cigarette tobaccos rarely contain pure tobacco. Manufacturers often use a tremendous variety of additives for a number of purposes, including maintaining blend consistency, improving perceived blend quality, as preservatives, and even completely changing the organoleptic qualities of the tobacco smoke. Some cigarettes (known as kreteks , clove cigarettes , or simply cloves ) have cloves blended with the tobacco, to enhance the smoker's pleasure, by numbing the mouth and lungs and providing a mild euphoric effect. Lower quality clove cigarettes simply have a clove essence added to the tobacco.

In addition to additives, cigarette tobaccos, especially lower quality blends, are often highly physically processed. During the original processing of leaf for cigarettes, the leaves are deveined, and the lamina is shredded or cut. Since the leaf is relatively dry at this point, these processes result in a significant amount of tobacco dust. Manufacturing operations have developed procedures for collecting this dust and remaking it into usable material (known as reconstituted sheet tobacco ).

The removed leaf midveins, which are unsuitable for use in cigarettes in their natural state, were historically discarded or spread on fields, because of their high nitrogen content. Procedures have been developed, however, to "expand" the stems, and process them for inclusion in the cigarette blends. All these procedures allow cigarette manufacturers to produce as many cigarettes as possible using the least amount of raw materials as possible. More...