Abstract: A smoking article (10) comprises a tobacco rod (12) wrapped with a paper wrapper (14), and a patch (16) of material between the tobacco rod and the paper wrapper that extends along the tobacco rod from or near the mouth end (B) to an intermediate point along the rod. The patch has a structure such that it provides a path for smoke from tobacco upstream of the patch to the mouth end that has less resistance to smoke flow than a path through the tobacco under the patch, thus delivering smoke from the upstream part of the tobacco rod to the smoker more efficiently. The patch may also increase the static burn rate of the latter part of the smoking article.