Abstract: A smoking article having reduced ignition propensity is disclosed. The smoking article includes a tobacco column, a wrapper surrounding the tobacco column and a filter element. The wrapper has a base permeability, an untreated area and a least one discrete area treated with a composition to reducing the base permeability. The discretely treated area interacts with a coal of a burning tobacco firecone as it advances to self-extinguish the smoking article. The composition of the treated area includes a permeability reducing substance, a burn rate retarding substance and a burn rate accelerating substance. Either the burn rate retarding substance or the burn rate accelerating substance acts as an organoleptic enhancing substance. In this way a smoker's experience when smoking either the at least one treated area or the untreated area is substantially the same.

Abstract: A method and system for capturing and analyzing an image of a moving web of cigarette paper having a plurality of transverse banded regions. The captured images of the moving web of cigarette paper are analyzed to determine various characteristics of a population of cigarettes made with the cigarette paper. Each captured image is decomposed into a matrix of grey scale values associated with individual pixels of the image. The values are further processed to determine a width of a banded region on the cigarette paper. The average widths of banded regions, as well as the standard deviation of widths may be analyzed and correlated to freeburn and ignition propensity characteristics of a population of cigarettes formed from the measured cigarette paper.

Abstract: A smoking article having reduced ignition propensity is disclosed. The smoking article includes a tobacco column, a wrapper surrounding the tobacco column and a filter element. The wrapper has a base permeability, an untreated area and a least one discrete area treated with a composition to reducing the base permeability. The discretely treated area interacts with a coal of a burning tobacco firecone as it advances to self-extinguish the smoking article. The composition of the treated area includes a permeability reducing substance, a burn rate retarding substance and a burn rate accelerating substance. Either the burn rate retarding substance or the burn rate accelerating substance acts as an organoleptic enhancing substance. In this way a smoker's experience when smoking either the at least one treated area or the untreated area is substantially the same.

Abstract: An apparatus for marking cigarettes with a mark to terminate operation of a smoking machine includes a jig for holding at least 40 cigarettes and maintaining the cigarettes' position with a seam side of each cigarette facing a given direction. A scannable laser having a laser light output at an intensity and frequency makes a scorch mark on the seam of each cigarette paper without perforating the cigarette paper. A software control system for the scannable laser is programmed to cause the laser to scan over the cigarettes in the jig to etch and make a circumferentially-oriented line segment mark no longer than 1.5 millimeter and no wider than 0.5 millimeter on the cigarettes at a predetermined position along the length of the cigarettes.

Abstract: A smoking article including a wrapper surrounding a tobacco column and a selective filter element is disclosed. The selective filter element includes at least one carrier having a developed structure and a plurality of moieties capable of the nucleophilic attack of carbonyl-containing combustion products of the smoking article supported by the at least one carrier. The selective filter element may include at least one additional filter element such as cellulose acetate. The developed structure of the at least one carrier encourages the interaction of the carbonyl-containing combustion products and the plurality of moieties capable of the nucleophilic attack. Carries include polymers, which may have branch, such as partially oxidized cellulose and polyaniline. Carries may also be a zeolite or an inorganic oxide such as aluminum, of silicon, of aluminum and silicon, and combinations thereof. In yet another carrier is an activated carbon.