Cigarette

A cigarette is a small paper-wrapped cylinder (generally less than 120mm in length and 10mm in diameter) of cured and shredded or cut tobacco leaves. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder for the purpose of inhalation of its smoke from the filtered 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.

Manufacture and ingredients

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. This is done 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.

Related Topics:
Kretek - Clove

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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).

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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.

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The most common usage of the cigarette is tobacco smoke delivery. The second most common usage of the cigarette is for marijuana smoke delivery. The hand rolled cigarette is the most common form of marijuana cigarette. Marijuana users will usually twist the ends of the cigarette to prevent fine cut marijuana buds from falling out. Tobacco users who roll their own cigarettes, however, will usually not twist the cigarette at the ends; hand rolling tobacco is made in strands so it doesn't have a tendency to fall out.

Related Topics:
Marijuana - Marijuana cigarette

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Some cigarette smokers roll their own cigarettes by wrapping loose cured tobacco in paper; most, however, purchase machine-made commercially available brands, generally sold in small cardboard packages of 10 or 20 cigarettes in the United States and UK or 25 in Canada. Commercial cigarettes usually contain a cellulose acetate or cotton filter through which the smoker inhales the cigarette's smoke; the filter serves to cool and somewhat clean the smoke.

Related Topics:
United States - UK - Canada

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These days, cigarette rolling machines are also becoming quite popular. One can purchase tobacco in pouches or cans, usually at half the price of what one would pay for a the same amount pre-rolled. One can get a rolling machine that makes filterless, or "straight" cigarettes, or one can purchase a machine that packs the tobacco into a pre-rolled form with a filter. These filtered papers usually come in boxes of 200.

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There are many different types of cigarettes,

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• Hand Rolled Cigarettes from rolling papers
• Unfiltered Cigarettes (no filter)
• Regular Filtered Cigarettes (regular size)
• Light Filtered Cigarettes (are not as strong)
• Ultra-Light Filtered Cigarettes (very weak)
• Regular Filtered 100s (longer)
• Light Filtered 100s (longer, are not as strong)
• Ultra-light Filtered 100s (longer, very weak)
• Regular Slim 120s (very long, skinny)
• Light Slim 120s (very long, skinny, are not as strong)
• Ultra-Light Slim 120s (very long, skinny, very weak)

Note: Regular size are known as King Size in the UK, and 100s are Superkings: they are also the same width as a normal cigarette.

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• Menthols (have smoke that induces a cooling sensation)
• Slims (Cigarette is of smaller diameter)
• Wides (Cigarette is of larger diameter)

Color Coding on Commercial Cigarette Packs

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• Red packs usually means Full Flavor
• Gold packs usually means Lights
• Light Blue, or Silver usually means Ultra-Lights
• Green usually means Menthols
• Very Dark Red usually means Unfiltered