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Ventilated cigarette
Ventilated cigarettes (labeled in certain jurisdictions as light or mild cigarettes) are considered to have a milder flavor than regular cigarettes. These cigarette brands may be listed as having lower levels of tar ("low-tar"), nicotine, or other chemicals as "inhaled" by a "smoking machine". However, the scientific evidence is that switching from regular to light or low-tar cigarettes does not reduce the health risks of smoking or lower the smoker's exposure to the nicotine, tar and carcinogens present in cigarette smoke.
The filter design, which may include perforated holes, is one of the main differences between light and regular cigarettes. When attached to a smoking machine, the small holes in the sides of the filter dilute the tobacco smoke with clean air. In ultra-light cigarettes, the filter's perforations are even larger and on the smoking machine, they produce an even smaller smoke-to-air ratio. However, smokers react to the reduced resistance by inhaling more deeply and tend to cover the holes with their fingers and mouth. None of these ventilation techniques reduce harm to smokers, and some may increase it; they are designed to give better readings in a smoking-machine test while minimally reducing what human smokers inhale.
Belief among the general public that "light" cigarettes are less harmful and less addictive is pervasive and problematic to public health efforts. Usage of descriptors such as "light" or "mild" has thus been banned in the European Union, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the United States. Tobacco manufacturers now use color-coding to allow consumers to differentiate between regular and light brands, using lighter colors and silver for "light" cigarettes. Plain tobacco packaging does not appear to be helpful in reducing marketing influence.
The 1950s gave birth to numerous scientific studies that proved the link between cigarettes and cancer (see Wynder and Graham, 1950; Doll and Hill, 1952, 1954; Hammond and Horn, 1958). In response to these studies and their perceived threat to the tobacco industry's future profitability, tobacco companies experimented with new modifications to the cigarette design. By altering the cigarette design, tobacco companies hoped to create a "safer" cigarette that would better appeal to their increasingly health-conscious consumers. Cigarette filters were introduced in the early 1950s. It was one of the industry's first design modifications, and filters would become essential to the later development of light and low-tar products. Claiming that filtered cigarettes literally "filtered out" much of the harmful tar and carcinogenic particles found in regular cigarettes, tobacco companies promoted "relative product safety" in order to convince smokers to continue smoking. Because filtered cigarettes were depicted as relatively safer and less harmful, smokers who were concerned about tobacco's negative health impacts were led to believe that by switching to filtered cigarettes, they would minimize smoking's detrimental impact on their health. As a result, millions of smokers switched to filtered cigarettes instead of quitting altogether. By 1960, filtered cigarettes had become the leading tobacco product.
In addition to promoting the filtered cigarette as the answer to smokers' health concerns, the tobacco industry also poured resources into developing a cigarette that would produce lower machine-measured tar and nicotine yields when tested by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This endeavor resulted in the introduction and heavy promotion of "light" cigarettes during the 1970s. The newly designed light cigarette employed a special filter perforated with small holes; these perforated filters allegedly offset the concentration of inhaled harmful smoke with clean air. Most important to the tobacco industry, however, was that light cigarettes produced lower tar and nicotine levels when tested with the FTC's smoking machines.
By 1997, the advertising of light cigarettes constituted fifty percent of the tobacco industry's advertising spending. Through heavy marketing, the tobacco industry succeeded in leading its consumer base to believe that light products were safer than regular brands, and thus, that these products were the rational choice for smokers who cared about their health. As a result of these implicit and widespread health claims, the popularity of light and low-tar cigarettes grew considerably. In fact, the market share of light cigarettes grew from 2.0 percent in 1967 to 83.5 percent of the tobacco market in 2005.
Packages of light, mild, and low-tar cigarettes are often labeled as being "lower tar and nicotine" and also list tar and nicotine levels that are lower than those found on the packages of regular cigarettes. The lower tar and nicotine numbers found on cigarette packages represent the levels produced when machine "smoked" by a smoking machine test method. Developed by the FTC in 1967, the smoking machine test method was created to determine the yield of a cigarette by "smoking" it in a standardized fashion by machine; this test method is also known as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) machine-smoking method. While the FTC has always recognized that the smoking machine cannot accurately replicate human smoking and that no two human smokers smoke in the same way, the FTC did not initially recognize the tobacco industry's ability to design cigarettes that yielded low levels of tar and nicotine when machine-smoked, but yielded much higher levels when smoked by a human being.
Light cigarettes essentially fool smoking machines through several techniques. A light cigarette's filter perforated by tiny holes, for instance, is uncovered when smoked by machine, and consequently, the cigarette smoke is heavily diluted with air and causes the machines to report low levels of nicotine and tar. When smoked by human smokers, in contrast, this filter is usually covered by smokers' lips and fingers. Consequently, the filter holes are closed and the light cigarette actually becomes equivalent to a regular cigarette. Some tobacco manufacturers also increased the length of the paper wrap which covers the cigarette filter; this modification serves to decrease the number of "puffs" available to the machine test and limits the amount of tobacco that is machine "smoked". In reality, however, the tobacco found under this paper wrap which is not "smoked" by machine is still available to and smoked by the human smoker.
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Ventilated cigarette
Ventilated cigarettes (labeled in certain jurisdictions as light or mild cigarettes) are considered to have a milder flavor than regular cigarettes. These cigarette brands may be listed as having lower levels of tar ("low-tar"), nicotine, or other chemicals as "inhaled" by a "smoking machine". However, the scientific evidence is that switching from regular to light or low-tar cigarettes does not reduce the health risks of smoking or lower the smoker's exposure to the nicotine, tar and carcinogens present in cigarette smoke.
The filter design, which may include perforated holes, is one of the main differences between light and regular cigarettes. When attached to a smoking machine, the small holes in the sides of the filter dilute the tobacco smoke with clean air. In ultra-light cigarettes, the filter's perforations are even larger and on the smoking machine, they produce an even smaller smoke-to-air ratio. However, smokers react to the reduced resistance by inhaling more deeply and tend to cover the holes with their fingers and mouth. None of these ventilation techniques reduce harm to smokers, and some may increase it; they are designed to give better readings in a smoking-machine test while minimally reducing what human smokers inhale.
Belief among the general public that "light" cigarettes are less harmful and less addictive is pervasive and problematic to public health efforts. Usage of descriptors such as "light" or "mild" has thus been banned in the European Union, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the United States. Tobacco manufacturers now use color-coding to allow consumers to differentiate between regular and light brands, using lighter colors and silver for "light" cigarettes. Plain tobacco packaging does not appear to be helpful in reducing marketing influence.
The 1950s gave birth to numerous scientific studies that proved the link between cigarettes and cancer (see Wynder and Graham, 1950; Doll and Hill, 1952, 1954; Hammond and Horn, 1958). In response to these studies and their perceived threat to the tobacco industry's future profitability, tobacco companies experimented with new modifications to the cigarette design. By altering the cigarette design, tobacco companies hoped to create a "safer" cigarette that would better appeal to their increasingly health-conscious consumers. Cigarette filters were introduced in the early 1950s. It was one of the industry's first design modifications, and filters would become essential to the later development of light and low-tar products. Claiming that filtered cigarettes literally "filtered out" much of the harmful tar and carcinogenic particles found in regular cigarettes, tobacco companies promoted "relative product safety" in order to convince smokers to continue smoking. Because filtered cigarettes were depicted as relatively safer and less harmful, smokers who were concerned about tobacco's negative health impacts were led to believe that by switching to filtered cigarettes, they would minimize smoking's detrimental impact on their health. As a result, millions of smokers switched to filtered cigarettes instead of quitting altogether. By 1960, filtered cigarettes had become the leading tobacco product.
In addition to promoting the filtered cigarette as the answer to smokers' health concerns, the tobacco industry also poured resources into developing a cigarette that would produce lower machine-measured tar and nicotine yields when tested by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This endeavor resulted in the introduction and heavy promotion of "light" cigarettes during the 1970s. The newly designed light cigarette employed a special filter perforated with small holes; these perforated filters allegedly offset the concentration of inhaled harmful smoke with clean air. Most important to the tobacco industry, however, was that light cigarettes produced lower tar and nicotine levels when tested with the FTC's smoking machines.
By 1997, the advertising of light cigarettes constituted fifty percent of the tobacco industry's advertising spending. Through heavy marketing, the tobacco industry succeeded in leading its consumer base to believe that light products were safer than regular brands, and thus, that these products were the rational choice for smokers who cared about their health. As a result of these implicit and widespread health claims, the popularity of light and low-tar cigarettes grew considerably. In fact, the market share of light cigarettes grew from 2.0 percent in 1967 to 83.5 percent of the tobacco market in 2005.
Packages of light, mild, and low-tar cigarettes are often labeled as being "lower tar and nicotine" and also list tar and nicotine levels that are lower than those found on the packages of regular cigarettes. The lower tar and nicotine numbers found on cigarette packages represent the levels produced when machine "smoked" by a smoking machine test method. Developed by the FTC in 1967, the smoking machine test method was created to determine the yield of a cigarette by "smoking" it in a standardized fashion by machine; this test method is also known as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) machine-smoking method. While the FTC has always recognized that the smoking machine cannot accurately replicate human smoking and that no two human smokers smoke in the same way, the FTC did not initially recognize the tobacco industry's ability to design cigarettes that yielded low levels of tar and nicotine when machine-smoked, but yielded much higher levels when smoked by a human being.
Light cigarettes essentially fool smoking machines through several techniques. A light cigarette's filter perforated by tiny holes, for instance, is uncovered when smoked by machine, and consequently, the cigarette smoke is heavily diluted with air and causes the machines to report low levels of nicotine and tar. When smoked by human smokers, in contrast, this filter is usually covered by smokers' lips and fingers. Consequently, the filter holes are closed and the light cigarette actually becomes equivalent to a regular cigarette. Some tobacco manufacturers also increased the length of the paper wrap which covers the cigarette filter; this modification serves to decrease the number of "puffs" available to the machine test and limits the amount of tobacco that is machine "smoked". In reality, however, the tobacco found under this paper wrap which is not "smoked" by machine is still available to and smoked by the human smoker.