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FILE NAME Kent KNT DATE 1956 Apr 16 DOC KNT152 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Trade Journal Article - Growth in Cigarette Filter Consumption - Chemical and Engineering News 1956 1951 - Growth inin Cigarette Consumption . . to 20 ofMarket Opens Chemical ANewCorporatePattern to Fit a Stauffer's Growth =...--.-..-seve, 1864 ; American Research - ee Money ttoo Back Bright IIdeas deas een1s 916 NNIA ROK ^' I Technician at P. Loril- lard's . Jersey City labs measures amount of tar and nicotine in Kent filter cigarettes Round Firm and Filtered A fast expanding market for the industry filter cigarettes last year more than 10 million worth of filter chemical required materials BIG NEWS IN CIGARETTES is filters A look at any cigarette counter tells the story Now more than a dozen different filter brands await the smoker's choice Demand is soaring In 1951 filter cigarettes accounted for less than % of the nation's total paid cigarette output By 1954 the figure had climbed to 10 and last year reached 20 This figure may rise to 35 and go even higher In Switzerland some 65 of all cigarettes sold today are tipped Once poohpoohed as -" refinements intended for dilettantes and eccentric millionaires filter cigarettes have by now gained acceptance among the public For the chemical industry cigarette filter materials have become an increas- ingly important market now valued at over 10 million a year Last year for example some 22 million pounds of cellulose acetate in the form of a ropelike material consisting of thousands of parallel filaments were used in filter cigarettes compared to about 3 million pounds in 1953. Manufac- tured for the cigarette industry by Tennessee Eastman and Celanese cellulose acetate is today the most widely used cigarette filter Customarily cellulose acetate filters are treated with called plasticizers which are actually sizing agents These materials which stiffen the filaments so they do not lose their shape when the cigarette is smoked are another mar- ket for the chemical industry In addi- tion to cellulose acetate numerous other materials are used in filters Over the years cigarette manufacturers have tested hundreds of possible filter agents In the words of one cigarette manufacturer We have been ap- proached by suppliers of every con- ceivable type of filter material short of steel and concrete Cigarette chem- ists have explored the use of treated paper diatomaceous earth activated alumina silica gel bentonite and vari- ous mineral fibers There has also been talk of a plastic filter possibly made from polyurethane foam 1846 FN APRIL 18. 1956 Millions of smokers smokers include about 60 of the men in the U. S. and about 30 of the women use filter cigarettes On the average the smoke of filter cigarettes contains about 30 less tar and about 20 less nicotine Specifically the smoke of the average unfiltered king cigarette contains 23 mg of tar and 3.3 mg of nicotine compared to the smoke of the average king cigarette with filter which contains 16 mg of tar and 2.7 mg of nicotine Who Uses What Du Maurier Kent M Marlboro Viceroy Vogue Winston Herbert Tareyton | i _ Cellulose acetate . Purified cellulose paper and activated charcoal Parliament M with cellulose acetate | Absorbent cotton Cellulose powder Early Developments Despite all the advertising hoopla of the past few years filters are nothing new Handmade filter cigarettes were available in Europe by 1900. Later various filter brands with exotic names Kent with cellulose acetate and cotton Hale Crocidolite asbestoslike material Cotton impregnated with chlorophyll . like Obak and Imperiale began trickling into the U. S. market As the first major U. S. development in this field Benson & Hedges brought out page ads Lorillard announced the unique virtues of Kent's Micronite filter developed by researchers in atomic single factor was what the tobacco industry has come to call the Cancer Scare filter Parliament years later Brown & duced Viceroy in 1931. Williamson Five intro- energy plants This filter used dur ing World War II in gas masks and later in the removal of airborne radio- Since 1953 widespread newspaper magazine radio and TV coverage has been given to reports that cigarette Throughout these early years filter active materials in AEC installations smoking is a factor in lung cancer a brands then known as mouthpiece was reported to be seven times more disease which in the U. causes about cigarettes continued to be marketed in effective than any other leading ciga- 25,000 deaths annually A study of ue i a relatively sedate unobtrusive fashion rette filter In fact the original Micro- 684 cases of lung cancer indicated that cae wit with an eye on the carriage trade nite filter was so effective that it had to only 1.3 were nonsmokers while Then came Lorillard's introduction of be modified some people felt they were 68 smoked more than one pack a day Kent in 1952. Amid a splurge of full- smoking nothing but hot air and over 80 had smoked more than Improvements were continually be- 30 years In later study the Ameri- ing made in cigarette filters Brown & can Cancer Society reported that men Williamson which up until 1952 had who smoke cigarettes regularly have been using treated crepe paper in its seven times the lung cancer death rate Viceroys switched to cellulose acetate of those who never smoke As the first cigarette company to use cellulose acetate filters W made a point of promoting the 20,000 individ ual filters in every Viceroy tip Filter cigarettes began catching on Blow to Sales The public obviously did not take all this with a tut so what attitude fast In 1953 close to 14 billion were sold in the U. mainly Viceroy Kent and Parliament Although this was still only about 3.5 of the nation's total paid cigarette output the cigarette industry's Big Three sensed a trend Liggett & Meyers Chesterfield introduced M in October 1953 R. J. Reynolds Camel launched Winston in March 1954 and five months later American Tobacco Lucky Millions of people suddenly began smoking fewer cigarettes or cut out smoking entirely Amid all the excitement cigarette sales which normally increase about 4 to % a year dropped % in 1953 and 4.5 in 1954. As one observer put it What quickly helped to pull the cigarette industry out of a tailspin was the immediate public ac- ceptance of filters In fact last year to a considerable extent because of Strike brought out filter Herbert Tareyton filters cigarette consumption reversing its year downtrend increased 3.4 over 1954 but was still below the 1952 Frank Adams Hall Syndicate Smoking hasn't hurt him physically but mentally he's a wreck He's tor tured with the fear that his cigarette doesn't have as many filter traps as 1 any other brand Prime Factor Cancer Scare Behind all this was not merely the dazzle of multimillion ad- vertising campaigns or the capricious ness of public taste By far the biggest peak With the increasing attention being paid to filter cigarettes the tobacco industry as newer before intensified its research on the central problem the nature of cigarette smoke As has long are not only harmless but contribute to smoking satisfaction Are entirely safe materials themselves Are tasteless and have an attractive appearance and feel Do not interfere appreciably with the flow of cigarette smoke Are inexpensive and simple to manufacture and incorporate into cigarettes Of course cigarette manufacturers can try entirely different approaches that do not involve filters One method is the use of special varieties of tobacco The John Alden brand for example is made from tobacco containing a naturally low nicotine content As another technique unwanted ingredients can be greatly reduced during the processing of the tobacco itself An extraction process is the basis for the low nicotine content of King Sano cigarettes However many manufac- turers who have experimented with such treatment find it generally unsatisfactory because it can cause downgrading in tobacco quality One of the nation's heaviest cigarette smokers this smoking machine in the labs of P. Lorillard has tested thousand of cigarettes for smoking qualities and nicotine and tar content as part of the research on Kent cigarettes Basic material in Kent's filter is Micronite which filters out particles as small as 0.2 been known this smoke is a complex mixture of gases liquids and solids A single puff may contain as many as 25 billion smoke particles Included among the gases are carbon dioxide carbon monoxide carbonyl sulfide acetylene methane ethane propane butane and other compounds In the liquid and solid phases are the nicotine and tars The tars alone contain at least 45 different compounds and many more are suspected In the solid and liquid phases are virtually all of the ingredients that give tobacco its char- acteristic flavor and aroma In almost all cases cigarette filters today are mechanical in action They trap a portion of the solid and liquid particles but essentially none of the gases An exception to this is the Herbert Tareyton filter which contains activated charcoal to adsorb part of the gases while a portion of the solids and liquids is trapped by purified cellulose paper In cigarette filtration the manufac- turer is not too sure about what he is actually trying to remove He prob ably wants to reduce the concentration of the toxic material nicotine and of the tar ingredients known to be irritants And if one or more compounds are found to be factors in lung cancer he certainly wants to eliminate these also But which specific compounds are involved in lung cancer one knows for sure Of course it does not take a laboratory wizard to develop a filter that will remove massive portions of the smoke But will the resulting cigarette be so stripped of flavor and aroma that it will not really be worth smoking In their continuing search for filters manufacturers are looking for mate- rials that Will selectively remove from the smoke the unwanted substances while eliminating a minimum of those that A Chemical Approach As a different approach some companies have been experimenting with the impregnation of the filter or cigarette paper with compounds that eliminate unwanted ingredients from tobacco smoke by reacting with them chemically An example is the recent research of Rand Development Corp. on the addition of ammonium sulfa- mate to cigarette paper When subjected to the heat of the burning cigarette ammonium sulfamate gives off ammonia which reacts with the re- portedly carcinogenic compound 3,4benzopyrene found in low concentration in the smoke of tobacco and ciga- rette paper ; Obviously in the competitive ciga- rette industry research directors do not make a practice of sounding off about latest research projects Yet even now there are indications that the chemical approach to the treatment of cigarette smoke is gaining ground Says the re- search director of one company The cigarette filter of the future will involve selectivity based on chemical reactions By impregnation of the filter with the proper chemical the objectionable ele- ments in the smoke can be removed without affecting the other elements that give aroma and satisfaction . We are positive that cigarette filters are here to stay and we are equally confi- dent that the filter of the future will involve chemicals the broad sense 1848 EN APRIL 16 1958