A cigarette, also known colloquially as a fag in British English, is a narrow cylinder containing psychoactive material, usually tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. Most cigarettes contain a “reconstituted tobacco” product known as “sheet”, which consists of “recycled [tobacco] stems, stalks, scraps, collected dust, and floor sweepings”, to which are added glue, chemicals and fillers; the product is then sprayed with nicotine that was extracted from the tobacco scraps, and shaped into curls.
The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Most modern cigarettes are filtered, although this does not decrease health risks associated with smoking. Cigarette manufacturers have described cigarettes as a drug administration system for the delivery of nicotine in acceptable and attractive form. Cigarettes are addictive (because of nicotine) and cause cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and other health problems.
Cigarette Factory – Making, Packaging Processes, Overwraps
The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette but is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is typically white. Cigar wrappers are typically composed of tobacco leaf or paper dipped in tobacco extract.
Smoking rates have generally declined in the developed world, but continue to rise in developing nations. Cigarette smoking is associated with serious health risks; nicotine is also highly addictive. About half of cigarette smokers die of tobacco-related disease and lose on average 14 years of life. Cigarettes cause between 1 and 1.4 deaths per million smoked, with a lag period of roughly 25 years. According to Dr. Robert Proctor, the 6 trillion cigarettes smoked in 1990 caused around 1 death every 5 seconds in 2015.
Cigarette use by pregnant women has also been shown to cause birth defects, including low birth weight, fetal abnormalities, and premature birth. Second-hand smoke from cigarettes causes many of the same health problems as smoking, including cancer, which has led to legislation and policy that has prohibited smoking in many workplaces and public areas. Cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemical compounds, including arsenic, formaldehyde, cyanide, lead, nicotine, carbon monoxide, acrolein, and other poisonous substances. Over 70 of these are carcinogenic.
Additionally, cigarettes are a frequent source of mortality-associated fires in private homes, which prompted both the European Union and the United States to ban cigarettes that are not fire-standard compliant from 2011 onwards.
Many governments impose restrictions on smoking tobacco, especially in public areas. The primary justification has been the negative health effects of second-hand smoke. Laws vary by country and locality. Bhutan is currently the only country in the world to completely outlaw the cultivation, harvesting, production, and sale of tobacco and tobacco products under the Tobacco Control Act of Bhutan 2010.
However, small allowances for personal possession are permitted as long as the possessors can prove that they have paid import duties. The Pitcairn Islands had previously banned the sale of cigarettes, but it now permits sales from a government-run store. The Pacific island of Niue hopes to become the next country to prohibit the sale of tobacco. Iceland is also proposing banning tobacco sales from shops, making it prescription-only and therefore dispensable only in pharmacies on doctor’s orders. New Zealand hopes to achieve being tobacco-free by 2025 and Finland by 2040. Singapore and the Australian state of Tasmania have proposed a ‘tobacco free millennium generation initiative’ by banning the sale of all tobacco products to anyone born in and after the year 2000.
In March 2012, Brazil became the world’s first country to ban all flavored tobacco including menthols. It also banned the majority of the estimated 600 additives used, permitting only eight. This regulation applies to domestic and imported cigarettes. Tobacco manufacturers had 18 months to remove the noncompliant cigarettes, 24 months to remove the other forms of noncompliant tobacco. Under sharia law, the consumption of cigarettes by Muslims is prohibited. In the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant the consumption, and even its possession is illegal.
