Filter design can affect the smoking experience and even the
taste of cigarettes How are the components of a cigarette put
together in manufacturing and how can design vary the taste and
smoke yield? The cellulose acetate tow in a filter is a web of
fibres made from wood pulp. In manufacturing, the filter
material arrives as a single long band of over 10,000 fibres
pressed into large 750 kg bales. In a filter maker, this band of
compact fibres is mechanically stretched to open the fibres up,
sprayed with a plasticizer to bind them together, wrapped with
thin paper, cut, and fed into a cigarette-making machine.
Varying the taste and smoke yield Once the taste has been
determined, other design features can vary the strength of the
taste, and can reduce the yields of various smoke components, as
measured by a standardised machine method. Filter design: The
design of the filter can be varied, for example by making
perforations, by changing its length or its density (by using
more fibres), by the fineness of the f