A cigarette is a disposable smoke delivery device consisting of a small (generally less than 10cm in length and 10mm in diameter) cylinder of cured and shredded or cut tobacco leaves, wrapped in paper, which is ignited and allowed to smolder for the purpose of inhaling its smoke. The term, as commonly used, typically refers to a tobacco cigarette, but can apply to similar devices containing other herbs. In New York a very thin paper wrap make it less prone to ignite external things.
A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its small size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping; cigars are typically composed entirely of whole leaf tobacco. A small, cigarette-sized cigar is called a cigarillo. Cigarettes were largely unknown in the English-speaking world until the Crimean War.
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, to enhance the smokers 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.
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).
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.
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 20 cigarettes. 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.
Before the Second World War many manufacturers gave away collectiblecards, one in each packet of cigarettes. This practice was discontinued to save paper during the war, and was never generally reintroduced. On April 1, 1970 President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law banning cigarette television advertisements in the United States starting on January 1, 1971. However, some tobacco companies attempted to circumvent the ban by marketing new brands of cigarettes as "little cigars;" examples included Tijuana Smalls, which came out almost immediately after the ban took effect, and Backwoods Smokes, which hit the market in the winter of 1973-1974 and whose ads used the slogan, "How can anything that looks so wild taste so mild?"
The sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to minors under 18 is now prohibited by law in all fifty states of the US (in Alaska and Utah the statutory age is 19, and legislation was pending as of 2004 in some other states, including California, to raise the age to 19, or even 21 in some cases). Similar laws exist in many other countries as well.
Premier was a smokeless cigarette released in the USA in 1988 by RJR.
Smoking increases the metabolic rate, and thus can slightly reduce a smoker's weight.
Nicotine is quite an effective appetite suppressant, and former smokers often develop junk food habits as they attempt to satisfy their tobacco cravings with snacks. One-third of those who stop smoking do experience a weight gain.
