Cigarette filters are not exactly a new invention and have been in use since the 1950s as a consequence of growing public anxiety about smoking and lung cancer. Tobacco corporations claimed that filtration techniques would make smoking "safer" because they would reduce levels of tar, nicotine, or other hazardous chemicals inhaled by smokers. These days almost all commercially manufactured cigarettes have some type of filter put into them, and by today have come to be recognized as an industry standard.
Cigarette filters are constructed from cellulose acetate, which is a type of plastic. However there are some filters that are made from more traditional materials like charcoal or other absorptive materials. The main role of any filter is to trap and reduce internal amount of tar, nicotine, and other chemicals before they enter the lungs of the smoker.
Filtration of Particles: The filter blocks physically some of the larger particles existing in smoke reducing the amount of tar and ash that reaches the lungs.
Absorption of Gases: Some filters, mainly charcoal-based, absorb toxic and harmful gases like carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and ammonia which pose a health risk.
Cooling Smoke: The filters also cool the smoke, hence making it feel smooth on the throat and reducing the stingy feeling a smoker gets from hot smoke.
Even the best filter could only reduce a small amount of the noxious ingredient found in tobacco smoke. Among the thousands of chemicals present in smoke, there are at least seventy known to be carcinogenic. Filters do not remove all exposure to these toxic materials, many of which still end up making their way to the smoker's lungs.
Compensatory smoking is an important concern with filtered cigarettes. Since filters reduce the level of nicotine delivered in each puff, smokers tend to take deeper draughts or more frequently draw from the cigarette, or may even smoke more cigarettes to satiate their cravings. These steps might nullify any benefit that the filter would provide by enhancing the consumption of hazardous substances in return.
Whether filtered or not, cigarette smoking continues to be harmful, and the preference by many smokers for the former means that smokers take cigarette smoking very lightly due to a false perception and sense of security. Such feeling seems to discourage quitting as smokers feel that they are immune from harms of smoking. And the result is prlonging a smoker's exposure to possible health risks.
Cigarette filters, nowadays, are a massive environmental pollutant. Made from cellulose acetate, they do not biodegrade easily and add to plastic pollution. Millions of cigarette butts are daily littered about, thus polluting water bodies and adversely affecting wildlife.
However, the cigarette filter is a major environmental pollutant. Because of their major component-cellulose acetate-they therefore do not biodegrade easily, constituting a huge input towards plastic pollution. With millions of cigarette butts being littered each day on earth, destruction of water source-and wildlife-so goes.
Experimental comparisons of filtered cigarettes with unfiltered ones show little difference in overall health outcomes. Those that smoke filtered cigarettes still run a fairly high risk of lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, and other diseases associated with and caused by the act of smoking.
Cigarette filters, on the whole, tend to be not very effective in reducing the hazards of smoking, and there are multiple other ways to make traditional smoking safer, such as
Nicotine replacement therapy: This is an effective therapy to quit smoking and involves using nicotine patches and gum that substitute the craving for a cigarette for a smoker. This less dependence on smoking helps quitting in the long run.
E-cigarettes and vaping: Although vaping is not 100% safe, the vape smoke is cleaner than a cigarette's as it has less tar in it.
Tobacco-free Nicotine Products: An innovative range of products like nicotine pouches and heated tobacco devices have completely eliminated the smoke and smokers can get their craving satisfied without exposing their lungs to tobacco smoke.
Quitting: But nothing beats quitting smoking completely. Although it takes efforts there are several methods that can be used to quit like counseling, medication and support groups.
Cigarette filters may filter out some harmful substances, but in no way do they render smoking safe. This may create an undue sense of safety and lead to compensatory smoking behaviour that negates any advantages. The highest way to minimize smoking risks is to quit or switch to alternatives shown to have a much lower health risk. If you or someone you know is quitting smoking, professional assistance and cessation aids can really help. The sooner you stop, the benefits to your health will be even greater.
