What is Cigarette Paper?

Cigarette paper is simply rolling paper that is cut into sections that are the ideal size for assembling a cigarette. This strong tissue paper is formulated to provide enough support to contain the loose tobacco during the rolling process, but porous enough to make it possible to control the speed of burning that takes place as the cigarette is smoked. Roll-your-own cigarettes once enjoyed a great deal of popularity. Smokers would purchase one of several high quality blends of tobacco and use it as filler for their own cigarettes. A line of tobacco was placed near one end of the smoking paper and then rolled into a cylinder. Wetting the closing end of the paper with a small amount of saliva provided a simple seal that would prevent the tobacco from falling out when the cigarette was smoked. While mass-produced cigarettes control the majority of the tobacco market, it is still relatively easy to obtain good quality loose tobacco and cigarette paper. The paper is sometimes sold in a small box, with each individual sheet placed in a stack. It is also possible to obtain cigarette in a flip top book that is not unlike the design of a matchbook. Smoking paper in this form is usually bound in the book, making it necessary for a sheet of paper to be gently torn out for use.

How Large Is the Tobacco Industry?

Annual global tobacco sales total about $661 billion US Dollars (USD), more than 90 percent of which comes from cigarette sales. About 7 million tons of tobacco are grown and harvested every year. China and the United States are the world's largest consumers of tobacco, China making up more than 20 percent of tobacco sales and the U.S. accounting for about 13 percent. More facts about the tobacco industry: Marlboro remains one of the most recognized cigarette brands, and the Marlboro portfolio accounts for about one-third of the global tobacco industry. Other big tobacco brands include L&M, with about a 10 percent share, and Philip Morris, with about a 4 percent share. More than 120 billion Marlboro cigarettes are sold each year in the U.S. Europeans are statistically heavy tobacco users, with the European Union accounting for about one-fifth of global tobacco usage. Within Europe, Italians and Germans use the most tobacco. According to the medical journal The Lancet, tobacco is the third-most addictive recreational drug, just after heroin and cocaine. That makes tobacco more addictive than street methadone, amphetamines or ecstasy.