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.

New Oregon law might make cigarettes prescription only

Trying to quit smoking? You might want to move to Oregon. A new bill would classify cigarettes as a Schedule III controlled substance, making them illegal to purchase without a doctor’s prescription. Portland Rep. Mitch Greenlick introduced the bill in the Oregon State Legislature in an attempt to reduce the number of addicted people, but has received criticism from smokers and non-smokers alike who believe the initiative is not feasible. Under Greenlick’s proposal, smokers would be charged with a misdemeanor and face up to one year’s imprisonment and a $6,250 fine for being caught with a cigarette or any of the other Schedule III controlled substances, including ketamine, lysergic acid and anabolic steroids. The bill also prohibits the State Board of Pharmacy from adopting rules that exempt any nicotine products from the legislation, which would include chewing tobacco, nicotine patches and gums, among others. Law enforcement agencies would have the right to inspect all products that they believe might contain nicotine.

New Year anti-smoking campaign highlights cancer risks

The government is looking to capitalise on the British penchant for making health-related New Year resolutions with a hard-hitting £3m ad campaign designed to shock smokers into quitting. The Department of Health's campaign, developed by agency Dare, marks a return to the shock advertising tactics employed eight years ago to directly target smokers. The campaign has been developed on the back of research which shoes that more than a third of smokers still believe that the health risks associated with smoking are "greatly exaggerated". In the campaign, which will run on TV, posters and billboards and online, a cigarette a smoker is inhaling is seen transformed into a cancerous looking growth.

Smoke-Free Policies with No-Effects

The statistics just prove that non-smoking campaigns have not had a greater effect than the growing number of cigarette advertisements put out on television, radio, billboards, in cinemas, magazines and on promotional stands at malls. They are, in fact, much more eye-catching and interesting than the old, stale non-smoking campaigns. Up to now, the government only suggests rather than acts in order to lower the number of smokers.