4 ms·

According to the documentary "Merchants of Doubt," there were modifications that could be made to cigarette design to reduce the likelihood of causing a fire, b

According to the documentary "Merchants of Doubt," there were modifications that could be made to cigarette design to reduce the likelihood of causing a fire, but the companies resisted changing their products.

klyrs 7y ago
Do you remember what modifications were on the table? Kinda seems like a cigarette is a punk (in the pyrotechnic sense)... I'm having trouble seeing anything that would be effective without being annoying enough for people to work around.
- namdnay 7y ago
  By changing the formula for the paper, you can have a cigarette that will go out if you don't drag on it for 30-60s, just like a hand-rolled. But obviously that's bad for business..
  - furgooswft13 7y ago
    > have a cigarette that will go out if you don't drag on it for 30-60s Have you smoked a cigarette recently (as in at least the past 10 years)?. This is absolutely what they do. I'm not sure what the exact flame out time is for any particular brand, but it's a real drag (ahem) for people who like to smoke slowly, as the first re-lit hit feels very harsh. According to Wikipedia[1] fire-safe cigarettes are required in all 50 states as of 2011. It's been awhile since I've smoked but I remember me and my friends bitching about the fire safe paper many years before that. We also theorized that it was making the cig more harsh in general. Of course we never had any evidence of this. I might be wrong about this, but it seems to me that simple paper + tobacco hand rolled cigs natural behavior would be to not flame out, or do so much more slowly. What's stopping it from continuing to burn? 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_safe_cigarette#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_safe_cigarette#United_Sta...
    - kick 7y ago
      The US is not the UK.
      - dfox 7y ago
        But it still is/was/whatever in EU, where the self extinguishing cigarettes are also mandatory.
    - namdnay 7y ago
      Indeed I haven't smoked for a long long time. It seems that they were implemented end of 2011 in the EU For hand rolled I'm not sure, I just remember that they would go out much easier, whatever is rolled inside of them
dx034 7y ago
I believe that's mandated now in the EU. Cigarettes will stop burning if left alone for a few minutes. Very annoying for inattentive smokers. But I'm not sure how much of an effect that had on fires.

klyrs 7y ago

Do you remember what modifications were on the table? Kinda seems like a cigarette is a punk (in the pyrotechnic sense)... I'm having trouble seeing anything that would be effective without being annoying enough for people to work around.

namdnay 7y ago
By changing the formula for the paper, you can have a cigarette that will go out if you don't drag on it for 30-60s, just like a hand-rolled. But obviously that's bad for business..
- furgooswft13 7y ago
  > have a cigarette that will go out if you don't drag on it for 30-60s Have you smoked a cigarette recently (as in at least the past 10 years)?. This is absolutely what they do. I'm not sure what the exact flame out time is for any particular brand, but it's a real drag (ahem) for people who like to smoke slowly, as the first re-lit hit feels very harsh. According to Wikipedia[1] fire-safe cigarettes are required in all 50 states as of 2011. It's been awhile since I've smoked but I remember me and my friends bitching about the fire safe paper many years before that. We also theorized that it was making the cig more harsh in general. Of course we never had any evidence of this. I might be wrong about this, but it seems to me that simple paper + tobacco hand rolled cigs natural behavior would be to not flame out, or do so much more slowly. What's stopping it from continuing to burn? 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_safe_cigarette#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_safe_cigarette#United_Sta...
  - kick 7y ago
    The US is not the UK.
    - dfox 7y ago
      But it still is/was/whatever in EU, where the self extinguishing cigarettes are also mandatory.
  - namdnay 7y ago
    Indeed I haven't smoked for a long long time. It seems that they were implemented end of 2011 in the EU For hand rolled I'm not sure, I just remember that they would go out much easier, whatever is rolled inside of them

dx034 7y ago

I believe that's mandated now in the EU. Cigarettes will stop burning if left alone for a few minutes. Very annoying for inattentive smokers. But I'm not sure how much of an effect that had on fires.