It seems that with the increasing quest for harm reduction in cigarettes and the ongoing shift of tobacco manufacturing sites from the west to the east the big moment for special filters has finally arrived. Just how much market conditions for tobacco products have changed over the past ten years becomes quite clear when looking at the latest Euromonitor figures: In 2007, eastern Europe had twice the number of cigarette manufacturing sites as western Europe. While the east saw a quarter of factory closures between 1997 and 2007, twothirds of sites were shut down in the west during that period. At the same time, seven new sites were opened in the east, but none in the west. Similarly, sales of filtered cigarettes grew by 60 per cent in eastern Europe during those ten years but dropped by 15 per cent in the west. Cigarettes with carbon filters saw a particularly interesting development: They have always been popular in Japan, where they first originated, but also experienced popularity in South Korea, Hungary, Russia and Venezuela. Finally it looks as if other European markets are ready to embrace activated carbon filters. According to Euromonitor, sales of cigarettes with carbon filters grew by over six billion in western Europe over the last decade, while in eastern Europe, growth amounted to close to 100 billion cigarettes during the same period.