Bull. Spec. CORESTA Congress, Jerez de la Frontera, 1992, p. 96, ST22, ISSN.0525-6240
Study of air-flow effects on ignition propensity
American Tobacco Company, Hopewell, VA, USA
The objective of this study was to determine whether ignition results, similar to those observed under conditions of low air-flow at Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation Laboratory, could be produced in our laboratory. An air-flow channel and a range of potassium treated denim fabrics were provided by B&W. An identical channel was constructed in our laboratory. The cigarettes, G and J, were used in CORESTA Ignition Propensity Task Force Collaborative II, and were constructed to have projected ignition propensities at opposite poles. The lit cigarettes were placed on denim/foam mockups in the air channels and allowed to smolder under conditions of 0, 5 and 10 cm/s air-flows. In addition, an air-flow of 1.4 cm/s was included. This study supports B&W findings that low air-flows can cause significant changes in results of ignition propensity testing. A cigarette constructed with low density and low permeability paper can be more ignition prone than a conventional cigarette under conditions of extremely low air-flow.