Rolling paper (nonfiction)
Rolling paper is a specialty paper used for making cigarettes (commercially manufactured filter cigarettes and individually made roll-your-own cigarettes). Rolling papers are packs of several cigarette-size sheets, often folded inside a cardboard wrapper.
Composition
Cigarette paper is made from thin and lightweight "rag fibers" (nonwood plant fibers) such as flax, hemp, sisal, rice straw, and esparto. The paper is available in rolls and rectangular sheets of varying sizes, and has a narrow strip of glue along one long edge. It may be transparent, colored and flavored. It has a high filler content and a basis weight of 10-28 g/m². To control the smoking properties, this paper has a porosity that is suited to the type of tobacco and contains additives that regulate burning. One critical paper characteristic is permeability; its primary physical influence is smoke dilution. Among the fillers used are calcium carbonate to influence the permeability and color, magnesium carbonate to improve ash color, or titanium oxide if a particularly white ash is required. Sodium potassium tartrate (Seignette's salt), sodium and potassium citrate are used as a combustion regulator in cigarette paper, increased levels result in faster burning papers. Poly(vinyl alcohol) in aqueous solution is used for cigarette adhesives.
Permeability is defined as the measure of the volume of air that flows through a specified area of cigarette paper in a given unit of time. It is measured in CORESTA units. US commercial filter cigarette brands have paper permeability between 14 and 51 CORESTA units. Increased cigarette paper permeability results in increased smoke dilution with air.
Other specialty papers for tobacco products include:
- Imitation cork paper is a brownish yellow colored paper used for the production of cigarette tips. It has an imitation cork imprint and joins the filter to the tobacco stick.
- Filter encasing paper is used for the production of acetate or cellulose filters. The tip paper may be covered with polyvinyl alcohol.[6]
- Cigar or cigarillo casing paper holds the chopped tobacco together and serves as the inner casing.
See also
- Rice Paper Bible - Christian stoner band based in New Minneapolis, Canada
- Rolling paper @ Wikipedia