Relative Ignition Propensity of Test Market Cigarettes

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff requested that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conduct tests to determine whether a test market cigarette made with a slower burning paper would reduce the risk that such a cigarette, if dropped or discarded, would start a fire. While NIST does not routinely perform product tests, it agreed to do so in this case, recognizing the important role of the FTC in assuring the public of the veracity of product claims and the high potential for less fire-prone cigarettes to reduce fire deaths and injuries. NIST staff purchased conventional and modified cigarettes from the test market and measured the relative ignition propensities of the two cigarette types using the Mock-up Ignition Test Method and the Cigarette Extinction Test Method, both developed under the Fire Safe Cigarette Act of 1990. Analysis of the test data shows that the modified cigarette has a lower relative ignition propensity than the conventional cigarette.