What chemicals are added to cigarettes and what is their purpose?
In: Chemistry
Cigarettes are almost entirely additives and they are there to make the nicotine more easily and quickly absorbed to make the drug more efficient and addictive. They use additives to make the molecule shorter so it absorbs easier into the bloodstream they change the ph so it is less abrasive on the lungs so it can be inhaled more deeply with less pain.
Modern cigarettes are not really tobacco. They take tobacco and liquify it to extract the nicotine. The solid matter left is made into paper and bleached. They then spray the liquified tobacco and additives called liquor back onto the paper made from the solids that are then chopped into the bits that fill the cigarette. Up to 1/3 of the product is recycled stale cigarettes that didn’t sell within a certain time.
So compared to say a hand rolled cigar which is literally rolled leaves a cigarette is as about as processed as conceivable. The twinkie to a pastry.
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