# cigarette filters

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-filters/20133>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 21, 2000, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-filters/20133 "2000-05-21T21:50:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bigneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6f9a4e/32.png) [@bigneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigneck)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2000, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-filters/20133/1 "2000-05-21T21:50:18Z")

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Is there a considerable difference in the toxins inhaled between a filtered or a non-filtered cigarette?

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**Author:** ![Strider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Strider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strider)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-filters/20133/2 "2000-05-22T02:58:26Z")

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Yes.

-N

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**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-filters/20133/3 "2000-05-22T03:16:56Z")

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For the first couple of years the “micronite” filter in Kent cigarettes was asbestos.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-filters/20133/4 "2000-05-22T03:31:14Z")

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I vaguely recall reading somewhere (quite possibly in a source of dubious credibility) that filtered cigarettes are actually _more_ dangerous than unfiltered. I believe the hypothesis was that the filter cools the smoke which somehow makes it more dangerous. As I recall, the source said the purpose of the filter was not to make the cigarette safer, but to make the smoke taste less harsh. I know this source must be pretty old because it was many years ago that I read it. Filter techonolgy has probably improved since then.

[This site](http://www.chl.ca/HealthNews/971106_smokecancer.html) says that smokers of low-tar, unfiltered cigarettes are less likely to get squamous cell cancers in the upper part of the pulmonary system but more likely to get adenocarcinoma in the lower pulmonary system.

This [Science Fair Project](http://www.smartlink.net/~phillipj/smoking.htm) also makes interesting reading.