# Philip Morris cigarette additive - Di-GL? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philip-morris-cigarette-additive-di-gl/993820 "2023-11-28T18:36:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philip-morris-cigarette-additive-di-gl/993820/1 "2023-11-28T18:36:35Z")
In a 1953 ad Philip Morris claimed their exclusive additive, Di-Gl would remove the “irritating vapors” in all the other cigarettes. Heck, they were so clean they did not need “…gadgets or filters.” Any idea what that marvelous ingredient was? [![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23Z0_Mb5XT7g7zflApUCFyijiDwMjaW05SZntCRVgXPyhzML8JNGf0dhpoOcvc5pP9VxtEMW-LKiH3Kc56NGc19-OFoxOIxVT2sNOpHjngLfYaOjLiNftBc9_nlhRmJFi8UbOYfmJwectxvz4UVi9-vfXRY3h9uDLsjUc9gYKcBF_8ikxe15QTiwPu2o/s2198/smoking%20fear.jpg) ](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23Z0_Mb5XT7g7zflApUCFyijiDwMjaW05SZntCRVgXPyhzML8JNGf0dhpoOcvc5pP9VxtEMW-LKiH3Kc56NGc19-OFoxOIxVT2sNOpHjngLfYaOjLiNftBc9_nlhRmJFi8UbOYfmJwectxvz4UVi9-vfXRY3h9uDLsjUc9gYKcBF_8ikxe15QTiwPu2o/s2198/smoking%20fear.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philip-morris-cigarette-additive-di-gl/993820/2 "2023-11-28T18:39:21Z")
Diethylene Glycol Edit, and I found this: > Diethylene Glycol (DEG) Humectants, or moisturizing agents, are used in cigarette tobacco blends to assist with aerosol formation and thus make cigarette smoke “milder.” The more that nicotine can be dissolved in the tar droplets, the less irritating the smoke is to the consumer’s throat and the easier it is to inhale. It came from this [link](https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft8489p25j&chunk.id=d0e7944&toc.id=&brand=ucpress), but the page wouldn’t load and that was the summary from the google results. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philip-morris-cigarette-additive-di-gl/993820/3 "2023-11-28T19:35:25Z")
[MSDS for diethylene glycol](https://www.fishersci.com/store/msds?partNumber=D491&productDescription=DIETHYLENE+GLYCOL+REAGENT+1L&vendorId=VN00033897&countryCode=US&language=en) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philip-morris-cigarette-additive-di-gl/993820/4 "2023-11-28T20:48:56Z")
Her unfortunate pose reminds the reader how she’ll smoke cigarettes after her tracheostomy. No fear, though. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philip-morris-cigarette-additive-di-gl/993820/5 "2023-11-28T21:37:56Z")
I was surprised at the droopiness of the cigarette. It obviously isn’t a straight cylinder. But it sure should be. Also the hand is the wrong size for the woman. Said another way, the camera POV is too close, so there’s forced perspective distorting her face vs hand. Although that might mostly be about making the cig as large as possible. She’s definitely smoking the King size version. My grandfather was a commercial artist back in those days and physically assembling that page from some typewritten copy text and some separate component photos would have been his bread and butter. Not that he worked on tobacco accounts specifically. Fixing the cigarette, delivering her perfect skin, touched up eyebrows, and making the pearls stand out are all in the gift of an airbrush, an Exacto knife, some very fine India ink nibs, and a very steady hand. As a kid I never learned to do any of that stuff, but I did learn a lot about how to spot good or bad work. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philip-morris-cigarette-additive-di-gl/993820/6 "2023-11-29T02:17:53Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Her unfortunate pose reminds the reader how she’ll smoke cigarettes after her tracheostomy. No fear, though I lol-ed! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philip-morris-cigarette-additive-di-gl/993820/7 "2023-11-29T06:25:50Z")
I believe that is one of the controversial (and major) ingredients in e-cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philip-morris-cigarette-additive-di-gl/993820/8 "2023-11-30T14:23:00Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I was surprised at the droopiness of the cigarette. It obviously isn’t a straight cylinder. I see what you’re saying, but I think that’s an optical illusion caused by the border around the text breaking the line of the cigarette. Or maybe the shading at its far end. Turn the page sideways and look down the length of the cigarette, and you’ll see that it is perfectly straight. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philip-morris-cigarette-additive-di-gl/993820/9 "2023-11-30T14:36:17Z")
That’s entirely consistent with that one famous whistleblower’s report years ago that the tobacco companies viewed their cigarettes as essentially a ‘nicotine delivery unit’ and that various additives were put in to facilitate easier consumption of that nicotine.