LIP (Low Ignition Propensity) cigarettes extinguish due to low diffusivity bands, which are coated onto cigarette paper. Different coating materials may be used to produce these bands. Different coating materials have different taste impact.

To investigate this effect in more detail, we carried out a pyrolysis study. We studied different coating compounds in comparison to the pyrolysis products of normal cigarette paper. For this, standard cigarette paper was band coated with different LIP additives. All LIP bands were matched to the same diffusivity level of 0.14 cm/s.

The pyrolysis conditions tried to simulate the temperature profile during actual smoking. Hence we used two pyrolysis temperatures:

• 200 °C to simulate evaporation/distillation and the onset of the thermic decomposition
• 450 °C to simulate the decomposition close to the char line

Additionally, the reaction with TMAH (tetra methyl ammonium hydroxide) was used to further elucidate the chemical entities. As TMAH reacts with many of the chemical functionalities, it was also used as a “chemical probe” to further characterise the thermal reaction products.

All pyrolysis products were analysed via GC-MS (gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer). All experiments were run in triplicates.

The decomposition products of the different band materials were compared in relation to normal cigarette paper. The results were ranked according to their similarities with the pyrolysis products of standard cigarette paper.