Cigarette

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Unlit filtered cigarettes

"Cig" redirects here. For other uses, see Cig (disambiguation).

A cigarette (French "small cigar", from cigar + -ette) is a product consumed through
smoking and manufactured out of cured and finely cut tobacco leaves and reconstituted
tobacco, often combined with other additives,[1] then rolled or stuffed into a paper-
wrapped cylinder (generally less than 120 mm in length and 10 mm in diameter). The
cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder for the purpose of inhalation of its
smoke from the other (usually filtered) end, which is inserted in the mouth. They are
sometimes smoked with a cigarette holder. The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers
to a tobacco cigarette but can apply to similar devices containing other herbs, such as
cannabis.

Nicotine, the primary psychoactive chemical in tobacco, is addictive. Cigarette use has
also been shown to cause multiple types of cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease,
circulatory disease, birth defects (which include mental and physical disability) and
emphysema.[2][3]

Rates of cigarette smoking vary widely. While rates of smoking have leveled off or
declined in the developed world, they continue to rise in the undeveloped world. [4][5]

A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its smaller size, use of processed leaf, and
white paper wrapping. Cigars are typically composed entirely of whole-leaf tobacco.