DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: THE FILTER

Focus on:our products

Flexible and effective new solutions based on G.D's DF10 and FC8 machines will make it possible for cigarette manufacturers to exploit the opportunities for product characterisation offered by special filters.

Roberto Frazzoli

The tobacco industry is very interested in opportunities to characterise both cigarettes and packets, reachable by using innovative technical solutions that confer a specific and exclusive identity on a product, strengthening its appeal to the consumer.
The market already offers examples of cigarette packets that differ from traditional formats, boasting rounded corners, sealable closure systems, or closure-systems otherwise different from the traditional hinge-lid format. But as far as the cigarette itself is concerned, one of the most interesting characterisation options is the use of special filters, that is, filters with a more complex structure than the standard white acetate filter. Special filters make it possible to offer cigarettes with particular features related to filtering capacity, flavouring and aesthetic appeal.
Major cigarette companies have already successfully launched brands that use characterising special filters, and it's safe to predict that this hitherto strictly niche market will soon become much more significant.
Until now, special filters have mostly been made by adapting existing machinery for standard filters to produce one particular kind of special filter. But the continuing rise in output volumes means that this is the time to create more effective and flexible solutions capable of manufacturing different types of special filters without falling short of the exacting productivity and quality standards of today's tobacco industry.
In line with this market trend, G.D is providing a complete range of solutions for the manufacture of special filters. This new offer, made possible by the recent creation of a specially devoted engineering team , includes two latest-generation machines – the DF10 filter maker and the FC8 filter combiner and the innovatory devices that can be added to them.

Different types of special filters

The main established types of special filters – familiar items for some years now – include multiple filters that contain segments enriched with granules of activated carbon (elements that effectively absorb some of the toxic substances present in the smoke) and recessed filters that come with a hollow in the tip, made either by creating a cavity in the end of the filter or simply by using a paper wrap that is longer than the filter. The recessed filter characterises both the visual appearance of the cigarette and the tactile and taste sensations involved in smoking it.
Among more recent innovations are filters that incorporate a menthol thread and those that contain crushable capsules. In the first case, a coloured thread soaked in menthol runs through the centre of a normal acetate filter which, as well as carrying the menthol flavour, creates a coloured point at the centre of the tip's end, adding a visual signature to the cigarette. In the second case, a capsule containing an flavoured substance (most frequently menthol) is inserted inside a normal acetate filter: the flavour remains sealed as long as the capsule remains intact, but if the smoker exerts pressure on the filter, the capsule breaks and the flavour is released. This filter makes it possible to transform an ordinary cigarette into a flavoured cigarette; the smoker decides whether and when to do so.
Another innovative option is the coloured filter which is available in two variants: the colour can either cover the entire acetate filter cylinder or only one part of it, to allow the addition of decorative motifs at its extreme tip for instance. Among the most recent innovations has been a widening of the options for multiple filters: today it is possible to have up to five segments containing different materials with different filtering or flavouring properties. Here the range of possibilities (apart from the traditional acetate or activated carbon) includes flavoured elements such as menthol, capsules containing liquids, segments containing only activated carbon granules or only tobacco, for instance..

Additional groups for the DF10 and the FC8

G.D's offer for manufacturing special filters is based on the DF10 filter maker and the FC8 filter combiner, both of which feature dual-rod systems, compact dimensions and extremely high production speeds.
For the DF10, in particular, G.D has already begun developing units that can be added to the main unit that will allow for the production of filters containing menthol threads or flavoured capsules and that – thanks to the modularity of the system – can be quickly adapted to produce different kinds of filter simply by substituting a mechanical group unit. The FC8 offers, as well as modules for creating multiple filters, a further option to make it possible to produce recessed filters. Because of their dual-rod technology, both machines can reach very high output speeds even using these special additional applications.
The DF10 and FC8 machines offer special filter manufacturers all the advantages of latest-generation machinery with, above all, high levels of performance and flexibility.

A specialised engineering team

G.D does not intend to stop here. It has an entire engineering team dedicated to the field of special filters; this team will be responsible for assisting cigarette manufacturers to develop solutions best suited to balance their need for new marketing appeal with their output targets, mainly through the customisation of additional groups. Through the combination of specialist expertise and the new technical options it has developed for the DF10 and FC8 machines, G.D offers the possibility of reducing the costs of special filter manufacture, thereby boosting the competitiveness of manufacturers who make use of this attractive new possibility for product characterisation.