Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/658237
tobaccoasia 29 photos courtesy of Essentra facturers active today with production facilities in the United States, Paraguay, Hungary, United Arab Emirates, Thai- land, India, and Indonesia in addition to three development centers in Hungary, US, and Indonesia, a research laboratory in the UK, and e-cigarette production also based in the UK. According to es- timates, approximately 80% of all cur- rently produced cigarette brands world- wide incorporate monoacetate filters. Considered standard and having been around since the late 1950s, they are the easiest to produce, which may explain their ongoing popularity. Dual filters – a step up the evolu- tionary ladder – consist of two filter segments, each with different design parameters such as pressure drop, po- rosity, etc. This allows the design to be tailored to meet specific requirements. Instead of two tow segments, one of the segments can also include activated carbon or charcoal, a combination that is even more effective in terms of filter- ing out impurities, and also provides the smoker with a smoother, "cooler", mel- lower tobacco taste. The New Stars: Specialty Filters With tobacco consumption going down in many regions, competition among to- bacco companies is rapidly intensifying. To defend market shares and to capture new markets, innovation and providing consumers with more choice is becoming ever more important. While in the not too distant past mono and dual filters were practically the only options available, fil- ter manufacturers – in tandem with their tobacco firm clients – are now offering a whole new generation of specialty fil- ters that impress not only with enhanced functionality but often also truly imagina- tive and innovative design. Cute Shapes, Flavorful Capsules For example, Lithuanian company Ne- muno Banga LLC manufactures a broad range of specialty filters with creative hol- low tube segments that come in a vari- ety of shapes from hearts to triangles to stars or any other shape the client sug- gests. The company also produces spe- cialty filters with embedded flavor cap- sules, which when compressed and thus crushed by the smoker, release a variety of aromas that give a completely changed taste sensation within the same cigarette. Mono filter with embedded single flavoring capsule Dual filter with two embedded flavoring capsules photos courtesy of Nemuno Banga LLC