EFFECT OF COTTON DUCK NUMBER-6 INTER-BOLT VARIABILITY ON CIGARETTE IGNITION PROPENSITY TEST OUTCOME

To determine the effect of inter-bolt variability of duck #6 fabrics o n cigarette ignition propensity, four bolts of duck #6 fabrics purchas ed according to guidelines described by the National Institute of Stan dards and Technology (NIST) were used in testing the ignition propensi ty of two experimental cigarettes according to a test method proposed by NIST. Results for each of the cigarettes were highly dependent on t he bolt used in preparing the mockup. Inter-bolt variability of cotton duck #6 fabric was found to produce a statistically significant diffe rence in the ignition results for the same cigarette. The results supp ort an earlier study performed with duck #4 fabric. Numbered duck fabr ics are no longer manufactured in the USA. Use of imported duck fabric s might introduce additional variables to the cotton duck fabric prope rties that could well lead to an even greater variability in cigarette ignition propensity testing.