Home » Chapter 12: Tobacco Products » 12.6 Additives and flavourings in tobacco products » 12.6.7 Additives in Australian cigarettes

12.6.7 Additives in Australian cigarettes

Last updated: October 2023
Suggested citation: Winnall, WR. 12.6.7 Additives in Australian cigarettes. In Greenhalgh EM, Scollo, MM and Winstanley, MH [editors]. Tobacco in Australia: Facts and issues. Melbourne: Cancer Council Victoria; 2024. Available from https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-12-tobacco-products/12-6-7-additives-in-australian-cigarettes

Since the year 2000 there has been a voluntary agreement between the Commonwealth and the tobacco manufacturers for the disclosure of the ingredients in Australian cigarettes.¹ There are composite disclosures of hundreds of ingredients that companies say they potentially use. There are also brand-by-brand disclosures that list the major ingredients in descending order by weight. However, the industry claims that it cannot disclose all of the additives used in particular brands because that would mean giving up trade secrets and losing competitive advantage. Thus, it is not currently possible for consumers to know all of the ingredients used in each brand or the levels at which they are added.

Table 12.6.7.1 lists the additives in Australian cigarettes that were voluntarily disclosed to the Australian Government in 2020 by BAT Australia, Philip Morris and Imperial, the three main companies supplying cigarettes in Australia. The tobacco companies refer to these additives as ‘ingredients’. These include additives in the tobacco filler as well as other parts of the cigarette, such as the filter, paper wrap, adhesives and inks (see Sections 12.8.1 and 12.8.2 for further information on these components). Additives to the tobacco filler are designated as flavour (non-water-soluble mix of flavourings), casing (a water-soluble mix of favours and other additives), binder or humectant (chemicals that retain moisture).

Most of the additives listed in Table 12.6.7.1 are burned and their burned products become part of the emissions that are inhaled by smokers and people near them. Exceptions are the filter, tipping paper and inks used on these components. However, unburned chemicals from these components may still be inhaled. As most of the toxic chemicals in smoke are produced by the burning process (see Section 12.4) the toxic chemicals produced from the burning of these additives are not in the list of additives.

Table 12.6.7.1 Additives reported by Tobacco companies as used in the fillers of ready-made cigarettes sold in Australia in 2020 (numbers are ‘quantity not exceeded’ for the percent of the tobacco blend weight (flavours, fillers, binders or humectants) or percent of the total product weight for other components).

Chemical	Stated use	BATA	PM	ITA
2,4-Heptadienal	Flavour		0.0001
2-Heptanone	Flavour		0.0001
4-Methylacetophenone	Flavour		0.0001
6-Methyl-3,5-heptadien-2-one	Flavour		0.0001
6-Methyl-5-hepten-2-one	Flavour		0.0001
Acacia gum	Paper wrap			0.093
Acetanisole	Flavour	0.00001	0.005
Acetic acid	Flavour	0.00002	0.0005
Acetoin	Flavour	0.00004	0.0001	0.000087
Acetophenone	Flavour		0.0005
Acetyl pyrazine	Flavour			0.000013
Acetyl tri-butyl citrate	Filter paper/plugwrap papers			0.032
Acetyl tri-butyl citrate	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.06935	0.1	0.031
Acid blue 9 aluminium lake	Sidestream adhesive			0.001
Acrylic resin	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.00411
Activated charcoal	Filter		3
Alkyd resin	Monogram and die print ink	0.00231	0.005	0.001
Alkyl ketene dimer	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	0.01013
	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.00726	0.01	0.0089
	Filter paper/plugwrap papers		0.005
Allura red AC	Monogram and die print ink		0.001
Allura red lake	Monogram and die print ink	0.00156		0.001
Alpha methyl styrene resin	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	0.09217
Aluminium hydroxide	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.06127	0.05	0.053
Aluminium silicate	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.27211	0.2
Aluminium sulphate	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.02667
Aluminosilicates, natural	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.57014
Angelica root oil	Flavour	0.00001
Anise star oil	Flavour			0.000027
Anisylol	Flavour		0.0005
Apple juice/concentrate	Flavour	0.01223
Apricot extract	Flavour	0.00212
Benzaldehyde	Flavour	0.00008		0.000013
Benzoin resinoid sumatra	Flavour	0.00002	0.0001
Benzyl benzoate	Flavour	0.00002	0.0001
Benzyl butyrate	Flavour		0.0001
Benzyl carbinol	Flavour		0.0001
Boric acid	Sidestream adhesive		0.005
Boric acid	Tipping paper/filter adhesive		0.005
Brilliant blue FCF	Filter	0.00135
Brilliant blue FCF	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.005
Brilliant blue FCF aluminium lake	Monogram and die print ink	0.00079	0.001
Bronze powder	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.00781
Butric acid (n-)	Flavour		0.001	0.00001
Butyl butyrate	Flavour		0.0001
Butylated hydroxytoluene	Tipping paper/filter adhesive			0.00031
Calcium carbonate	Paper wrap	1.73244	3.5	1.5
	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	1.06303
	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.27211	1.1	0.64
	Monogram and die print ink	0.00033	0.0005	0.001
	Filter paper/plugwrap papers		0.9	0.39
Calcium chloride	Filter	0.00031
Caramel	Flavour	0.00017		0.0003
Caramel	Filter	0.0102
Carbo medicinalis vegetabilis	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.05
Carbon, activated	Filter	4.10068
Carboxymethylcellulose	Paper wrap		0.05
Carboxymethylcellulose	Filter paper/plugwrap papers		0.05
Cardamom seed oil	Flavour	0.00001
Carob bean extract	Flavour	0.04303		0.0024
Carob bean and/or extract	Casing		0.1
Carrageenan	Filter	0.17006
Carvone	Flavour			0.0083
Caryophyllene (beta-)	Flavour		0.0001
Cassia bark oil	Flavour	0.00002
Cellulose	Paper wrap		4	3.3
	Filter paper/plugwrap papers		6.6
	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		2.9	2.3
Cellulose acetate	Filter	18.437	16.4	16
Cellulose fibre	Binder	0.71222
	Paper wrap	3.78166		3.3
	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	3.73577
	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	3.0795		2.7
	Filter paper/plugwrap papers			1.8
Chamomile flower, hungarian, oil	Flavour		0.0001
Chamomile flower, roman, extract & oil	Flavour		0.0001
Chlorite	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.01	0.0093
Cinnamaldehyde	Flavour		0.0001
Cinnamyl isovalerate	Flavour		0.0001
Citral	Flavour		0.0001
Citric acid	Flavour	0.00003	0.05
Citronellol	Flavour		0.0001
Clary sage oil	Flavour	0.0001	0.0001
Cocoa and cocoa products	Casing		0.2
Cocoa and cocoa products	Flavour			0.26
Cocoa extract	Flavour	0.03014
Cocoa powder	Flavour	0.50824
Coffee extract	Flavour	0.00098
Collodion	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.2
Colophony	Monogram and die print ink			0.001
Coriander seed oil	Flavour		0.0001
Corn syrup, high fructose	Flavour	0.00188
Damascenone (beta-)	Flavour		0.0001
Damascone (beta-)	Flavour		0.0001	0.00003
Decalactone (Delta-)	Flavour	0.00005
Decalactone (gamma-)	Flavour		0.0001
Decanal	Flavour		0.0001
Decanoic acid	Flavour		0.0001
Diarylide yellow	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.005
Di-Isononyl-cyclohexane -1,2-dicarboxylate	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.01
Dill oil	Flavour		0.0001
Dimethyldihydrofuranolone (2,5-)	Flavour	0.00001
Disodium hydrogen phosphate	Filter paper and tipping paper ink			0.043
Epichlorhydrin resin	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	0.04465
Epichlorhydrin	Filter paper/plugwrap papers		0.005
Erythrosine	Monogram and die print ink	0.00016
Erythrosin 180	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.001
Ethyl acetate	Flavour		0.005
Ethyl butyrate	Flavour	0.00416	0.05
Ethyl cellulose	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.01
Ethyl cellulose	Filter paper/plugwrap papers			0.2
Ethyl decanoate	Flavour			0.00001
Ethyl heptanoate	Flavour	0.00001	0.0001
Ethyl hexanoate	Flavour		0.0001	0.00001
Ethyl isovalerate	Flavour	0.0001	0.0001
Ethyl maltol	Flavour		0.0001	0.0012
Ethyl nonanoate	Flavour		0.0001
Ethyl oenanthate	Flavour		0.0001
Ethyl phenylacetate	Flavour		0.0001	0.00001
Ethyl propionate	Flavour		0.0005
Ethyl vanillin	Flavour	0.0006	0.05
Ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	1.27637	2	0.61
Ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer	Sidestream adhesive	0.2772	1.5	0.094
Eucalyptol	Filter	0.00432
Fatty acids, C16-18, calcium salts	Filter paper/plugwrap papers			0.000073
Fenugreek extract	Flavour	0.00527
Fenugreek oleoresin	Flavour	0.00073
Fig extract	Flavour	0.00408
Fluoropolymer acetate salt	Filter paper/plugwrap papers		0.05
Gelatin	Filter		0.2
Geraniol	Flavour	0.00001	0.0001
Geranium rose oil	Flavour		0.0001
Geranyl acetate	Flavour		0.0001
Geranyl butyrate	Flavour		0.0001
Geranyl formate	Flavour		0.0001
Glycerol	Humectant	2.71899	3.1
	Filter	0.09901	0.05
	Binder			0.025
Glyceryl triacetate	Filter	2.53053		1.7
Glyceryl triacetate	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	0.1345		0.0017
Guar gum	Binder		0.9
	Paper wrap		0.05
	Filter paper/plugwrap papers		0.05	0.0086
	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.2
Heptalactone (gamma-)	Flavour		0.0001
Hexalactone (gamma-)	Flavour	0.003	0.0005
Hexanoic acid	Flavour		0.0001
Hexen-2-al	Flavour		0.0001
Hexyl acetate	Flavour		0.0001
Hydrocarbon resin	Tipping paper/filter adhesive			0.02
Hydrocarbon waxes	Tipping paper/filter adhesive			0.071
Hydroxyethylene, homopolymer	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	0.11061
Hydroxyethylene, homopolymer	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.00731
Immortelle extract	Flavour		0.0001
Indigotine	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.001
Ionone (alpha-)	Flavour		0.0001
Ionone (beta-)	Flavour	0.00001	0.0001	0.000014
Iron oxide black	Monogram and die print ink	0.00253
Iron oxide black	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.01779	0.2
Iron oxide red	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.02872	0.05
Iron oxide yellow	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.2853	0.2
Iron oxides	Monogram and die print ink			0.001
Iron oxides	Filter paper and tipping paper ink			0.17
Irone (alpha-)	Flavour	0.00001
Isoamyl acetate	Flavour	0.00052	0.0001
Isoamyl formate	Flavour		0.0001
Isoamyl isovalerate	Flavour	0.00012	0.0001
Isoamyl phenylacetate	Flavour	0.00002	0.0001
Isobutyraldehyde	Flavour	0.00001
Isobutyric acid	Flavour		0.0001
Isopropylcarbinol	Flavour		0.0005
Isopulegol	Flavour		0.001
Isovaleric acid	Flavour	0.00012
Jasmine, absolute	Flavour		0.0001
Kaolin	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.4	0.21
Kaolin, calcinated	Filter paper and tipping paper ink			0.33
Lauric acid	Flavour		0.0001
Lemon oil	Flavour		0.0001
Liquorice extract, fluid	Flavour	1.24731
Liquorice extract, powder	Flavour	0.59309
Liquorice extract	Casing		0.6
Liquorice extract	Flavour			0.061
Limonene (D-)	Filter	0.00281
Linalool	Flavour		0.001
Linseed oil	Monogram and die print ink	0.00045		0.001
Lovage extract	Flavour	0.00003	0.005
Maltitol	Filter	0.04936
Maltol	Flavour	0.00136	0.0001	0.000015
Mate absolute	Flavour		0.0005
Medium chain triglycerides	Filter	1.44803
Menthol	Flavour	1.2495	1.6	0.6
Menthol	Filter	0.91356	0.7
Menthone	Flavour		0.1	0.025
Menthyl acetate	Flavour		0.001	0.047
Menthyl isovalerate	Flavour	0.00002
Methoxy benzaldehyde (para-)	Flavour	0.00106
Methoxy-3-methyl pyrazine (2 Or 5 Or 6-)	Flavour	0.00001
Methyl anthranilate	Flavour		0.0001
Methyl butyraldehyde (3-)	Flavour	0.00001
Methyl butyric acid (2-)	Flavour	0.00001		0.00001
Methyl cyclopentenolone	Flavour	0.001	0.005	0.00001
Methyl linolenate	Flavour		0.0001
Methyl phenylacetate	Flavour		0.0001
Methyl quinoxaline (5-)	Flavour	0.00001
Methyl salicylate	Flavour		0.0001
Mica	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.02878	0.1
Mineral oil	Monogram and die print ink		0.0005	0.001
Mint oil	Flavour			0.12
Modified phenolic resin	Monogram and die print ink	0.00058
Molasses, sugar cane	Flavour	0.00022
Nitrocellulose	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.18329		0.07
Nonalactone (gamma-)	Flavour	0.00015	0.0001	0.00001
Nutmeg oil	Flavour	0.00021
Octalactone (gamma-)	Flavour		0.0001	0.000013
Octanoic acid	Flavour		0.0001
Opoponax oil	Flavour		0.0001
Orange 34 pigment	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.005
Orange oil, distilled	Flavour		0.001
Orange oil, sweet	Flavour	0.00007	0.0001
Orange oil, sweet, terpeneless	Flavour	0.00007
Orris root extract	Flavour		0.0005
Para-dimethoxybenzene	Flavour		0.0001
Para-methoxybenzaldehyde	Flavour		0.05
Parraffin	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.05
Paraffin wax	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	0.10278	0.1
Patchouly oil	Flavour	0.00001
Pentaerythritol	Monogram and die print ink			0.001
Peppermint oil	Flavour	0.0126	0.5	0.17
Peppermint oil	Filter	0.34704
Petitgrain oil	Flavour		0.0001
Phenethyl acetate	Flavour	0.00001	0.0005
Phenethyl alcohol	Flavour			0.00035
Phenethyl butyrate	Flavour		0.0001
Phenethyl isobutyrate	Flavour		0.0001
Phenylacetaldehyde	Flavour		0.0001
Phenyl acetic acid	Flavour	0.00001	0.0001
Phenylcarbinol	Flavour	0.00243	0.1
Pigment metal 1	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.00035
Pinene (alpha-)	Flavour		0.001
Piperonal	Flavour	0.00329	0.005	0.00013
Polycyclopentadiene resin, hydrogenated	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	0.08366
Polymer of vinyl acetate and hydroxyethylene	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	0.08558
Polyvinol	Sidestream adhesive		0.05
	Tipping paper/filter adhesive		0.1
	Filter paper/plugwrap papers		0.4
Polyvinyl acetate	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	0.88203	0.2	0.031
Polyvinyl acetate	Sidestream adhesive	0.05264		0.028
Polyvinyl acetate/vinyl alcohol copolymer	Tipping paper/filter adhesive			0.41
Polyvinyl alcohol	Sidestream adhesive			0.00057
	Tipping paper/filter adhesive			0.011
	Filter paper/plugwrap papers			0.057
Polyamide resin	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.05
Potassium citrate	Paper wrap	0.07036	0.1	0.12
Potassium sorbate	Sidestream adhesive	0.00022
Propylcarbinol	Flavour		0.005
Propylene glycol	Humectant	1.3658	1.8	2
Propylidene phthalide (3-)	Flavour	0.00001
Prune extract	Flavour	0.00282
Prune juice/concentrate	Flavour	0.01899
Pyruvic acid	Flavour		0.0001
Quinoline yellow	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.05
Red lithol BK	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.005
Resin acids and rosina acids, modified	Filter paper and tipping paper ink			0.0065
Rhodinol	Flavour		0.0001
Rose oil, Bulgarian, true otto	Flavour		0.0001
Rose oil, red	Flavour	0.00001
Rosin	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.01511	0.01	0.0071
Sandalwood oil, yellow	Flavour		0.0001
Silica	Monogram and die print ink		0.0005
Silica	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.01
Silicon dioxide	Monogram and die print ink	0.00033		0.001
Silicon dioxide	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.00002
Silver and/or gold bronze	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.05
Sodium alginate	Paper wrap	0.2338
Sodium alginate	Filter	0.02122
Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose	Filter paper/plugwrap papers			0.022
Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose	Tipping paper/filter adhesive	0.01117
Sodium citrate	Paper wrap	0.09937	0.1
Sodium citrate	Filter		0.01
Sodium ligninsulphonate	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.0001
Sodium magnesium aluminosilicate	Filter paper and tipping paper ink			0.22
Sodium phosphate dibasic	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.001
Sorbitol	Flavour	0.00111
Sorbitol	Fliter		0.05
Soybean oil, polymer with isophthalic acid and pentaerythritol	Monogram and die print ink	0.00167
Spearmint oil	Flavour		0.05
Spearmint oil	Filter	0.0582
Starch	Filter paper and tipping paper ink			0.17
Starch and/or modified starches	Paper wrap		0.3
	Filter paper/plugwrap papers		0.05
	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.2
Starch, modified	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.17372
Starch, modified and polysaccharides	Filter		0.4
Starch, oxidised	Filter	0.13608
	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.17372		0.17
	Paper wrap			0.21
Starch, phosphate	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.03371
Storax	Flavour		0.0005
Styrax extract	Flavour	0.00001
Styrene-alpha-methylstyrene resin	Tipping paper/filter adhesive		0.05	0.072
Styrylcarbinol	Flavour		0.0001
Sucrose and/or sucrose syrup	Flavour			0.53
Sulphuric acid (and it's salts)	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.01
Sugar, cane, extract	Flavour		0.0001
Sugar, invert	Flavour	1.98951		0.95
Sugar, invert	Casing		2.3
Sugar, sucrose	Casing		3.1
Sugar, white	Flavour	0.00008
Subset yellow FCF	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.0005
Talc	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	0.16337	0.1	0.15
Tall oil rosin	Monogram and die print ink			0.001
Tartrazine	Filter	0.00029
Tartrazine	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.01
Tetrakis methane	Tipping paper/filter adhesive			0.00024
Titanium dioxide	Filter	0.09882	0.1	0.083
Titanium dioxide	Filter paper and tipping paper ink	1.20594	0.5	0.51
Triacetin	Sidestream adhesive		0.01
	Filter		1.8
	Tipping paper/filter adhesive		0.05
Triethyl citrate	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.01
Triglyceride oils	Filter		1.6
Undecalactone (gamma-)	Flavour	0.00001	0.0001	0.00001
Urea	Filter paper/plugwrap papers			0.000016
Valerolactone (gamma-)	Flavour	0.00001
Vanilla extract	Flavour	0.00038	0.0005
Vanillin	Flavour	0.00414	0.005
Veratraldehyde	Flavour		0.0005
Viscose	Filter paper/plugwrap papers		0.05	0.062
White mineral mil	Monogram and die print ink	0.00168
Yellow 180 pigment	Filter paper and tipping paper ink		0.005

Sources: British American Tobacco Australia. Australia Ingredients Report 1 March 2019 - 1 March 2020²

Philip Morris Ltd. Australia ingredients report composite list of tobacco ingredients for reporting period March 1 2019 to March 1 2020.³

Philip Morris Ltd. Australia ingredients report composite list of non-tobacco ingredients for reporting period March 1 2019 to March 1 2020⁴

Imperial Tobacco Australia Limited. Australia ingredients report for reporting period 2nd March 2019 to 1st March 2020⁵

Notes: All additives listed as flavour (non-water-soluble mix of flavourings), casing (a water soluble mix of favours and other additives), binder or humectant (chemicals that retain moisture) are part of the tobacco filler i.e. added to the tobacco itself. The numbers provided for these substances are the percent of the tobacco blend weight. Otherwise additives are part of non-tobacco materials (papers, filter, adhesives and inks), and the numbers provided for these refer to the percent of the total product weight. Numbers are ‘quantity not exceeded’ i.e. an amount equal to or higher than the highest level of use in a single brand and expressed as a percentage. BATA: British American Tobacco Australia Limited; PM; Philip Morris Ltd; ITA Imperial Tobacco Australia Ltd.

References

1. Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. Voluntary agreement for the disclosure of the ingredients of cigarettes. December 2000 Canberra: Australian Government, 2000. Available from: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/australian-cigarette-ingredient-information.

2. British American Tobacco Australia. Australia ingredients report 1 march 2019 - 1 March 2020. 2020. Available from: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/british-american-tobacco-australia-cigarette-ingredients.

3. Philip Morris Ltd. Australia ingredients report composite list of tobacco ingredients for reporting period March 1 2019 to March 1 2020. Canberra, Australia 2020. Available from: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/philip-morris-ltd-cigarette-ingredients.

4. Philip Morris Ltd. Australia ingredients report composite list of non-tobacco ingredients for reporting period march 1 2019 to march 1 2020. Canberra, Australia 2020. Available from: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/philip-morris-ltd-cigarette-ingredients.

5. Imperial Tobacco Australia Limited. Australia ingredients report for reporting period 2nd March 2019 to 1st March 2020., Canberra, Australia 2020. Available from: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/imperial-tobacco-australia-ltd-cigarette-ingredients.