Following the success in the development of Blue Band, a
technology for manufacturing cigarettes with Low Ignition Propensity (LIP), KT&G
(CEO Min Young-jin) is to launch cigarettes to which this technology has been
applied for the first time in the domestic market.
Cigarettes with LIP have a high probability of being put out under certain
conditions, because part of the cigarette paper is coated with a special
substance. Currently some countries, including the USA, Canada, and the EU,
make it mandatory, but there are no relevant laws in Korea yet.
KT&G makes it a company policy to preemptively introduce cigarettes with
LIP regardless of national legislation in order to faithfully discharge its corporate
social responsibilities. Accordingly, it has decided to release three types of
The One, which is the first cigarette with LIP in Korea, on July 23, and
thereafter plans to successively expand the product line as soon as the related
equipment is additionally installed.
The Blue Band independently developed by KT&G is a technology that
involves coating the cigarette paper with a special material of natural
properties in the high-speed cigarette manufacturing process, for which a total
of five cases of patent application have been completed. This technology is rated
as a process advanced one step higher than the existing technologies developed
and used in foreign countries.
KT&G has succeeded in developing the technology that realized the
function of LIP through thousands of self-tests and consumer and expert
evaluations over the past three years, and is expecting that with the resulting
import substitution effect, approximately more than ₩40 billion in foreign currency can be saved annually in the years
ahead.
A company official concerned said, “Development
of cigarettes with LIP was a focal project implemented by the top management, which
stresses corporate social responsibility,” adding that “the resulting cost increase is planned to be absorbed internally.”
Caution: As cigarettes with LIP
do not completely prevent fires, smokers must always be sure that cigarette
butts are properly put out before throwing them away. Also, it is difficult to
check a single cigarette to see whether or not it has LIP with the naked eye;
it can be identified by the words Blue Band marked on the cigarette pack.
