Fire-safe cigarette

Fire-safe cigarettes (FSC) are cigarettes that are designed to extinguish more quickly than standard cigarettes if ignored, with the intention of preventing accidental fires. They are also known as lower-ignition-propensity (LIP), reduced-fire-risk (RFR), self-extinguishing, fire-safe, or reduced-ignition-propensity (RIP) cigarettes. In the United States, FSC above the barcode signifies that the cigarettes sold are fire-standards-compliant (FSC).

However, fire-safe cigarettes do not completely eliminate the risk of residential fires: empirical estimates suggest they reduce the risk by about 11% to 45%, depending on the country and the types of fires examined.

Fire-safe cigarettes are produced by adding two to three thin bands of less-porous cigarette paper along the length of the cigarette, creating a series of harder-to-burn "speed bumps". As the cigarette burns down, it will tend to be extinguished at each of these points unless the user is periodically intensifying the ember by inhaling. FSC cigarettes typically use ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) adhesive in the banding material.