The roles of standard cigarettes in assuring the ignition resistance of soft furnishings

• Published in: Fire and materials Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 37 - 55
• Main Authors: Gann, Richard G., Kim, Ickchan, Lund, Steven P., Guthrie, William F., Robbins, Amanda P., Hnetkovsky, Edward J., Davis, Rick D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bognor Regis Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2021
• Subjects: Assurance; bed fire; cigarette; Cigarettes; fire; Fire protection; Fire safety; Furniture; furniture fires; Ignition; ignition resistance; Quality control; Regulations; Safety regulations; Smoking; SRM 1082; SRM 1196; Substrates; Tobacco
• ISSN: 0308-0501; 1099-1018
• DOI: 10.1002/fam.2931

Summary Regulations for cigarette ignition resistance (CIR) of soft furnishings (beds and upholstered furniture) and less fire‐prone cigarettes have contributed substantially to the decrease in losses from cigarette‐initiated fires over time. Two standard reference cigarettes play key roles in mitigating these losses and in sustaining the effectiveness of the fire safety regulations as exogenous changes occur. SRM 1082 provides a uniform, durable supply of cigarettes for use in ASTM E2187 that assures manufacturers and regulators of compliance with regulations for reduced ignition propensity cigarettes; enables quality control of cigarette fire test performance; enables assurance of uniform interlaboratory test results; obviates effects on fire safety as tobacco crops and smokers change over time; and, when the original ASTM E2187 substrate material was no longer available, enabled adding a new, equivalent substrate. SRM 1196 provides a uniform, durable supply of cigarettes for assurance of consistent interlaboratory evaluation of the ignition resistance of soft furnishings using the mandated test methods; obviates possible unknown changes in soft furnishings' CIR due to the evolving ignition strength of the original test cigarette over time; and provided a test cigarette that was stronger than most cigarettes being smoked after manufacture of the original commercial test cigarette ceased.