Triacetin

Triacetin (glycerol triacetate) is a clear, odorless liquid ester of glycerin and acetic acid. In the cigarette industry it was used as a plasticizer to bind and stiffen cellulose acetate fibers in cigarette filters. It is also used as a food additive, solvent, and pharmaceutical excipient.

Origin

Triacetin was first synthesized in the 19th century through the esterification of glycerol with acetic acid or acetic anhydride. Its industrial use as a plasticizer for cellulose acetate expanded in the mid-20th century, including its adoption by cigarette manufacturers in filter production beginning in the 1950s.

Significance in Asbestos Context

Triacetin matters to asbestos history because it was the plasticizer that replaced crocidolite asbestos in the Kent "Micronite" filter. From 1952 to 1956, Lorillard's original Kent Micronite filter contained crocidolite, one of the most dangerous forms of asbestos, and exposed smokers, factory workers at Hollingsworth & Vose, and their families to airborne fibers. When Lorillard reformulated the filter in 1956, it switched to a cellulose acetate fiber bonded with triacetin. Patients who smoked early Kent cigarettes, worked at the filter plant, or lived with someone who did may have viable claims tied specifically to the pre-1957 asbestos-containing filter, and identifying the timeframe of exposure (asbestos era vs. triacetin era) is often decisive.

Example Sentence

The expert's report distinguished between Kent cigarettes manufactured before 1957, which contained crocidolite asbestos in the filter, and later versions, which used triacetin-bonded cellulose acetate and posed no asbestos exposure.

Related Terms

Crocidolite, Kent Micronite Filter, Lorillard, Hollingsworth & Vose, Cellulose Acetate, Cigarette Filter Exposure

Notes

• If you or a family member smoked Kent cigarettes, try to pin down the years. Only the 1952 to mid-1956 "Micronite" filters contained crocidolite asbestos; later triacetin-based filters did not.
• Preserve any old packaging, advertisements, purchase records, or family photographs that may help establish when Kent cigarettes were smoked in the household.
• If you worked at the Hollingsworth & Vose Special Products Division in Massachusetts during the early-to-mid 1950s, document your employment dates and job duties. This facility produced the asbestos-containing filter material.
• Ask your legal team whether an industrial hygienist or materials expert can confirm the filter composition for the specific product and years of your exposure.