Cigarette Filters

While watching an episode of season four of Better Call Saul, I watched a character snuff out a cigarette and I wondered - what is the story with the patter on the filter of cigarettes? Why aren’t they just a plain color? The answer appears to be that cigarettes, for awhile, had cork tips. The paper for the filters were designed to mimic the look of cork.

Also, the filters do not make the cigarettes safer.

• Do Cigarette Filters Do Anything? by Cecil Adams writing for Washington City Paper
• Who Made That Cigarette Filter? by Pagan Kennedy writing for The New York Times Magazine