Abstract: In order to study the influence of combustion improver(potassium citrate) content in cigarette paper on cigarette burning state, the cigarette samples with cigarette paper of different grammages and containing different rates of combustion improver were prepared. The temperature in cigarette was detected with fine-thermocouples. By revising Rosin-Rammler (R-R) particle size distribution model, a method for characterizing temperature distribution in cigarette burning cone was developed, where, burning cone volume V₀, characteristic temperature T_s, and distribution parameter N were taken as characteristic variables. The effects of combustion improver content and grammage of cigarette paper on temperature distribution characteristics in cigarette during static burning, puffing, and smouldering stages were investigated. The results showed that:With the increase of combustion improver content and grammage of cigarette paper, 1) The highest temperature in burning cone decreased during the whole process of cigarette smoking. 2) The volume of burning cone increased in all of the three burning stages, and reached its maximum value at the end of a puffing. 3) The characteristic temperature T_s of burning cone raised gradually and the range of temperature distribution decreased during static burning; however during puffing, T_s raised and then dropped.