摘要: Several publications have shown in the past on theoretical grounds and by actual measurements that the perforation of cigarette papers causes a substantial increase in air permeability, while the diffusion capacity increases comparably less. These findings have been simplified and popularized in the statement that large pores are responsible for air permeability and small pores for diffusion capacity. The aim of this study was to investigate the substance of such statements by correlating the pore size distribution of naturally porous cigarette papers with their air permeability and diffusion capacity. To this end eight cigarette papers were selected which differed in air permeability, diffusion capacity, fiber furnish, filler content and burn additive content. The pore size distributions of these papers were measured by mercury porosimetry before and after the papers had been heated to 230℃ for 30 minutes. The pore size distributions were multiplied with a Gaussian weight function and integrated to obtain a weighed pore volume. The two parameters of the weight function, center and width, were chosen to maximize the correlation of the weighted pore volume with air permeability and diffusion capacity. The results showed a good correlation with correlation coefficients greater than 0.9 for the air permeability as well as for the diffusion capacity. The optimal mean values of the weight functions were at a pore radius of 2.5 μm for air permeability and 1.0 μm for diffusion capacity. These results indicate that in fact large pores are better correlated with changes in air permeability, while small pores are more strongly correlated with changes in diffusion capacity. The tight relationship between pore size distribution, air permeability and diffusion capacity, makes the pore size distribution a tool to further optimize cigarette papers, for example, with respect to carbon monoxide yields.