Cigarette papers

[Dan]

I need help with processing unused cigarette papers. If you have had success, please let me know the process. Thanks

[Heidi Fraser]

Maybe this answer is too obvious and not what you're looking for, but why not use ninhydrin? I haven't used it on cigarette papers, per se, but I have had success with ninhydrin on tissue paper, which I believe is much flimsier than cigarette paper... I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work for you.

[MGaines]

I have processed the booklets of cigarette papers with Ninhydrin, and the evidence held up well to the process. I did not get any latents of value, but there were areas of reaction visible. I probably wouldn't use DFO or PD due to the substrate.

[Ernie Hamm]

Ninhydrin would be an acceptable method. I had success with cigarette papers that had been used in hand-rolled elements. An interesting aspect is the orientation of any developed latent prints because of the thinness of some papers. The reaction can develop a latent print that will appear on both sides of the paper because of the concentration and absorption of amino acid deposit. These latents need to be photographed and compared both as obverse and reverse positioning. If not, you may miss an identification. I almost did in such a situation.

[Dan]

I appreciate the suggestions, I have tried Ninhydrin and have had no luck, I get a strong reaction even when diluting the normal working mix. I have more to process will continue and hopefully will have the problem of determining which side of the paper the ridge detail is on. Thanks again, Dan

[Andrew Schriever]

It might be worthwhile to try to fume the papers with Iodine. I know that Iodine isn't a very commonly used technique these days, but it seems to me that the process may be somewhat less invasive or destructive to the evidence. Maybe you wont get as strong of a reaction as you did with ninhydrin as well.

RTX may be another viable option as I believe you can fume the evidence with it. There is another thread on the board that discusses RTX.

Just to clarify though, Ive never used either of these techniques on cigarette paper before, so I would definately experiment on test samples prior to treating the actual evidence.