SMOKING ARTICLE COMPRISING A BLIND COMBUSTIBLE HEAT SOURCE

A smoking article is provided, including a blind combustible heat source having opposed front and rear faces and having a transverse cross sectional area of at least about 60 percent of a transverse cross-sectional area of the smoking article; an aerosol-forming substrate downstream of the rear face, wherein the rear face and the aerosol-forming substrate are exposed to one another; a mouthpiece downstream of the aerosol-forming substrate; and one or more air inlets located downstream of the rear face and upstream of the mouthpiece. The one or more air inlets are located between the rear face and a downstream end of the aerosol-forming substrate and include one or more first air inlets around a periphery of the aerosol-forming substrate. Air drawn through the aerosol-forming substrate enters the smoking article through the one or more air inlets.