Advertising

Cigarette advertising

Tobacco advertising can be seen in the United States as early as the year the Constitution was ratified, as local tobacco companies placed advertisiements in local newspapers. However, these advertisements were primarily for tobacco and snuff, with cigarette advertising not becoming prominent until the late 1800s upon the invention of two important technologies. First, color lithography was invented in the late 1870s which revolutionized advertising for cigarette companies who could now strengthen and promote their identities to consumers. Now companies could make collectible cigarette cards with every cigarette pack and these cards became very popular. They often pictured people such as movie stars, athletes, and even Native American chiefs. However, these collectible cards were eventually discontinued to save paper during World War II. The second invention was a cigarette-making machine developed in the 1880s that vastly increased the productivity of cigarette companies, who went from making approximately 40,000 hand-rolled cigarettes daily to around 4 million.[42]

The decades in the 20th century prior to World War II consisted primarily of full page, color magazine and newspaper advertisements. Many companies created slogans for their specific cigarettes and also gained endorsements from famous men and women. Some advertisements even contained children or doctors in their efforts to sway new customers to their specific brand. Much of these advertisements sought to make smoking appear fashionable and modern to men and women. Also, since the health effects of smoking weren't entirely proven at this time, the only real opposing argument to smoking was made on moral grounds. However, there were still a substantial amount of doctors and scientists who believed there was a health risk associated with smoking cigarettes.[43] During World War II, cigarettes were included in American soldier's C-rations since many tobacco companies sent the soldiers cigarettes for free. Cigarette sales reached an all time high at this point, as cigarette companies were not only able to get soldiers addicted to nicotine, but specific brands also found a new loyal group of customers as soldiers who smoked their cigarettes returned from the war.[44]

After World War II, cigarette companies advertised frequently on television programs. To combat this move by the cigarette companies, the Federal Communications Commission required television stations to air anti-smoking advertisements at no cost to the organizations providing such advertisements.In 1970, Congress took their anti-smoking initiative one step further and passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, banning the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio starting on January 2, 1971.After the television ban, most cigarette advertising took place in magazines, newspapers, and on billboards. However, in 1999 all cigarette billboard advertisements were replaced with anti-smoking messages, with some of these anti-smoking messages playing parodies of cigarette companies advertising figures and slogans. Since 1984, cigarette companies have also been forced to place Surgeon's General warnings on all cigarette packs and advertisements because of the passing of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act.[45] Restrictions on cigarette companies became even tighter in 2010 with the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The act prohibits tobacco companies from sponsoring sports, music, and other cultural events and also prevents the display of their logos or products on T-shirts, hats, or other apparel.[46] The constitutionality of both this act and the Food and Drug Administration's new graphic cigarette warning labels are being questioned under cigarette companies' first amendment rights.[47]

In many parts of the world tobacco advertising and sponsorship has been outlawed. The ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship in the EU in 2005 has prompted Formula One Management to look for races in areas that allow the tobacco sponsored teams to display their livery. As of 2007, only the Scuderia Ferrari retains tobacco sponsorship, continuing their relationship with Marlboro until 2011. In the United States, bolder advertising restrictions took effect on June 22, 2010.

In some jurisdictions, such as the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the retail store display of cigarettes is completely prohibited if persons under the legal age of consumption have access to the premises.[48] In Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, The ACT, and Quebec, Canada, the display of tobacco is prohibited for everyone, regardless of age, as of 2010. This includes non-cigarette products such as cigars and blunt wraps.


Purchase restrictions

Beginning on April 1, 1998, the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to people under the state purchase age has been prohibited by law in all 50 states of the United States. The age is 19 in Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey, Utah, and Nassau, Suffolk, and Onondaga counties in New York.[51][52] The intended effect of this is to prevent older high school students from purchasing cigarettes for their younger peers. Legislation was pending as of 2004 in some other states. In Massachusetts,[53] parents and guardians are allowed to give cigarettes to minors, but sales to minors are prohibited.

Similar laws exist in many other countries. In Canada, most of the provinces require smokers to be 19 years of age to purchase cigarettes (except for Quebec and the prairie provinces, where the age is 18). However, the minimum age only concerns the purchase of tobacco, not use. Alberta, however, does have a law which prohibits the possession or use of tobacco products by all persons under 18, punishable by a $100 fine. Australia, New Zealand, Poland and Pakistan have a nationwide ban on the selling of all tobacco products to people under the age of 18.
Tabak-Trafik in Vienna. Since 1 January 2007, all cigarette machines in Austria must attempt to verify a customer's age by requiring the insertion of a debit card or mobile phone verification.

Since 1 October 2007, it has been illegal for retailers to sell tobacco in all forms to people under the age of 18 in three of the UK's four constituent countries (England, Wales and Scotland) (rising from 16). It is also illegal to sell lighters, rolling papers and all other tobacco-associated items to people under 18. It is not illegal for people under 18 to buy or smoke tobacco, just as it was not previously for people under 16; it is only illegal for the said retailer to sell the item. The age increase from 16 to 18 came into force in Northern Ireland on 1 September 2008. In the Republic of Ireland, bans on the sale of the smaller ten-packs and confectionery that resembles tobacco products (candy cigarettes) came into force on May 31, 2007 in a bid to cut underaged smoking. The UK Department of Health plans to follow suit with the ten-pack ban.

Most countries in the world have a legal vending age of 18. Some exceptions are Italy, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, the Netherlands and Gibraltar, where the age is 16. Since January 1, 2007, all cigarette machines in public places in Germany must attempt to verify a customer's age by requiring the insertion of a debit card. Turkey, which has one of the highest percentage of smokers in its population,[54] has a legal age of 18. Japan is one of the highest tobacco-consuming nations, and requires purchasers to be 20 years of age (suffrage in Japan is 20 years old).[55] Since July 2008, Japan has enforced this age limit at cigarette vending machines through use of the taspo smart card. In other countries, such as Egypt, it is legal to use and purchase tobacco products regardless of age.[citation needed] Germany raised the purchase age from 16 to 18 on the 1 September 2007.

Some police departments in the United States occasionally send an underaged teenager into a store where cigarettes are sold, and have the teen attempt to purchase cigarettes, with their own or no ID. If the vendor then completes the sale, the store is issued a fine.[56] Similar enforcement practices are regularly performed by Trading Standards Officers in the UK and the Gardaí Siochana, the police force of the Republic of Ireland.[57]

Consumption

As of 2002, approximately 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced globally each year and are smoked by over 1.1 billion people or greater than one-seventh of the world population. While smoking rates have leveled off or declined in developed nations, they continue to rise in developing parts of the world. Smoking rates in the United States have dropped by half from 1965 to 2006 falling from 42% to 20.8% of adults.[3] In the developing world, tobacco consumption is rising by 3.4% per year.[4]
Smoking prevalence by gender (2000)     Percent smoking
Region     Men     Women
Africa     29%     4%
United States     35%     22%
Eastern Mediterranean     35%     4%
Europe     46%     26%
Southeast Asia     44%     4%
Western Pacific     60%     8%

Source: World Health Organization estimates, 2000
Leading consumers of cigarettes (1998)[58] Country     Population
(millions)     Cigarettes consumed
(billions)     Cigarettes consumed
(per capita)
China     1248     1643     1320
USA     270     451     1670
Japan     126     328     2600
Russia     146     258     1760
Indonesia     200     215     1070


Smoking prevalence in the U.S. (2006)[59]
R    State      %      R    State      %        R     State      %       R     State      %
1     KY     28.6     14     SC     22.3      27     KS     20.0     40     AZ     18.1
2     WV    25.7     15     NV     22.2     28     GA     20.0     41     VT     18.0
3     OK     25.7     16     NC     22.1     29     ND     19.6     42     DC     17.9
4     MS     25.1     17     DE     21.7     30     VA     19.3     43     CO     17.9
5     AK     24.2     18     WY     21.6    31     RI     19.3      44     MA     17.8
6      IN     24.1     19     PA     21.5      32     MT     19.0     45     MD     17.8
7     AR     23.7     20     IA     21.5      33     NH     18.7     46     HI     17.5
8     LA     23.4     21     FL     21.0      34     NE     18.6     47     WA     17.1
9     MO    23.3     22     ME     20.9     35     OR     18.5     48     CT     17.0
10   AL     23.3     23     WI     20.8      36     NY     18.3     49     ID     16.8
11   TN     22.6     24     IL     20.5       37     MN     18.3     50     CA     14.9
12   OH     22.5     25     SD     20.4     38     TX     18.1      51     UT     9.8
13    MI     22.4    26     NM     20.2    39     NJ     18.1           


Health issues

Nicotine, the primary psychoactive chemical in cigarettes, is addictive.[60] Cigarette use by pregnant women has also been shown to cause birth defects (which include mental and physical disability).[7] Some of the mineral apatite in Florida used to produce phosphate for U.S. tobacco crops contains uranium, radium, lead 210 and polonium 210 and radon.[61][62] The radioactive smoke from tobacco fertilized this way is deposited in lungs and releases radiation even if a smoker quits the habit. The combination of carcinogenic tar and radiation in a sensitive organ such as lungs increases the risk of cancer. Each cigarette that is smoked is estimated to shorten life by 11 minutes.

Health risks caused by secondhand cigarette smokeCigarette smoke is also known as environmental tobacco smoke or passive smoke.[65][66] It is a mixture of two forms of smoke that come from burning tobacco. This includes: side stream smoke—smoke that comes from the end of a lighted cigarette, pipe, or cigar—and mainstream smoke—smoke that is exhaled by a smoker.[65] This mixture contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including hundreds that are toxic and about 70 that are cancer-causing.[67] The side stream smoke contains higher concentrations of carcinogens than the mainstream smoke, and it contains smaller particles relative to mainstream smoke, which absorb into the body’s cells more easily.[65] Prolonged exposure to second-hand smoke causes lung cancer in nonsmokers and has also been associated with heart disease in adults. Sudden infant death syndrome, ear infections, respiratory infections, and asthma attacks can occur in children that are exposed to secondhand smoke.[65][66][67] Scientific evidence shows that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.[65][66]Warning messages in packagesSome countries require cigarette packs to contain warnings about health. The United States was the first,[68] later followed by other countries including Canada, most of Europe, Australia,[69] India, Hong Kong and Singapore. In December 2000, Canada became the first country to enforce graphic warning on cigarette packaging.[69] And at end of December 2010 the new regulation from Ottawa is to increase size of tobacco warning to cover 3/4 of cigarette package.[70] As of November 2010, 39 countries have adopted similar legislation.[68]On February 2011, Canadian government made a regulation that enforced cigarettes packages to contain 12 new images to cover 75 percent of the outside panel of cigarette packages and 8 new health messages in the inside panel with full color.[71][dead link]April 2011: The world's toughest laws on packages came from Australia. New Zealand, Canada and United Kingdom have considered similar policy. All of the packages should be on a bland olive green covered 75 percent of the front of a pack and all of the back with graphic health warnings. The only things that differentiate one brand and another are just the brand and product name in a standard color, standard position and standard font size and style.[72] Concerning the regulation Philip Morris International is threatening to sue the Australian government, if the regulation still be applied due to Australia should protect foreign investors from discriminatory treatment. Australia is the first country to introduce plain, brand-free packaging for cigarettes.[73]Smoking bansMany governments impose restrictions on smoking tobacco, especially in public areas. The primary justification has been the negative health effects of second-hand smoke.[74] Laws vary by country and locality. See: Smoking age, Smoking bans in private vehiclesCigarette buttThe common name for the remains of a cigarette after smoking is a cigarette butt. The butt typically comprises about 30 percent of the cigarette's original length. It consists of a tissue tube which holds a filter and some remains of tobacco mixed with ash. Cigarette butts are the most numerically frequent litter in the world.[75] Cigarette butts accumulate outside of buildings, on parking lots, and streets where they can be transported through storm drains to streams, rivers, and beaches.Cigarette litterCigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate and are biodegradable,[77][78] though depending on environmental conditions they can be resistant to degradation. Accordingly, the duration of the degradation process is cited as taking as little as one month to three years[77] to as long as 10 to 15 years.[78] One campaign group has suggested they are never fully biodegraded.[79]This variance in rate and resistance to biodegradation in many conditions is a factor in littering[80] and environmental damage.[81] It is estimated that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts become litter every year.[78] In the 2006 International Coastal Cleanup, cigarettes and cigarette butts constituted 24.7 percent of the total collected pieces of garbage, over twice as many as any other category.[82]Cigarette butts contain the chemicals filtered from cigarettes and can leach into waterways and water supplies.[83] The toxicity of used cigarette butts depends on the brand design because cigarette companies incorporate varying degrees of chemicals in their tobacco blends. After a cigarette is smoked, the butt is capable of retaining some of the chemicals, and parts of them are carcinogenic.[75] The results of one study indicate that the chemicals released into freshwater environments from cigarette butts are lethal to daphnia at concentrations of 0.125 cigarette butts per liter (or one cigarette butt per 8 liter).[76]Cellulose acetate and carbon particles breathed in from cigarette filters is suspected of causing lung damage.[84]Smoldering cigarette butts have also been blamed for triggering fires from residential fires[85] to major wildfires and bushfires which have caused major property damage and also death[86][87][88] as well as disruption to services by triggering alarms and warning systems.[89]Many governments have sanctioned stiff penalties for littering of cigarette butts; the U.S. state of Washington imposes a penalty of $1025.[90]Cigarette butts are one of the most commonly found litters on the street. Most high-rise littering also relates to cigarette butts.[91] There are several options that may help reduce the environmental impact that cigarette butts cause. This includes developing biodegradable filters, increasing fines and penalties for littering butts, implementing monetary deposits on filters, increasing the availability of butt receptacles, and expanding public education. It may even be possible to ban the sale of filtered cigarettes altogether on the basis of their adverse environmental impact.[92]Electronic cigarettesElectronic cigarettes are nicotine delivery devices that closely resemble cigarettes but produce no smoke. The health effects of electronic cigarettes have been, and continue to be, heavily studied.[93][94][95] These devices are illegal in some countries, such as Singapore. In other countries, these devices require government approval before these products can be sold, such as Canada and Denmark.

Information About Cigarettes

Cigarette

A cigarette (from the French for "small cigar". Cigar comes, through the Spanish and Portuguese cigarro, from the Mayan siyar; "to smoke rolled tobacco leaves")[1] is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well. Most modern manufactured cigarettes are filtered and include reconstituted tobacco and other additives.[2]

The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette but can apply to similar devices containing other herbs, such as cloves or cannabis. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is normally white, though other colors are occasionally available. Cigars are typically composed entirely of whole-leaf tobacco.

Rates of cigarette smoking vary widely, and have changed considerably over the course of history — since cigarettes were first widely used in the mid-20th century. While rates of smoking have over time leveled off or declined in the developed world, they continue to rise in developing nations.
 
Overview

Cigarettes like other tobacco products, do carry serious health effects with them. Nicotine, the primary psychoactive chemical in tobacco and therefore cigarettes, is addictive.[5] About half of cigarette smokers die of tobacco-related disease[6] and lose on average 14 years of life.[5] Cigarette use by pregnant women has also been shown to cause birth defects, including mental and physical disabilities.[7] Second-hand smoke from cigarettes has been shown to be injurious to bystanders,[8][9][10][11] which has led to legislation that has banned their smoking in many workplaces and public areas. Cigarettes are the most frequent source of fires leading to loss of lives in private homes, which has prompted the European Union and the United States to ban cigarettes that are not fire standard compliant by 2011.

History

The earliest forms of cigarettes were largely indistinguishable from their predecessor, the cigar. Cigarettes have been attested in Central America around the 9th century in the form of reeds and smoking tubes. The Maya, and later the Aztecs, smoked tobacco and various psychoactive drugs in religious rituals and frequently depicted priests and deities smoking on pottery and temple engravings. The cigarette and the cigar were the most common methods of smoking in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central and South America until recent times.[14]

The South and Central American cigarette used various plant wrappers; when it was brought back to Spain, maize wrappers were introduced, and by the 17th century, fine paper. The resulting product was called papelate and is documented in Goya's paintings La Cometa, La Merienda en el Manzanares, and El juego de la pelota a pala (18th century).[15]

By 1830, the cigarette had crossed into France, where it received the name cigarette; and in 1845, the French state tobacco monopoly began manufacturing them.[15]

In the English-speaking world, the use of tobacco in cigarette form became increasingly popular during and after the Crimean War, when British soldiers began emulating their Ottoman Turkish comrades and Russian enemies, who had begun rolling and smoking tobacco in strips of old newspaper for lack of proper cigar-rolling leaf.[15] This was helped by the development of tobaccos that are suitable for cigarette use, and by the development of the Egyptian cigarette export industry.
Francisco Goya's La Cometa, depicting a (foreground left) man smoking an early quasi-cigarette.

Cigarettes may have been initially used in a manner similar to pipes and cigars and not inhaled; for evidence, see the Lucky Strike ad campaign asking consumers "Do You Inhale?" from the 30's. As cigarette tobacco became milder and more acidic inhaling may have become more agreeable. On the other hand, Moltke noticed in the 1830s (cf. Unter dem Halbmond) that Ottomans (and he himself) inhaled the Turkish tobacco and Latakia from their pipes[16] (which are both initially sun-cured, acidic leaf varieties).

The widespread smoking of cigarettes in the Western world is largely a 20th century phenomenon – at the start of the century the per capita annual consumption in the USA was 54 cigarettes (with less than 0.5% of the population smoking more than 100 cigarettes per year), and consumption there peaked at 4,259 per capita in 1965. At that time about 50% of men and 33% of women smoked (defined as smoking more than 100 cigarettes per year).[17] By 2000, consumption had fallen to 2,092 per capita, corresponding to about 30% of men and 22% of women smoking more than 100 cigarettes per year, and by 2006 per capita consumption had declined to 1,691;[18] implying that about 21% of the population smoked 100 cigarettes or more per year.

German doctors were the first to identify the link between smoking and lung cancer which led to the first anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany.[19][20] During World War I and World War II, cigarettes were rationed to soldiers. During the Vietnam War, cigarettes were included with C-ration meals. In 1975 the U.S. government quit putting cigarettes in military rations. During the second half of the 20th century, the adverse health effects of tobacco smoking started to become widely known and text-only health warnings became commonplace on cigarette packets. Warnings became prevalent but unpopular, mainly due to the political influences held by tobacco growers. The United States has not yet implemented graphical cigarette warning labels, which are considered a more effective method to communicate to the public the dangers of cigarette smoking.[21] Canada, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Romania, Singapore and Turkey however, have both textual warnings and graphic visual images displaying, among other things, the damaging effects tobacco use has on the human body.

The cigarette has evolved much since its conception; for example, the thin bands that travel transverse to the "axis of smoking" (thus forming circles along the length of the cigarette) are alternate sections of thin and thick paper to facilitate effective burning when being drawn, and retard burning when at rest. Synthetic particulate filters remove some of the tar before it reaches the smoker.

 

Manufacturing

Modern commercially manufactured cigarettes are seemingly simple objects consisting mainly of a tobacco blend, paper, PVA glue to bond the outer layer of paper together, and often also a cellulose acetate–based filter.[22] While the assembly of cigarettes is straightforward, much focus is given to the creation of each of the components, in particular the tobacco blend. A key ingredient that makes cigarettes more addictive is the inclusion of reconstituted tobacco, which has additives to make nicotine more volatile as the cigarette burns.

Paper

The paper for holding the tobacco blend may vary in porosity to allow ventilation of the burning ember or contain materials that control the burning rate of the cigarette and stability of the produced ash. The papers used in tipping the cigarette (forming the mouthpiece) and surrounding the filter stabilize the mouthpiece from saliva and moderate the burning of the cigarette as well as the delivery of smoke with the presence of one or two rows of small laser-drilled air holes.[23]

According to Simon Chapman, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, the burning agents in cigarette paper are responsible for fires and reducing them would be a simple and effective means of dramatically reducing the ignition propensity of cigarettes.[24] Since the 1980s, prominent cigarette manufacturers such as Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds developed fire-safe cigarettes but did not market them.[citation needed]

The burn rate of cigarette paper is regulated through the application of different forms of micro crystalline cellulose to the paper.[25] Cigarette paper has been specially engineered by creating bands of different porosity to create "fire-safe" cigarettes. These cigarettes have a reduced idle burning speed which allows them to self-extinguish.[26] This fire-safe paper is manufactured by mechanically altering the setting of the paper slurry.[27]

New York was the first U.S. state to mandate that all cigarettes manufactured or sold within the state comply with a fire safe standard. Canada has passed a similar nation-wide mandate based on the same standard. All U.S. states are gradually passing fire-safe mandates.[28]

European Union wishes to ban in 2011 cigarettes that are not fire-safe. According to a study made by European Union in 16 European countries, 11,000 fires were due to people carelessly handling cigarettes between 2005 and 2007. This caused 520 deaths and 1600 people injured.

Tobacco blend

The process of blending gives the end product a consistent taste from batches of tobacco grown in different areas of a country that may change in flavor profile from year to year due to different environmental conditions.[30]

Modern cigarettes produced after the 1950s, although composed mainly of shredded tobacco leaf, use a significant quantity of tobacco processing by-products in the blend. Each cigarette's tobacco blend is made mainly from the leaves of flue-cured brightleaf, burley tobacco, and oriental tobacco. These leaves are selected, processed, and aged prior to blending and filling. The processing of brightleaf and burley tobaccos for tobacco leaf "strips" produces several by-products such as leaf stems, tobacco dust, and tobacco leaf pieces ("small laminate").[30] To improve the economics of producing cigarettes, these by-products are processed separately into forms where they can then be possibly added back into the cigarette blend without an apparent or marked change in the cigarette's quality. The most common tobacco by-products include:

    Blended leaf (BL) sheet: a thin, dry sheet cast from a paste made with tobacco dust collected from tobacco stemming, finely milled burley-leaf stem, and pectin.[31]
    Reconstituted leaf (RL) sheet: a paper-like material made from recycled tobacco fines, tobacco stems and "class tobacco", which consists of tobacco particles less than 30 mesh in size (~0.599 mm) that are collected at any stage of tobacco processing.[32] RL is made by extracting the soluble chemicals in the tobacco by-products, processing the leftover tobacco fibers from the extraction into a paper, and then reapplying the extracted materials in concentrated form onto the paper in a fashion similar to what is done in paper sizing. At this stage ammonium additives are applied to make reconstituted tobacco an effective nicotine delivery system.[2]
    Expanded (ES) or improved stems (IS): ES are rolled, flattened, and shredded leaf stems that are expanded by being soaked in water and rapidly heated. Improved stems follow the same process but are simply steamed after shredding. Both products are then dried. These two products look similar in appearance but are different in taste.[30]

In recent years, the manufacturers' pursuit of maximum profits has led to the practice of using not just the leaves, but also recycled tobacco offal[2] and the plant stem.[33] The stem is first crushed and cut to resemble the leaf before being merged or blended into the cut leaf.[34] According to data from the World Health Organization,[35] the amount of tobacco per 1000 cigarettes fell from 2.28 pounds in 1960 to 0.91 pounds in 1999, largely as a result of reconstituting tobacco, fluffing and additives.

A recipe-specified combination of brightleaf, burley-leaf and oriental-leaf tobacco will be mixed with various additives to improve its flavours.

Additives

Various additives are combined into the shredded tobacco product mixtures, with humectants such as propylene glycol or glycerol, as well as flavouring products and enhancers such as cocoa solids, licorice, tobacco extracts, and various sugars, which are known collectively as "casings". The leaf tobacco will then be shredded, along with a specified amount of small laminate, expanded tobacco, BL, RL, ES and IS. A perfume-like flavour/fragrance, called the "topping" or "toppings", which is most often formulated by flavor companies, will then be blended into the tobacco mixture to improve the consistency in flavour and taste of the cigarettes associated with a certain brand name.[30] Additionally, they replace lost flavours due to the repeated wetting and drying used in processing the tobacco. Finally the tobacco mixture will be filled into cigarettes tubes and packaged.

A list of 599 cigarette additives, created by five major American cigarette companies, were approved by the Department of Health and Human Services in April 1994. None of these additives are listed as ingredients on the cigarette pack(s). Chemicals are added for organoleptic purposes and many boost the addictive properties of cigarettes, especially when burned.[36]

One of the chemicals on the list, ammonia, helps convert bound nicotine molecules in tobacco smoke into free nicotine molecules. This process is known as freebasing which enhances the effect of the nicotine on the smoker.

Taxation

Cigarettes are a significant source of tax revenue in many localities. This fact has historically been an impediment for health groups seeking to discourage cigarette smoking, since governments seek to maximize tax revenues. Furthermore, some countries have made cigarettes a state monopoly, which has the same effect on the attitude of government officials outside the health field.[38] In the United States, cigarettes are taxed substantially, but the states are a primary determinant of the total tax rate. Generally, states that rely on tobacco as a significant farm product tend to tax cigarettes at a low rate.[39] It has been shown that higher prices for cigarettes discourage smoking. Every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduced youth smoking by about seven percent and overall cigarette consumption by about four percent.[40] Thus increased cigarette taxes are proposed as a means to reduce smoking. Coupled with the federal cigarette tax of $1.01 per pack, total cigarette-specific taxes range from $1.18 per pack in Missouri to $6.86 per pack in New York City. States also charge sizable settlement payments to tobacco companies, and the federal government levies user fees to fund FDA regulatory measures over tobacco. While these charges are not cigarette-specific, tobacco companies are ultimately forced to pass on those costs to their consumers. Lastly, most jurisdictions apply sales tax to the full retail price of cigarettes.

In the UK, many people now[when?] illegally import cigarettes,[citation needed] or buy those illegally imported, due to the increasing tax. A pack is less than half the price in some other countries, making illegal importers a large profit, while still providing comparatively very cheap cigarettes. The average price for 20 legal cigarettes is between £5.00 and £6.00, while imported packs are sold for less than £3; this is due to the fact that the large majority of the sale price of a legitimate pack is tax.

Winston cigarette

Winston (cigarette)            

Winston cigarettes are manufactured by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company[1] or its newer incarnation as RJR Nabisco and/or its affiliates.

The brand was introduced in 1954, and became the best-selling brand of cigarettes in the United States. It held the Number 1 spot from 1966 to 1972, thanks to the successful marketing slogan "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should."[2]

In the last national survey in 2005, Winston ranked sixth in market value, tied with Kool.[3] Winston is also known for its more recent claim of being "additive free" although a secondary warning label on their advertisements states that "no additives in our tobacco does not mean a safer cigarette" which comes out of an FTC settlement involving both Winston and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco.

R.J. Reynolds sponsored the first two seasons (1960-1961) of the popular TV cartoon The Flintstones. The main characters Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were seen smoking Winston cigarettes during commercial breaks. For its third season, The Flintstones became more oriented towards children and as a result R. J. Reynolds was replaced by Welch's fruit juices as the main sponsor.

During the 1980s, Winston cigarettes became the most popular brand in Puerto Rico, probably because of their marketing "Winston y Puerto Rico: No hay nada mejor" ("Winston and Puerto Rico: There is nothing better"), as well as their cultural association with the "salsa sensual" or "salsa erotica" movement.[4]

From 1971-2001, Winston was the series sponsor to NHRA Drag Racing and now is preceded by Full Throttle after 7 years with Powerade.

From 1972-2003, Winston served as the title sponsor of the premier-level of NASCAR, the Winston Cup Series until removing itself from the sport because of the Master Settlement Agreement (now known as the Sprint Cup Series).

Since changing to the new pack style in late 2008, Winston has removed "additive free" from the text on the pack. In 2010, brand descriptors for Winston Lights and Ultra Lights were changed to color-coded descriptors in order to comply with FDA regulation of tobacco products.

USA Varieties

All are available in soft packs and boxes.

    Red (Full Flavor) - Kings, 100's
    Gold (Lights) - Kings, 100's
    White (Ultra Lights) - Kings, 100's
    Quantum Smooth (silver- Kings)

Newport cigarette

Newport (cigarette)           

 

Newport, introduced in 1957, is a brand of menthol cigarettes produced by Lorillard Tobacco Company of Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Newports comprise about 35 percent of menthol cigarette sales in the US.[1] Newports have gained a commanding share of the African-American market; a 2005 survey stated that 49.5% of all sales to African Americans were Newport cigarettes.[2] They are also among the most expensive major brands of cigarettes in the US.


History

The Newport Classic full flavor cigarettes were promoted for many years as a cigarette that allows you to "Enjoy a full flavor menthol, without drowning out pure tobacco taste." In the mid 1980s, Newport began an advertising campaign that courted African Americans in urban areas. In two years, Newports became the fifth most popular cigarette on the market.[3] A 2004 study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the percentage of teen Newport smokers doubled between 1989 and 1996. Researcher Karen Gerlach indicated that Newports made the most significant progress with the Hispanic and White American teen markets in those years.[4] A 1998 Massachusetts Department of Public Health report indicated that Newports alongside unfiltered Camel cigarettes contained the highest levels of nicotine in cigarettes on the market. In the following six years, Lorillard Tobacco increased the amount of nicotine in Newports by 10%.[5] Rappers have sung about Newport in songs, some include Ill Bill;Max B; Tupac Shakur; Notorious B.I.G.; T Pain; Three 6 Mafia Brotha Lynch Hung; & Monoxide Child of Twiztid.
Varieties

Newport cigarettes come in several varieties: Full Flavor, Medium, and Lights. In the United States, effective June 2010, "Medium" and "Lights" will be re-branded into "Blue" and "Gold" respectively. On the box, the words "Menthol Box" for shorts and "Menthol Box 100s" for 100s were replaced simply with "Cigarettes." Each variety is sold in 85mm soft packs (king size), 80mm hard packs (box), and 100mm soft and hard packs. They are available in standard packs of 20 cigarettes, as well as the more unusual 25s, containing 25 cigarettes. Prior to the signing of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement in the late 1990s, they were sold in packs of ten as well.

Due to the new FDA Tobacco Regulations, the terms "Full Flavor", "Medium", "Light", "Mild", and "Ultra Light" have been discontinued.
New names for Newport Cigarettes are as follows:
Newport Box (Full Flavor)
Newport Box 100s (Full Flavor 100s)
Newport Menthol Blue (Medium)
Newport Menthol Blue 100s (Medium 100s)
Newport Menthol Gold (Light)
Newport Menthol Gold 100s (Light 100s)
Newport Non-Menthol
Newport Non-Menthol 100s

Non-menthol Newports in Full Flavor and Lights were sold in United States during the mid to late 1990s, possibly as late as 2002; however they were discontinued until November 2010 in which they re-released them in order to keep up with the non-menthol cigarette smokers in America. The packs are identical in design to standard menthol Newports except the turquoise-colored area was red on the Full Flavors and mustard-yellow on the Lights. Newport Slim 120s (introduced 1998), Newport "Stripes", and Newport "M-Blend" were other varieties that have also been discontinued.

In some Latin American markets, such as tourist areas of the Dominican Republic, British American Tobacco has released some limited edition varieties and outer packagings including:
Newport Silver (menthol ultra lights)
Newport Freezing Point (10 & 20 count boxes) &
Newport Midnight Blast.

Lawsuits and Criticism

A lawsuit against the Lorillard Tobacco Company alleged that in the late 1950s, company vans were used to make regular trips to housing projects where free Newport cigarettes were given to children.[6]

Prince cigarette

Prince (cigarette)           

Prince is a cigarette brand owned by House of Prince A/S which is owned by Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni.

Introduced 1957 by Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker in Denmark and today have approximately a 34% market share in Denmark. In Norway, Prince enjoys a market share of around 42%.


Introduced 1961 in Sweden, 1967 in Norway, 1972 in the Northern part of West Germany and from 1986 all over Germany. Available in over 40 countries today.


Comes in both hardbox and softcup.

LD cigarette

LD (cigarette)           

LD (short for Liggett Ducat, the original manufacturer) is a brand of cigarette owned by Japan Tobacco. It was first launched in Russia in 1999 and quickly became Russia's number one cigarette brand. Liggett Ducat was bought by the Gallaher Group in 2000, which in turn was acquired by JTI in 2007. According to the JTI website, the brand is currently sold in over 30 countries.

Pall Mall cigarette

Pall Mall (cigarette)            

Pall Mall is a brand of cigarettes produced by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and internationally by British American Tobacco at multiple sites.

History

The Pall Mall brand was introduced in 1899 by the Butler & Butler Company (UK) in an attempt to cater to the upper class with the first "premium" cigarette. It is named after Pall Mall, a well-known street in London.

In 1907, Pall Mall was acquired by American Tobacco with the sale of Butler & Butler. The new owners used the premium brand to test innovations in cigarette design, such as the "king-size" (now the standard size for cigarettes at 85mm), and a new way of stuffing tobacco that supposedly made cigarettes easier on the throat.

Pall Mall reached the height of its popularity in 1960 when it was the number one brand of cigarette in America.[1] The gambles in design had paid off and so the company introduced "longs", or 100mm cigarettes (again creating a standard, this time for long cigarettes). It would later be edged out in 1966 by Winston cigarettes, when Pall Mall found that it could no longer compete with the advertising campaign "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." Ironically, in the 1940s, Pall Mall had its own grammatically incorrect slogan which touted it as the cigarette which "travels the smoke further", referencing the longer 85mm length. Their famous slogan during the '50s and early '60s was "OUTSTANDING...and they are MILD!".

In 1994, Pall Mall and Lucky Strike were purchased by Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation as the former American Tobacco company shed its tobacco brands.[2] Brown & Williamson merged with R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company on July 30, 2004, with the surviving company taking the name, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. R. J. Reynolds continues to make unfiltered and filtered styles of Pall Mall for the U.S. market, emphasizing the latter. British American Tobacco makes and sells Pall Mall outside the U.S.

Pall Mall currently is in the "Growth Brand" segment of the R.J. Reynolds brand portfolio.[3] Within British American Tobacco, Pall Mall is one of their four drive brands.[4] During the late-2000s recession, Pall Mall was marketed as a "premium product at a sub-premium price", which pushed the product from a 1.95 percent market share with a 1.6 billion quarterly volume in 2006 to 7.95 percent and 5.5 billion in third quarter 2010. This compares with top-seller Camel, which has not performed as well over the period, with 8 percent share and 5.6 billion.[5]

Pall Mall is currently sold as a Canadian discount brand in Red (full-flavour) and Blue (light). Rothman's produces American style Pall Mall cigarettes which are priced as a premium brand.

Logo

The famous Pall Mall logo has large art nouveau lettering spelling out "Pall Mall" on the top front of the pack. On the face is a white coat of arms on the front and back of the pack. Showing two regal lions pawing the sides and a knight's helmet on top, the inside of the shield reads "Per aspera ad Astra" or "Through [the] thorns to the stars" (which resembles the motto of the RAF, "Per ardua ad astra", or "Through adversity to the stars"). There is a banner underneath the shield that holds another Latin phrase, "In hoc signo vinces" or "By this sign shall you conquer". The phrase was the one that appeared in a vision to Constantine before the Battle of Milvian Bridge where he was greatly out-numbered. God instructed Constantine to put the cross on all the shields of his men. The next day, Constantine was in Rome, victorious, paving the way for the Edict of Milan. The famous Pall Mall slogan, "Wherever Particular People Congregate", appears beneath the coat of arms.

Generally speaking, there are different designs for Pall Mall packs. It can be always identified on which market one or another pack of Pall Mall was bought. Nevertheless, the logo and the main features of it remain unchanging.

In 2007, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company changed the packaging color of Pall Mall Ultra Lights from light blue to orange to stop confusion between the Ultra Lights and the Lights. Both had been in blue colored packaging.

In 2009, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company changed the flavor descriptors of all the Pall Mall brand hard packs to color designations. The descriptor change occurred because the FDA banned product descriptors such as "Light," "Ultra Light" and "Mild" in 2010. Along with the change in descriptors, the rings and branding on the cigarettes have changed to match both the color of the box and the Pall Mall lettering on the filter for that particular descriptor. The soft packs are still sold with the traditional style packaging and design.

Lucky Strike

Lucky Strike           

Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarette owned by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and British American Tobacco groups. Often referred to as "Luckies", Lucky Strike was the top selling cigarette in the United States during the 1930s.[1]

History

The brand was first introduced by R.A. Patterson of Richmond, Virginia, in 1871 as cut-plug chewing tobacco and later a cigarette. In 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company (ATC), and Lucky Strike would later prove to be its answer to R. J. Reynolds' Camel.

In 1917, the brand started using the slogan "It's Toasted" to inform consumers about the manufacturing method in which the tobacco is toasted rather than sun-dried, a process touted as making the cigarette's taste more desirable.
Advertising photo for Lucky Strike by Nickolas Muray, 1936.

In the late 1920s, the brand was sold as a route to thinness for women. One typical ad said, "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet." Sales of Lucky Strikes increased by more than 300% during the first year of the advertising campaign. Sales went from 14 billion cigarettes in 1925 to 40 billion sold in 1930, making Lucky Strike the leading brand nationwide.[2]

Lucky Strike's association with radio music programs began during the 1920s on NBC. By 1928, the bandleader and vaudeville producer B. A. Rolfe was performing on radio and recording as "B.A. Rolfe and his Lucky Strike Orchestra" for Edison Records. In 1935, ATC began to sponsor Your Hit Parade, featuring North Carolina tobacco auctioneer Lee Aubrey "Speed" Riggs (later, another tobacco auctioneer from Lexington, Kentucky, F.E. Boone, was added). The weekly radio show's countdown catapulted the brand's success, remaining popular for 25 years. The shows capitalized on the tobacco auction theme and each ended with the signature phrase "Sold, American." The company's advertising campaigns generally featured a theme that stressed the quality of the tobacco purchased at auction for use in making Lucky Strike cigarettes and claimed that the higher quality tobacco resulted in a cigarette with better flavor. American engaged in a series of advertisements using Hollywood actors as endorsers of Lucky Strike, including testimonials from Douglas Fairbanks concerning the cigarette's flavor.[3]

Lucky Strike was also a sponsor of comedian Jack Benny's radio and TV show, The Jack Benny Show, which was also introduced as The Lucky Strike Program.

The brand's signature dark green pack was changed to white in 1942. In a famous advertising campaign that used the slogan "Lucky Strike Green has gone to war", the company claimed the change was made because the copper used in the green color was needed for World War II.[4] American Tobacco actually used chromium to produce the green ink, and copper to produce the gold-colored trim. A limited supply of each was available, and substitute materials made the package look drab. However, the truth of the matter was that the white package was introduced to modernize the label and to increase the appeal of the package among female smokers; market studies showed that the green package was not found attractive to women, who had become an important consumer of tobacco products. The war effort became a convenient way to make the product more marketable while appearing patriotic at the same time.[5] Famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy was challenged by company president George Washington Hill to improve the existing green and red package, with a $50,000 bet at stake. Loewy changed the background from green to white, making it more attractive to women as well as cutting printing costs by eliminating the need for green dye. He also placed the Lucky Strike target logo on both sides of the package, a move that increased both visibility and sales. Hill paid off the bet. [6]
British Lucky Strike packet with cigarette alongside and government health warning.

The message "L.S.M.F.T." ("Lucky Strike means fine tobacco") was introduced on the package in 1945.
Jenson Button driving for BAR at Indianapolis in the 2005 US Grand Prix donning a Lucky Strike livery

As a result of British American Tobacco plc buying out American Tobacco Company in 1976, Lucky Strike came under control of BAT. The company acquired Formula 1s Tyrrell Racing team in 1997 and rebranded it as British American Racing the following year, sponsoring the team with its Lucky Strike and stablemate 555 brands. The team was bought outright by partners Honda by 2006, though Lucky Strike continued to sponsor the team until the end of that year. Tobacco advertising in motorsports

In 1978 and 1994, export rights and U.S. rights were purchased by Brown & Williamson. In the 1960s, filtered styles were launched in addition to a mentholated version called "Lucky Strike Green". This time "Green" was referring to menthol and not to the overall package color. In late 2006, both the Full Flavored and Light filtered varieties of Lucky Strike cigarettes were discontinued in North America. However, Lucky Strike will continue to have marketing and distribution support in territories controlled by British American Tobacco as a global drive brand. In addition, R. J. Reynolds continues to market the original, non-filter Lucky Strikes in the United States. Lucky Strikes currently have a small base of smokers.[7][8]

In 2007, a new packaging of Lucky Strikes was released, with a two-way opening which split seven cigarettes from the rest. In the same year, the company used the world's smallest man, He Pingping, in their ad campaigns.

In 2009, Lucky Strike Silver (the brand marketed as lighter) changed their UK packets from the quintessential red design to blue, albeit with a red teaser outer covering the packet.


Cultural references

A Lucky Strike package appears in the opening credits of the Cowboy Bebop movie.
A box of candy cigarettes displaying a red circle, imitating the traditional Lucky Strike box art

The cigarette brand is referenced in many modern forms of media. In the MSX2 version of the video game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, a fictionalized version of the brand called Lucky Striker is said to be the protagonist's favorite. In the Tom Waits song "Kentucky Avenue", the first-person speaker refers to his "half pack of Lucky Strikes". In the ZZ Top song "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide", the second verse has the lines "They sportin' short dresses, wearin' spike-heeled shoes, They smokin' Lucky Strikes, wearing nylon too." Lucky Strikes can also be seen on a piano in Ralph Bakshi's 1981 animated film American Pop.

In the AMC show Mad Men, Lucky Strike is a major client of the Madison Avenue advertising agency Sterling Cooper (and later its successor agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce), from the first season of the show until midway through the fourth season. The plot line of the show's pilot deals with the struggles of the firm's creative director Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm) to come up with a new advertising campaign for the cigarettes, because new regulations mean that the brand can no longer claim to be healthier than any other cigarette, which has been the cornerstone of their advertising strategy. In the fourth season of the show, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce loses the Lucky Strike account to rival firm BBDO, which was in fact the real life advertising agency that Lucky Strike used.

Former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms handed out Lucky Strike cigarettes, which were his personal brand of choice, in his Senate office to meeting attendants until it became "utterly unfashionable."[9]

Billy Joel's 1983 song "Keeping the Faith" from the album An Innocent Man mentions the brand in the lyric "I took a fresh pack of Luckies and a mint called Sen-Sen. My old man's Trojans and his Old Spice after shave."[10]

L&M

L&M             

Created by the company Liggett & Myers in 1953, L&M is a brand of cigarettes produced by Altria Group, Inc. (previously known as Philip Morris Companies, Inc.). "L&M" is one of the earliest, perhaps the earliest brand to have a filter that was not a one sided filter. When the "L&M" brand was launched, their motto was American cigarettes of the highest quality with the best filter. When their success in the American market was solidified, Liggett Group made a proposal to take the "L&M" international. The brand is popular in Latin America, central and northern Europe, the Arab World and the far east and south Asia. They were not very common in the continental US until a new roll out made them available in October 2007. According to the information of the independent agency of field investigation "Business Analytics", the second quarter of 2007, Phillip Morris brands took the first place in 25 Russian cities with a market share of 29.92%.During the press conference, it was reported that "L&M" takes third place in the world by sales volume. Also, the "L&M" brand second place among other cigarette brands produced by Phillip Morris International. Due to new labeling regulations in Europe banning the use of the word 'lights' names of some cigarette brands have been changed, i.e. L&M Lights are now L&M Blue Label. The same happened in 2010 in the U.S. when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned flavor descriptors such as "mild," "light" and "ultra light" even though the color designations were already changed like in Europe.

John Player & Sons

John Player & Sons

  

 

John Player & Sons, known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. It is today a part of the Imperial Tobacco Group.


History


In March 1832, William Wright set up a small tobacco factory in Broadmarsh, Nottingham. This business expanded and earned Wright a comfortable fortune. John Player bought the business in 1877. He had the Castle Tobacco Factories built in Radford, Nottingham, just west of the city centre. He had three large factory blocks built, but initially only one was used to process and pack tobacco. The other two blocks were let to lace manufacturers until the business had expanded enough to use the additional space.[1]

One of John Player's innovations was to offer pre-packaged tobacco. Before this, smokers would have bought tobacco by weight from loose supplies and cigarette papers to roll them in. He also adopted a registered trade mark as a guarantee to the public that the goods could be relied on.

The business was run later by Player's sons John Dane Player and William Goodacre Player.

In 1901, in response to competitive threats from the USA, Player's merged with the Imperial Tobacco Group. The largest constituent of Imperial Tobacco was W. D. & H. O. Wills and the new group was run from Wills' head office in Bristol. However, Players retained its own identity with cigarette brands such as 'Navy Cut', 'No.9', 'John Player Special' and 'Gold Leaf' and its distinctive logo of a smoking sailor in a 'Navy Cut' cap, and loose tobacco brands such as 'No Name'.

A new factory (the 'Horizon' factory) was opened in the early 1970s on Nottingham's industrial outskirts, with better road access and more effective floor space, next to the headquarters of Boots the Chemists.

The old factories in Radford, especially the cavernous No 1 Factory which occupied the whole area between Radford Boulevard and Alfreton Road, bordered by Player Street and Beckenham Road were gradually run down. The No 2 Factory, facing onto Radford Boulevard with its distinctive clock (now plinthed in the retail park on the site) and the No 3 factory (which faced onto Churchfield lane) with its rooftop 'John Player & Sons' sign, were demolished in the late 1980s. The iron railings and gates onto Radford Boulevard from the present retail park are the ones that surrounded No 2 Factory – the large gates (present vehicle access) were the entrance to the factory yard between No 2 and No 3 factories and the smaller gates were the pedestrian entrances to No 2 factory itself.


Sponsorship

John Player's brands are well known in motor racing from their long association with the Lotus Formula One team, and Norton motorcycle racing team.
Car racing

John Player's sponsorship of Team Lotus began with the Lotus 49 in Gold Leaf colours at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, continued with the Lotus 72, which changed to the black and gold John Player Special colours in 1972 and ended in 1986 with the Lotus 98T.

BMW owned the JPS livery in touring car racing in Australia in the 1980s. In 1984 BMW released a limited-edition road version of its 323i touring car in JPS colours to the Australian market.

Player's brands also sponsored the Forsythe Championship Racing team in Champ Car racing until tobacco advertising in automotive series was banned midway through 2003.

Marlboro cigarette

 Marlboro (cigarette)            

History

Philip Morris launched the Marlboro brand in 1924 as a woman's cigarette, based on the slogan "Mild As May". In the 1920s, advertising for the cigarette was primarily based around how ladylike the cigarette was. To this end, the filter had a printed red band around it to hide lipstick stains, calling it "Beauty Tips to Keep the Paper from Your Lips".[1]
A pack of Marlboro "Silvers" (previously: "ultra-lights")

After scientists published a major study linking smoking to lung cancer in the 1950s, Philip Morris repositioned Marlboro as a men's cigarette in order to fit a market niche of men who were concerned about lung cancer. At the time, filtered cigarettes were considered safer than unfiltered cigarettes, but had been until that time only marketed to women. Men at the time indicated that while they would consider switching to a filtered cigarette, they were concerned about being seen smoking a cigarette marketed to women.[1]

The red and white package was designed by the Designer Frank Gianninoto. The repositioning of Marlboro as a men's cigarette was handled by Chicago advertiser Leo Burnett. The proposed campaign was to present a lineup of manly figures: sea captains, weightlifters, war correspondents, construction workers, etc. The cowboy was to have been the first in this series. While Philip Morris was concerned about the campaign, they eventually gave the green light.[1]

Within a year, Marlboro's market share rose from less than one percent to the fourth best-selling brand. This convinced Philip Morris to drop the lineup of manly figures and stick with the cowboy.[1]

In order to comply with a court ruling USA vs. Philip Morris,[4] Philip Morris (and all other cigarette companies) is now prevented from using words such as "Lights", "Ultra-Lights", "Medium", "Mild", or any similar designation that yields a false impression that they are safer than regular full flavor cigarettes. Thus Marlboro and other cigarette companies must use only color coding instead; for example Marlboro Lights are now called Marlboro Gold Pack.

Benson & Hedges

Benson & Hedges

Benson & Hedges is a British brand of cigarettes owned by British American Tobacco, Altria and Japan Tobacco. In the UK they are registered in Old Bond Street in London, and are manufactured in Lisnafillen, Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

History

Benson & Hedges was founded in 1873 by Richard Benson and William Hedges as Benson and Hedges Ltd. Alfred Paget Hedges succeeded his father in the business in 1885, the same year which Richard Benson left the business. The 1900s saw branches of Benson & Hedges Ltd. opening in the United States and Canada.
In 1928, the American branch became independent, and was bought by Philip Morris in 1958 who also purchased the Canadian branch in 1960. Benson & Hedges Ltd in the UK was acquired by Gallagher Limited in 1955.
A Royal Warrant was issued to the British company in 1878, after the required five years of supply to the Royal Family. This was revoked in 1999 due to a "lack of demand in the royal households".[1] The Warrant seal, which had previously been on the flip lid of the box, was removed.
In June 1977 Benson & Hedges' Gallagher was represented, along with executives from six other major international tobacco companies, at a clandestine meeting styled 'Operation Berkshire' at Shockerwick House outside Bath, England, where they agreed on a deliberate strategy to mislead the public over the harmful effects of smoking and retard tobacco control efforts of governments and health groups.

Markets

The cigarettes are available in Gold or Silver forms, and in some countries also as Green (Menthol), blue, white and black. Japan Tobacco also manufactures Hamlet cigars.