KOOL (cigarette)

Kool

A pack of Kool Milds and the cigarette
Product type	Menthol cigarette
Produced by	ITG Brands LLC (subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco Company) Brown and Williamson (previous) R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (bought in 2003) British American Tobacco (sold outside of the U.S.)
Introduced	1933
Website	www.kool.com

Kool (stylized as KOOL) is a brand of menthol cigarette produced by ITG Brands LLC (a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco Company). It is typically described as a bolder menthol flavor.

Introduced by Brown and Williamson tobacco company in 1933, as an unfiltered 70mm "regular" cigarette, Kool was the first popular menthol cigarette. Spud cigarettes, introduced in 1927 by the Axton-Fisher Tobacco Company had been the first menthol cigarette to be distributed and marketed nationwide, but Kool quickly overtook them in sales. Kool enjoyed continued success through the 1950s, when growing public concern about the health risks associated with smoking began take a toll on the Kool brand. Brown and Williamson responded to these concerns by releasing filtered varieties of Kool - first an 85mm "king-sized" filtered version in the 1960s that was followed by a 100mm or "long" filtered version in the 1970s. The 1980s saw the introduction of Kool lights and it was also during this decade that the Kool brand began to lose some marketshare to other menthol brands, such as Newport. In 2003, Brown and Williamson was purchased by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and as a result of this merger, Kool became a Reynolds brand. Soon after, Kool's iconic green and white pack, virtually unchanged for some 70 years, was overhauled and the original unfiltered Kool cigarette was discontinued around this same time. However, the changes did little to boost sales, as Kool continued to lose ground to Newport and other menthols. On June 12, 2015, the Kool brand became the property of Imperial Tobacco Company due to a merger between Reynolds American (R.J. Reynolds parent company) and the Lorillard Tobacco Company.

All Kool cigarettes are menthol flavored.

Kool cigarette advertising began with the character of "Willie" the penguin, who was portrayed as several different professions, among which were a doctor, a soldier and a chef. In the early 1960s, the image of the cartoon penguin was no longer used, and Kool instead began marketing their cigarettes by linking the county fresh, relaxingly cool taste of menthol to cool outdoor scenes portraying water or snow. Former Kool Models include Steve Tyler.