Newport cigarettes

Newport

A soft pack of Newport Menthol cigarettes
Product type	Cigarette
Owner	R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Introduced	1957
Previous owners	Lorillard Tobacco Company

Newport, originally introduced in 1957 by the Lorillard Tobacco Company, is a brand of menthol cigarettes owned by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Newports comprise about 35 percent of menthol cigarette sales in the U.S. Newports have gained a commanding share of the African-American market; a 2005 survey stated that 49.5% of all cigarette sales to African Americans were Newport cigarettes. Newport is now the second best selling cigarette brand in the United States, trailing only Altria's Marlboro brand. The Newport brand also includes a non-menthol cigarette introduced in the early 2000s.

The brand was originally named after the seaport of Newport, Rhode Island and the spinnaker present on all packs since the late 1950s is meant to capitalize on the association with sailing.The original Newport had a white filter and a hint of mint; both were gone in 1969 and thus the white filter was replaced by a standard filter. 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. 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. 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%.

Newport cigarettes come in several varieties: Full Flavor, Medium, and Lights. In the United States, in June 2010, "Medium" and "Lights" were 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.