摘要：Present-day consumption of little cigars rivals that of the early 1970s when sales of little cigars boomed. This boom was largely attributed to RJ Reynolds, and documents reveal how and why they became a powerful force in little cigar sales. RJ Reynolds designed a little cigar, Winchesters, for cigarette smokers and produced one as close to a cigarette as legally possible. Initially, RJ Reynolds intended to capitalize on the cigarette advertising broadcast ban, but the price and tax structure was more critical to Winchester’s success. Today, the tobacco industry is fighting again to sustain its unique application of federal definitions for little cigars. Regulatory efforts are needed to close taxation loopholes for the little cigar. CIGAR SMOKING ROSE dramatically during the 1990s after decades of declining consumption. Higher levels of cigar use coincided with increased and innovative cigar marketing by the tobacco industry, the high visibility offered by many celebrities quoted and photographed with cigars, and the success of Cigar Aficionado and Smoke magazines. 1 – 3 Cigar use is often rejected by the public as a serious health risk but even moderate cigar use poses significant dangers to health. 4 The rapid rise in cigar use during the mid-1990s garnered much attention from the public health and lay community. However, some surveys suggest that the cigar boom may be over 5 , 6 and interest in cigar use as a public health problem has waned. 7 However, it would be premature to conclude that the popularity of cigars has subsided. Data from the US Department of Agriculture clearly indicate that cigar consumption continues to increase each year. 8 In contrast to previous trends during the “boom,” the largest growth since 1998 was not among large cigars 1 but among “little cigars,” which increased 170% between 1998 and 2006. 8 Although little cigars differ from large ones with respect to weight, this is not the only nor, arguably, the most important distinction between them. Other characteristics of little cigars that set them apart from large ones are features common to cigarettes, such as shape, size, filters, and packaging (i.e., 20 sticks to a pack; Figure 1 ▶ ). 7 Present-day consumption of little cigars (more than 4 billion sticks in 2006) rivals that of the early 1970s when a loophole in the federal law (i.e., Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act) banned cigarette ads on television but allowed on-air marketing of little cigars. Sales of little cigars quadrupled between 1971 and 1973. In addition to banning cigarette advertising on television and radio, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act also required that cigarette packs display stronger health warnings. At the time, cigars did not require warning labels. The success of the little cigar in the early 1970s was overwhelmingly attributed to RJ Reynolds’s (RJR’s) little cigar “Winchester” (Figure 2 ▶ ), which was extensively criticized for its cigarette-like marketing. Open in a separate window FIGURE 1— Doral cigarettes, Winchester little cigars, and Dutch Masters (large) cigars. Open in a separate window FIGURE 2— Winchester little cigars volume and market share, by year: 1970–2004. Notes. Data for this figure were compiled from numerous Maxwell Reports (statistical surveys of the cigarette industry); data for 1998 could not be obtained. RJR = RJ Reynolds; TEI = Tobacco Exporter International. Policymakers and public health advocates criticized RJR’s Winchester little cigars, calling them “cigarettes in disguise,” and initiated unsuccessful regulatory efforts in the early 1970s to reclassify little cigars as cigarettes. Renewed efforts are under way to address the proliferation of the cigarette-like little cigar. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), as a result of numerous inquiries for clarification on the regulations that pertain to these products, drafted proposed changes to the regulations to better differentiate little cigars and cigarettes. 9 As such, we feel it important to revisit the past and consider in particular how and why a cigarette company emerged as a powerful force in the sales of little cigars. We analyzed internal tobacco industry documents from the early 1970s and focused on RJR’s development and marketing of the Winchester little cigar.
