R.J. Reynolds hopes capsule captures new smokers

A tiny blue capsule is the key element in R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s latest attempt to woo smokers.

The capsule is embedded into the filter of a regular Camel Lights cigarette.

When smokers squeeze and snap the capsule, it releases menthol to change the flavor. The cigarette -- packaged in a sleek black and blue box and called Camel Crush -- is being test-marketed at North Carolina Quality Mart convenience stores, and, beginning this month in Pennsylvania.

"We're giving the adult smoker the ability to savor two distinct flavors with Camel Crush and customize the experience," said Brian Stebbins, the senior business-unit director for Camel. "They can crush it a little and get a slight flavor over the length of the smoke. They can crush it completely and get a fresh menthol blast."

Reynolds views product innovation as a positive and differentiating way to compete for adult smokers and market share.

However, the capsule also has become the latest target of anti-smoking groups, which claim that product innovations such as Camel Crush and the marketing of cigarettes are geared toward attracting young consumers.

"Tobacco companies have carefully designed their products to attract new users, almost all of whom are children," said The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in a February report titled "Big Tobacco's Guinea Pigs."

Stebbins declined to say how much Reynolds has spent to develop Camel Crush, but it has been in the works for several years.

"We had to find the proper type of capsule," Stebbins said. "We also had to invent manufacturing machinery to put the capsule in the same place in the filter consistently without breaking it." Reynolds said it has obtained a patent on the machinery.

Camel Crush represents the biggest cigarette innovation since Reynolds introduced its Eclipse brand in 1996.

Eclipse, which remains available nationwide on a request basis by wholesalers and retailers, has struggled to catch on with smokers. It has been criticized for claims of reduced risk of some cancers.

Unlike traditional cigarettes, smokers do not light tobacco with Eclipse. They light a carbon tip that heats air that, as it is inhaled, passes over tobacco in a cylinder that's identical to a standard cigarette. The flavors of tobacco and nicotine are inhaled and then exhaled by smokers.

Reynolds' innovations have yielded many hits and misses over the past 30 years.

Among Reynolds' biggest marketing missteps were Brookwood and Uptown, menthol brands aimed at black smokers that were withdrawn while being test-marketed.

Also withdrawn was Joe Camel, the iconic image that sharply raised Camel's profile in the 1980s and 1990s, but eventually fell victim to the increasingly public war over how cigarette companies sell cigarettes, particularly those that might appeal to young consumers.

But Reynolds also has had some successes, such as Camel No. 9, a brand that targets women smokers; Camel Signature, which is based on smokers' flavor preferences; and Kool XL, which has wider cigarettes.

Putting flavoring in a cigarette filter is nothing new for Reynolds or the industry.

Camel Exotic Blends, which was introduced in 1999, contained a pellet that provided the flavoring for such styles as Twista Lime, Kauai Kolada and Margarita Mixed.

But Reynolds stopped selling 28 styles of Camel, Kool and Salem cigarettes that featured certain flavors in 2006 as part of a settlement with 40 state attorneys general.

"There's no way for consumers to know what's in that capsule," said Joel Spivak, the media-relations director with The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "We know that similar-flavored pellets have released dangerous chemicals when tested.

Bill Godshall, the executive director for Smokefree Pennsylvania, said that The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids publicly accuses all new tobacco products, especially those made by Reynolds of being target-marketed to children.

Pat Shehan, the owner of Tarheel Tobacco in Winston-Salem, N.C., said that Reynolds has established Camel as its growth brand among young adult smokers. He said that using the menthol capsule for Camel Crush could work.

"It's smart on their part to use the Camel brand with this product. The general population of tobacco users is hesitant to use different brands," Shehan said. "But there is a segment that will try new products, especially if they are marketed with a brand they know, and some will stick with the new product over their preferred style and brand."

(E-mail Richard Craver at rcraver(at)wsjournal.com)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)