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25 Cigarette Jd Fact and Fiction By Roden' Littell HILE W cigarette advertising remained in the re,alm ofl fancy one couldn't hclp ad- miring it at', tiines, for many were the phrases it added' to the language - I'd Walk a Mile for a Camel, Not a Cough in a Carload, Blow Sonte My Way, Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet. Btit more recently ciga- rette advertising has taken to spoil- ing its pretty flights of the imag- ination by resort to percentages, anaN'ses; chemical terms, and mar- ket reports: In order to find out'which ciga- rette adverx~i'sing claims were fact, which fiction, and which a blend of both, The Reader's Digest com- missioned a research laboratory to make a scries of objective tests. Sevenn brands were chosen: the best sellers (the so-called' "Big Five" - Lueky Strike, Camel, Chesterfield, Philip Morris, Old Gold); the extra-long Pall Ivtall;:and Avalon, a representa- tive ro-cent cigarette. Twenty-four cigarettes of each brand, taken; from packages bought ini the open market, were "smoked" in a robot made of glass tubes andi flasks, which ptrmitted complete col- lection, for accurate analysis, of the nicotine and tars containedin the smoke of each brand. Other precise data were noted4 such as the amount of nicotine in the tobacco and the lengtLof time required by the robot s to smoke each cigarette down to a butt two centimeters long-slfightly over three quarters of an inch. 'I'he laboratory's generall conclu- sion will be sad news for the adver tising copy writers, but good! news for the smoker, who need no longer worry as to which cigarette can, most effectively nail down his coffin. For one nail is jiu.st about as good as an- other. Says the laboratory report: "The differences betweenibrands are, practically speaking, small,, and no single brartd is so superior to its corn- petitors as to justif'y its selection on the ground that it is less harn ful:" How small the variations are may be seen from, the data tabulated oni page 7. Smoking Time. The time taken by the laboratory robot to smoke Big Five cigarettes varied from an aver- age of 9 minutes 6 seconds (Lucky Strike, Chesterfield) to ro minutes (Camel). Here is a claim that has been made for Camel: "By burning z5, percent slower than the average of the four other largest-selling brands tested - slower than any of them - Camels give you a smoking plus equal, on the average, to five extra smokes per pack." Note that this ad doesn't say which four brand's were tested. So "tested" is a we2sell word. Weasel words are the adman's way of crossing his fingers behind his back when he makes a somewhat elastic statement~. According to the

6THfiREi1DER'S DIGEST arithmetic of the tabulation, the averagc Camel smokes only si.r per- cent slower than the average of the other four best sellers;. Nicotine. The nicotine foundin Big Five cigarette smoke varied from 2.04 milligrams(Old~ Gold)~ to z.4G('Philip Morris). There are z8;37o milligramst~oan ouncc. In a recent campaign Lucky Strike made this statement: "For over two years the nicotine content of Luckies has been 12 percent less than the average of the four othcr leading brands - less than any of them~" But it's the nicotine in the smoke that matters, not the nicotine in thetobacco: According to Column 2 of the tabulation on page 7, Lucky Strike smoke contains one percent less than the average of the other leaders. Old Golds have the least of 211, 2.04 milligrams. The difference between the amounts of nicotine in~ the smoke of Lucky Strikes and Camels was something you could put on the point of a pin. But cigarette advertising copy writers would have little to write about if they didn't use pin point differences. That is why they have become so expert at training a neg- ligible little flea of a fact to hop all over the U. S. and bite its way into the consciousness of the nation's cash custorners: For some months Camel printed advertising has featured this state- ment: "The smoke of slower-burning Camels contains 28,percent less nico- tine than the average of the four July other largest-selling cigarettes tested -- less than any of them - accord- ing to: independent scientific tests of the smokeztse ft'° A simplecaleula- tion based'on Colhmn: 2 of the tabu- lation shows that, according to our own "independent, scientific" labo- ratory,, the smoke from Camels con- tained more nicotine than the smoke of Old' Golds and, instead of z8 per- cent less, only z:rr percent less than the average of the other four largest sellers. Incidentally, smoke from the to-cent Avalon contained as little nicotine as smoke from a; Camel. Tars and Resins. These products of combustion are the villains ~ that irri- tate, rather than the nicotine. Wherr you suck on a cigarette through~ a handkerchief, it's the tars that stain the cloth a peevish yellow-brown; Almost all cigarettes have at one time or another claimed superior mildness. Chesterfield, comparatively conservative in, its advertising, relies heav.ilyon this vague attribute. Mild- ness can't be measured - it can't even be defined. But the robot did measure the amount of tar in, ciga- rette smoke. To~the extent that tars are uniformly irritant, we have a yardstick. About all the robot was able to say inm regard to Chesterfield's mildness was that Chesterfield smoke con- tained a higher, percentage of tars and' resins than any of the other six cigarettes tested. Old Gold had the least. The advertising genius who thought itp "Not a Cough in a Car- load"' seems unaware of Old Golds' s

27 1942 ,CIGARE'1'TF AD FACT AND FICTION virtues: they had the best score of all see`cn cigarettestest'cd for The Read- er's LI)igest~ as to nic- otine and tar in their smoke. Instead of cashing in on these buried treas- ures; Old Gold is plugging La takia - the Something iwTew which Has Been tldde& Latakia is, not a new arrival. It is an aromatic Near Brand (rhe ftrrt five are the so-called " Big Five ") ., Lucky Strike. Camel ...... Chesterf eld . . . Philip 14orris_ . Old Gold ..... ,As-alon ....... Pall A1all:..... "RiGFive" Averag ........ Easterni tobacco which has long been used ini certaini pipe tobaccomix~- tures. And' Old Gold' doesn't say how much of this "costly, rare, very flavorful Mediterranean leaf" has been added. Filtering. Pall Mall claims that the "modern d'esign" of its extra lengt~h "filters the smoke and protects your throat." This is not true if, as ob- viously happens most, of the time, people smoke it, down to the same length butt as a regular size cigarette. The laboratory report showed that Pall Mall smoke was third highest in percentage of both tars and nico- tine, and that, because of Pall Mall's extra length, its smoke was high- est in actual amount of nicotine per ciga re t te. Evcry cigarette is its own filter, poor or goodi according to how, it is smoked. If you tamp a! cigarette our after a few puffs,, irritants are held back in the unburned' tobacco: But What the Robot Found Nicotine in Smo~e Smoking (average Tars in Time rnilligrams Smoke ( fier cigarette) per cigarette) ( percent). 99 mim 6 sec. 2,:22. 2_ r9 10 " o ~• 2.20 . 2,13 9 6 .. 2.27 2,37 9 << 36 .. . 9, .. 54 .. 7 , .~ 54 12 .. 24 " 9. 32, .. 11 2.qb 2.04 2.20 2.24 4 1.98 2.i4' 3.02 2.23 2.z4 ~ 2~.:I8~. 7 if you~are one of those last-cigarette- before-thc-gallows fiends who smoke them down to where they singe your mustache, you'1l get a triple ration of tars and nicotine. The longer the butt, not the longer the cigarette, the better it acts as a filter. This commercial plug was reccntly 4iearcl-irr-x44r+FrMorn--s-~ar: "Eminent physicians report that the smoke of four other leading brands averaged more than three times as irritant as the arnazinglydifferent Philip Morris:- an irritant effect whichlasted five times as long," The findings of the eminent glass robot employed by The Reader's Digest are that Philip Morris ciga- rette smoke had the highest percent age of nicotine, and the second high- est percentage of the tar and' resins, of all seven~ brands tested. More Than the Market Price. Many of the basic facts about cigarette manufacture are unknown to the bDb

28. 8 THE READER'S DIGEST public. Otherwise Lucky Strikes would be laughed right back into their cartons for their current cam- paign, a series of boasts that the makers of Luckics paid 29, or 35, or 46, or some such percent "more than the average market price" for to- bacco at auctions in various southern towns. Many different grades of tobacco are bought,, at different prices, for different tobacco prodhlcts. There's tobacco for eigaret~tes,, for chewing, for cigars, for pipes. Average the price for all of them and: you get the "average market price." The to• bacco in all the big brands of ciga- rettes, being of the highest grades, costs more than the "average market price." There's also ground for be- lieving, according to evidence dug up by the Department of Justice in~a recent case against several of the big tobacco companies, that the prices they pay for their tobacco are re- markably uniform~ Because the prices of the finish4 Big Five cigarettes are the same, be- cause the ehemical! differences be- tween them are slight, because the tobacco and the method of man- ufacture are essentially similar, the problem of choice all comes down to Q+avor. One cigarette is chosen over another because the smoker„ though he knows nothing about cigarettes, knows what lie likes. But does he? Some interesting at- tempts to answer this qµestion have been made. Consumers Uniorr put seven, brands of cigarettes, the names of which had beenlinked out, before 198 habitual' smokers, and asked them to tell what they were smok- ing. For the Big Five, scores varied from 83 percent wrong oir Old Gold to go percent wrong on Philip Morris. Dr. Carl I. Hovland; Director of G'raduate Studies in Psychology at Yale, rounded up 95 heavy smokers, each of whom named his fa.°orite brand, and, another brand which he particularly disliked. Dr. Hovland had! themi all smoke eight of each brand and, guess whi& was which. By pure chance each man could have guessed eight out' of the 16 right. The actual result yielded~an average of only 8.6. So perhaps even personal pref- erence is a myth, and it makes no earthly difference which of the lead- ing cigarettes you buy. That's why the poor ad writers, when they scratch~ their heads in search of self- ing points, so often hit the bump in their skulls marked "fictionL"