R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT)

Great number of tobacco companies emerges these days, as the demand in cigarettes constantly grows. People love smoking cigarettes and despite of the active anti-smoking campaigns, the amount of smoking persons only increases. Some companies produce only certain types of cigarettes, others a great amount of different brands and blends. But no matter what cigarettes they manufacture, all these companies constantly improve the quality of the cigarettes and try to reduce the price.

One of the famous tobacco companies is R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. This company was founded in 1875 by the son of tobacco farmer R. J. Reynolds. Nowadays, his company is the second largest tobacco manufacturer in the United States. Initially, this was a small business with seasonal workers, but in a couple of years the production of tobacco for cigarettes has increased to several millions pounds a year.

In 1900 R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has bought all the cigarettes companies in the Winston-Salem region and became the manufacturer of 25% of all the American chewing tobacco. At the beginning of the 20th century this company began active advertising campaigns which considerably boosted the demand and consequently the amount of manufactured cigarettes. Famous Camel cigarettes were first manufactured in 1913 and reached the success so fast that government made Winston-Salem the official port of entry for the United States. With a flow of time, Winston-Salem port became one of the 8 major ports of entry in the US. Popularity of the Camel brand was earned by the unique combination of tobacco blends, which is known nowadays as “American blend”.

One of the reasons of the great success of the company was the attitude of R. J. Reynolds to his workers. In 1917 he built 180 houses and offered them to his workers at low cost, forming, in such a way a little town, referred as Reynoldstown. Unfortunately, a year later the founder of the company died. Nevertheless, his portrait on the wall of the company’s board room hasn’t been replaced for 41 years, as he was so beloved and highly appreciated for his devotion to the company and its workers.

Many brands started to appear with the development of the new methods of tobacco processing. But one of these brands has the special place in the production row of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is Salem. In 1956 a new, innovative type of cigarettes has been introduced. Cigarettes were called Salem and they were the first filter-tipped menthol cigarettes in the Unites States. Naturally, they instantly gained huge success and many customers. One of the particular qualities that make Salem cigarettes so unique is its blend with peculiar Asian Menthol instead of regular Menthol, used in many other cigarettes. Naturally, with the flow of time and changing demands of the people, this brand began the manufacturing of Light and Super Light versions, as well as the 100’s long cigarettes.

In the 2nd half of 20th century this company became the main taxpayer in the United States, manufacturing two thirds of the cigarettes in the USA. Many cigarettes brands manufactured by this company are cheap and oriented at the average customer, for example, such brands of fine and affordable cigarettes as Viceroy and Pall Mall are beloved by a great number of people. Due to the current enormous raise the cigarette cost, cheap brands of cigarettes became very popular as not everybody is ready to pay a fortune for a pack of cigarettes. Currently, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company remains one of the most successful and popular cigarettes companies in the world.