• by Laurie Petersen , October 12, 2006

R.J. Reynolds has agreed to stop selling flavored cigarettes in the U.S., which critics had charged it was doing in violation of a 1998 settlement that prohibited marketing tobacco products to youth, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced yesterday.

The company agreed to stop identifying cigarettes with candy, fruit, desserts or alcoholic beverage names, imagery or ads, the statement said. The latest settlement involved no financial penalty.

Reynolds also agreed to stop using scratch-and-sniff promotional samples.

Officials from New York and Illinois co-led the investigation, which included 38 states and a U.S. territory. They maintained that the flavored products were a deliberate attempt to appeal to young smokers.

"Candy-flavored cigarettes can now join Joe Camel on the ash heap of defunct tobacco marketing schemes," said Donald Distasio of the American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids issued a statement applauding the settlement, but calling for legislation that would ban all candy and alcohol-flavored cigarettes.

RJR has marketed candy and fruit-flavored versions of its Camel cigarettes with names like Twista Lime, Warm Winter Toffee and Mocha Mint.