Because of the significant cost associated with introducing new cigarette brands, more tobacco companies are using extensions of successful brands as a way to make market inroads, the Winston Salem Journal reported on May 15. 

This practice, however, does not sit well with antismoking activists, who believe the products target minorities, women, and youth. 

After testing the products with adult customers for a year, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. this month introduced four new flavors to its Camel signature brand: Frost, a menthol; Mello, with sun-cured tobacco; Robust, with a burley taste; and Infused, with a spicy taste. R.J. Reynolds also introduced two menthol styles to its Kool brand – Flow and Groove, and added Camel No. 9 in February, geared toward adult female smokers.

On May 4, five U.S. Senators sent a letter to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission about whether Camel No. 9 was being aimed at underage girls. 

"I strongly challenge that the Camel Signature test marketing was solely done with adults," said Cheryl Heaton, president and chief executive of the American Legacy Foundation of Washington. "How did they know who the actual recipients of the test cigarettes were?"

R.J. Reynolds Spokesman David Howard said that test-marketing participants at the Camel website were age-verified by a third-party group.

Meanwhile, bills introduced in Congress would severely limit U.S. tobacco marketing under the oversight of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.