RJR Reportedly Plans a New Brand of Low-Smoke Cigarettes

RJR Nabisco Inc. plans to introduce another low-smoke cigarette that unlike its failing Premier product burns tobacco with a small smoke output, a report said Saturday.

Analysts said the introduction of the product indicates that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which is in the process of buying the company, plans to go ahead with new development, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Saturday.

The company said its newest cigarette, Vantage Exel 100s, emits less smoke from its lit end than a regular cigarette, but contains a comparable amount of tar and nicotine as its standard low-tar Vantage brand.

The smoke is reduced through the use of a new tobacco blend and special highly porous cigarette paper, said officials of RJR’s Winston-Salem-based R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. RJR Nabisco Inc. has headquarters in Atlanta.

Asked to comment on the report Saturday, a spokesman at RJR headquarters in Atlanta said all tobacco announcements must come from Winston-Salem. No one from R. J. Reynolds was available for comment.

Analysts said the new Vantage brand may deflect attention away from Premier’s slow start.