I Am A Smoker and Have Been for 45 Years, This Has Been My Choice and Addiction

I Am A Smoker and Have Been for 45 Years, This Has Been My Choice and Addiction.

In this handwritten letter to "Doral and Co. Marketing Department" R.J. Reynolds, a disabled smoker suffering from emphysema and heart disease pleads with the company to make their cigarettes shorter, put more in a pack and sell them for the same price, saying this would be "a great service" for those who can no longer smoke a whole cigarette. The writer also claims shorter cigarettes would make it easier to get "a quick fix," be "healthier for those who are ill," and could serve as a quitting aid.

The beleaguered smoker writes,

I have heart disease and emphysema. I am on a fixed income of social security disability, I should quit smoking, but as many others we are addicted. I find many cigarettes just burn away. There are many times when I take only a puff or two at a time, and to relight a cigarette is very foul tasting, so it is thrown away... [Making shorter cigarettes] would be a great service to those on a fixed income, and I am sure there are many. But also this would give 'the quick fix' that so many of us need. Also this would be healthier for those who are ill by not filling our lungs completely with smoke and chemicals.

Company/Source: R.J. Reynolds
Date: 29 Jun 2000
Length: 3 pages
Bates No. 522752199/2201
URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ydk01d00