The specifics on Christensen's proposal are not yet clear, but it is clear that the tobacco industry plans to fight it. Tobacco company lobbyists are already fighting against the regulation, said Christensen. She said the only company in favor of the menthol ban is Phillip Morris. But Lorillard, the cigarettes company that produces Newport cigarettes, is mounting what the Times called a "counteroffensive," sending out an email message to customers recently urging them to call their Congressional representatives.
"Urgent! Urgent!...Congress wants to make it illegal to smoke Newports and other menthol cigarettes. Call your member of Congress now and tell them to oppose any amendment to ban menthol cigarettes," the email said. Newport is the number one selling menthol cigarette in the U.S.
Located in Greensboro, North Carolina, Lorillard is the nation's oldest and third largest tobacco company. It was started in 1760 by Pierre Lorillard and now manufactures a wide range of brands, including Kent, True, Old Gold, Maverick, Satin and Max.
Television ads from decades ago depict menthol cigarettes as harmless additives that enhanced the flavor of cigarettes. "Newport is smoother," according to the jingle of one popular television commercial (shown below), "than any other menthol cigarette." All the people depicted in the ads are, of course, white.
But as times changed, Newport's demographics seem to have changed too, and now African Americans are among the biggest consumers of the menthol cigarettes sold by the company that produces Newport. Blacks have also been the target of the industry's advertising efforts, as seen by the two print ads in this article.
Perhaps as a result of the marketing efforts, Newport cigarettes have become popular in the black community. Just walk down 125th Street in Harlem or some other black inner city neighborhoods, and you might hear a familiar refrain: "Newport, Newport!" That's the call of unlicensed cigarette dealers selling the cigarettes by the pack. With the cost of Newports at $8 in New York City, sometimes the cigarettes are even sold individually as "loosies" on the black market.
The combination of high cigarette prices and high demand have also fueled the black market. In Kansas City over the weekend, a robber broke into a convenience store and stole thousands of dollars of cigarettes, mostly Marlboros and Newports. In another incident a few weeks ago, a robber broke into a store and stole Newport and Kool cigarettes. And in Florida last month, a gas station was robbed and a thief again stole Newport cigarettes.
The debate over menthol cigarettes, like the debate over malt liquor -- a beer with a high alcohol content -- has been going on for years. Both are popular in the African American community, and many health advocates are concerned about the racial health disparities that may be caused by the use of these controversial products.

COLUMBIA- As South Carolina lawmakers prepare to consider raising the lowest tobacco tax in the nation, groups pushing for the cigarettes tax hike are facing off with tobacco companies.
State senators on Tuesday are set to debate raising the 7-cent per pack tax by 50 cents. The move would put in play an estimated $159 million annually that could be used to expand health care and programs that discourage smoking. The money's especially tempting in a tight budget year that has seen spending plans slashed because of slumping tax collections.
Since the tax last was raised in 1977, workers have had a harder time affording insurance. "This is a source of revenue that can be used to address those health care needs," said Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla, who shepherded the legislation though a Senate committee and plans to push the 50-cent increase. Opponents of the tax increase say there's little sense in pinning budget demands on smokers.
"We oppose it because we think adult smokers already are heavily taxed and they're already bearing a significant tax burden," said Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Altria Group, the parent company of Philip Morris USA. Phelps said smoking rates are declining about 2 percent a year and most states' expectations of revenue boosts are disappointed. "We don't think it makes sense to fund government programs with a revenue source that continues to decline," he said.
The proposal would use the first $5 million raised to pay for efforts to prevent smoking or getting people to quit. The rest of the money would be split between an expansion of the state-federal Medicaid program to more families and incentives that encourage businesses to make medical coverage available to employees.
June Deen, a regional spokeswoman for the American Lung Association, said tobacco companies for years have wielded influence that continues to be felt.
"They've been very effective in holding off the will of the people on this issue. We have the lowest cigarettes tax in the country. The national average is $1.13. There's testament right there to their influence," Deen said.
Reynolds American Inc. lobbyist Fred Allen said offering tax credits is an attempt to ease concerns for legislators signing no new tax pledges. "I think the proposers of the tax are laboring mightily to create something that will give legislators that are concerned about their tax pledge some cover," Allen said. "They're just proposing a new tax." When the bill left the House last year, it called for raising the cigarette tax 30 cents in exchange for cutting sales taxes.