For those of you who are in the process of quitting smoking and/or cutting down on the potency of your cigarettes, we bring you this list of the 5 best selling ultra-light cigarettes in the world.
Despite awareness of the dangers of smoking being widespread, smoking rates are remaining fairly steady around the world, though they have fallen by several percentage points over the past two decades. Among other things, tobacco companies continue to entice consumers with new products and offerings, spurred on by increased competition and an evolving tobacco landscape that is being threatened by marijuana legalization and the rise of e-cigarettes (which many big tobacco companies are also diving into). Yet despite many governments also increasing the price of cigarettes by imposing higher taxes to discourage smoking due to the health concerns, tobacco companies continue to weather the storm. For more on that topic, don’t miss the list of the 10 Most Expensive Countries to Buy Cigarettes in the World.
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For those consumers who are trying to quit smoking or for those who simply cannot handle stronger flavors, ultra-lights are suitable for them, as they are relatively mild and lighter than regular cigarettes. Moreover ultra-lights are considered to have a toned down flavor as well as lower amounts of tar and nicotine than a regular cigarette. Lights and ultra-lights also come in menthol and other flavors as a substitute for the strong tobacco smell and taste. Various flavors come in handy, as there is diversity in user preferences. It is safe to say that the global tobacco market has been in the throes of heated competition since the mid-1900s, spurring a wide variety of flavors and varying intensities of tobacco being introduced over the decades.
By the way, you can watch the video below to find out 7 cigarette brands that contain the lowest tar and nicotine.
When it comes to ultra-lights, there are restrictions on the amount of nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide which they may contain, which varies from country to country. For instance, the measurement standards in the UK are far more stringent than those in the U.S. These regulations are issued by a state’s legislation and health ministries based on their personal standards of what qualifies as reasonable tobacco usage.
Tobacco companies like British American Tobacco PLC (ADR) (NYSEMKT:BTI) are investing heavily in the search for reduced risk smoking products, with the company having spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing them. After all, if a company could figure out how to make cigarettes relatively safe while maintaining their taste, they would open the smoking world up to billions of potential customers that have shunned cigarettes primarily due to their health hazards. While e-cigarettes have been found to be as much as 95% safer than traditional cigarettes (including ultra-lights), it hasn’t been enough to sway many people to either drop their light cigarettes for them, or to start smoking.
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Getting back to our list, we based our findings on data collected by The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Using a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest, each product was ranked with an average score after being measured on factors such as their ingredients’ strength (very weak, weak, medium, strong), taste (very poor, tolerable, pleasant, very pleasant) and price (low, fair, high). Although preferences and choices will vary among cigarette users, here is the unbiased list of the 5 best selling ultra-light cigarettes in the world.
