"Winston tastes good like a cigarette should."
This is one the successful marketing slogan of Winston
cigarettes that put them up to No. 1 from 1966 to 1972.
Manufactured for or by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company or its newer incarnation as RJR Nabisco and/or its affiliates, Winston has been introduced to the cigarette world market in 1954, named after the city in which the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has started, Winston-Salem which is located in North Carolina, USA. Since then, Winston has been the best-selling brand of cigarettes in the United States. It also took the 6th spot in the market value as per the last National Survey in 2005 and has been known as “additive free” despite of a secondary warning label on their advertisements states that "no additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette", which involves both Winston and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco in an FTC settlement. Winston also captured the hearts of many car racer fans as they took a big part in sponsorship of NASCAR races.
Through the years, Winston has become known all over the world. It was 1980s when Winston has become one of the most popular brand in Puerto Rico with its marketing slogan, “Winston y Puerto Rico: No hay nada mejor", which means Winston and Puerto Rico: There is nothing better" and their cultural association with the "salsa sensual" or "salsa erotica" movement.
It was 1999 when Winston gave birth to Winston One, a new cigarette that has been introduced by Winston-Salem to the Eastern-European market. Its name was originated from its components of having just 1mg of tar yet consisting a full 1 mg of nicotine. However, Winston One didn’t rocks the market for a lot of Eastern-European smokers were not satisfied with the new brand. This pushed down its sales and the line was forced to be discontinued in 2001.
Winston-One then has been marketed as an ultra-light cigarette featuring a very low 1mg of tar and 0.1 of nicotine per cigarette and has been one of the lowest in the marketplace, especially in Eastern Europe. However, due to high demand of smoker’s needs a wide range of varieties of cigarettes has been launched. Now, Winston offers Winston Classics, Winston Lights, Winston Filters, Winston Super Lights and many more that will surely meet every smoker’s needs and tastes. They also come out in different packaging from soft packed to flip top boxes of filtered cigarettes promising a ”safe” smoking experience.