Search: filter cigarette invented
Why: Watched a 1963 episode of "The Twilight Zone" that starred Jack Klugman, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1974 and ultimately lost a vocal cord. Zack says filters were invented to get women to smoke.
Answer: A brief history of the filter:
- 1864 - First American cigarette factory opens and produces almost 20 million cigarettes annually.
- 1886 - JB Duke targets women with "Cameo" brand:
- 1936 - Brown and Williamson introduces Viceroy, the first national brand to feature a filter of cellulose acetate. Advertising increases the use of physicians to counter the claims that cigarettes were a major health problem.
- 1952 - Kent introduces the Micronite filter, which Lorillard claims "offers the greatest health protection in cigarette history." It appears shortly after the publication of a series of articles in Reader's Digest entitled "Cancer by the Carton" that scares American consumers into seeking out a filter brand at a time when most brands were filterless. The Micronite filter turns out to be made of asbestos and is discontinued 4 years later.
- 1954 - RJ Reynolds introduces Winston filter cigarettes, but promotes the taste benefit, not health. Winston dominates the US market for the next 15 years.
The More You Know: Klugman's cancer was written into the story of the 1993 TV reunion movie The Odd Couple: Together Again. The movie opened with Oscar in the hospital after his surgery and Felix finding out that Oscar didn't tell him about it in order to keep him from driving him "nuts" during the recovery.
