Newport is an American brand of menthol cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The brand was originally named for the seaport of Newport, Rhode Island. History Newport was launched in 1957 by the Lorillard Tobacco Company. The cigarette originated within Ireland and was introduced to the culture mostly for the male drinkers of the time. The spinnaker present on all packs since the late 1950s is meant to capitalize on the association with sailing. The original Newport had a white filter and a hint of mint; both were gone in 1969 and thus the white filter was replaced by a standard filter. The Newport Classic full flavor cigarettes were promoted for many years as a cigarette that allows you to "Enjoy a full flavor menthol, without drowning out pure tobacco taste". In the mid-1980s, Newport began an advertising campaign that targeted African Americans in urban areas. In two years, Newport became the fifth most popular cigarette on the market. Because of this, Newport has gained a commanding share of the African-American market; a 2005 survey stated that 49.5% of all cigarette sales to African-Americans were Newport cigarettes. Newport has been the second best-selling cigarette brand in the United States since 1996, trailing only Altria's Marlboro brand. A 2004 study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the percentage of teen Newport smokers doubled between 1989 and 1996. Researcher Karen Gerlach indicated that Newport made the most significant progress with the Hispanic and White American teen markets in those years. A 1998 Massachusetts Department of Public Health report indicated that Newport's alongside unfiltered Camel cigarettes contained the highest levels of nicotine in cigarettes on the market. In the following six years, Lorillard Tobacco increased the amount of nicotine in Newport by 10%. In 2015, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company acquired Newport and the entire Lorillard Tobacco Company for $27.4 billion. Until June 2016, ITG Brands continued to make Newport's for Reynolds in the former Lorillard plant in Greensboro, North Carolina. Newport comprises about 35 percent of menthol cigarette sales in the U.S. It has been the most popular mentholated cigarette brand sold in the United States since 1993. Advertisement Lorillard advertised Newport in various ways. TV advertisements were created in the 1960s to promote the brand. Once TV advertisements were banned in the United States, Lorillard advertised the brand through poster advertisements. The Newport