Widely recognized by many as the first popular filtered cigarette, Kent was introduced by the
Lorillard Tobacco Company in 1952 around the same time a series of articles entitled "cancer by the carton", published by ''
Reader's Digest'', scared American consumers into seeking out a filter brand at a time when most brands were filterless. (
Viceroy cigarettes had been the first to introduce filters, in 1936.) Kent widely touted its "famous micronite filter" and promised consumers the "greatest health protection in history". Sales of Kent skyrocketed, and it has been estimated that in Kent's first four years on the market, Lorillard sold some 13 billion Kent cigarettes. From March 1952 until at least May 1956, however, the "Micronite filter" in Kent cigarettes contained a mixture of crimped
crêpe paper and compressed
blue asbestos, the most
carcinogenic type of asbestos. It has been suspected that many cases of
mesothelioma have been caused specifically by smoking the original Kent cigarettes, and various lawsuits followed over the years because of it. Lorillard quietly changed the filter material from asbestos to the more common
cellulose acetate in mid-1956. Kent experienced moderate success among major cigarette brands, placing within the top ten in 1970, but its market position declined significantly over the next decade, and it was no longer among the leading brands by 1979. While continuing domestic sale and production, Lorillard sold the overseas rights of Kent and all of its other brands in 1977, and today Kents manufactured outside the U.S. are property of
British American Tobacco. It eventually became one of their most popular brands, along with
Dunhill,
Lucky Strike,
Pall Mall, and
Rothmans. Various advertising posters were made for Kent cigarettes, ranging from 1955 until 1986. One particular series of ads implied that smoking and eating were synonymous—in both pleasure and necessity. ==Kent in Romania==