Menthol cigarettes have always been surrounded by numerous gossips and allegations, including the most phantasmagoric ones, which state that menthol cigarettes were created by the KKK, and that they contain highly dangerous particles of fiberglass.
However, all these urban legends have been proven to be wrong. While, menthol cigarettes are indeed dangerous, they are no more than risky than other cigarettes, so it’s weird that gossipmongers have chosen namely menthol ones.
Well, apparently, people seem to think that if menthol cigarettes contain an unknown flavoring agent, which has nothing in common with natural tobacco, so as they add something to these cigarettes, this something certainly is a pure evil.
The concept that menthol cigarettes have to be particularly harmful for smokers because of the numerous chemicals they contain is shockingly ridiculous. As it has been recently revealed, all America-made cigarettes feature up to 600 additives, so there is no point in blaming only the menthols.
One of the most outrageous rumors surrounding menthols is that menthol cigarettes contain fiberglass. In conformity with this hoax, the wicked cigarette industry conceal the ingredients contained in their products in order to enhance the sensations of freshness the smokers get by causing diminutive wounds in the mouths of smokers. The identical gossip surrounds smokeless tobacco brands, and particularly, the popular Kodiak brand.
Yet, menthol cigarettes do not contain fiberglass. It is true. And though, according to internal documentation, RJ Reynolds did attempted adding a fiberglass shell in its products in the 1990s, however, the invention failed to reach the stores. Besides that, no fiberglass in cigarettes was found.
Another wide-spread rumor is that menthol cigarettes were invented by Ku Klux Klan, and a brand, Kool that is, belongs to the KKK, because the brand’s initial letter is identical to that of the KKK. In the 60s Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds and Lorillard faced such rumors and had to clear their names out from the gossips relating the tobacco giants to the KKK.
Tobacco industry has been associated with the torment of African-Americans for quite a long time. Initially, the slaves were imported from Africa to work on tobacco plantations. Then a secret supremacist grouping invented menthol cigarettes to make African-Americans addicted on them and control their will and health.
Well, while it’s true that African-American smokers tend to consume menthol cigarettes, numerous researches also showed that they account only for 25% of smoking population across the United States, meaning that there are much more non-African-Americans that enjoy menthols, and therefore, any plot to poison African-Americans through menthol cigarettes is absurd, as this would affect other populations as well.
The rumors of menthol cigarettes targeting African-Americans has resulted in several lawsuits, which have been unsuccessful so far. The plaintiff in that legal proceedings claimed that several ingredients in menthol cigarettes turn such cigarette to be even more dangerous to consumers. However, such claims were not proven, though numerous anti-tobacco groups carried out studies that deduced that menthol makes cigarette to be less harsh than the full-flavor counterparts, and led to smokers inhaling the smoke more deeply and thus being more likely exposed to severe health complications.