# Marlboro Cigarette Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2001, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821 "2001-10-26T17:59:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bmerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/34f0e0/32.png) [@bmerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmerton)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/1 "2001-10-26T17:59:42Z")
Why is it that Marlboro Light Cigarettes in Europe have brown tips and in the US they have white tips? It is interesting that people in either continent generally think that the type from the other continent tastes better. Is this some marketing ploy? ---
**Author:** ![Zazie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Zazie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zazie)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/2 "2001-10-26T19:05:47Z")
I always wondered… they are for sure not the same cigarettes (not only the brown or white tip, the content), the lights in Europe are stronger than the lights in the States I think. I also think this white tip is not known at all in Europe (I have never seen it before coming to the States), I am not sure the Europeans are big in changes so the white tip could “scare” people of… you know what I mean?! (hey no offense I am European!) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/3 "2001-10-26T19:12:42Z")
Do you have any numbers on the amount of tar or nicotine in the respective cigarettes? If a different blend is being used for each country, they would need a way to differentiate between them so it was visually obvious if the wrong type was going into the carton. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/4 "2001-10-26T22:19:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \* > \*\*Do you have any numbers on the amount of tar or nicotine in the respective cigarettes? If a different blend is being used for each country, they would need a way to differentiate between them so it was visually obvious if the wrong type was going into the carton. \*\* Probably not a concern. The Marlboros I’d bought in Germany (yes, even in the US Commissary) were not made in the USA. Maybe the tobacco, who knows? I don’t remember where they were made, just that it wasn’t the USA. The Marlboros I buy in Mexico when I’m there ($10 for a carton!) are made in Mexico, but they taste mostly the same as the USA versions. Again, I don’t know the origin of the tobacco. ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/5 "2001-10-27T02:20:03Z")
in UK menthol cigarettes have white tips. that’s perhaps why the Marlboro Lights have brown. who cares anyway, Marlboro lights suck. when i used to smoke i hated them cos you had to breath in really hard to get any smoke. goes deeper into your lungs and the smaller particles go deeper too. if you get cancer it could be worse cos it’ll be deeper in yer lungs. better not smoking at all of coarse. like me. ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/6 "2001-10-27T05:15:35Z")
Slightly off the topic… Why do they (and by “they” I mean all cigarette makers, not just the Marlboro folks) color the tips brown in the first place? Why not keep the whole thing white (I know they do for some brands, but why not for all?)? Or why not a blue tip? Or a green one? ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/7 "2001-10-27T09:37:24Z")
because they are boring. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/8 "2001-10-27T15:36:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nineiron \* > Why do they (and by “they” I mean all cigarette makers, not just the Marlboro folks) color the tips brown in the first place? WAG: to look like cork. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/9 "2001-10-27T16:31:15Z")
I’ve bought Lights here in the U.S. with brown tips also. Not very often, but sometimes I come across them. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/10 "2001-10-27T16:35:42Z")
IMO, as an ex-smoker, I always thought that white-tipped cigarettes looked “girly”, for lack of a better word. The brown tips of my Marb reds had that “rugged cowboy” look. Since image was 60% of the reason I smoked, no white tips for me! ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/11 "2001-10-28T03:52:39Z")
Oh, I was the same way when I smoked. Camel Lights good, Marlboro Lights bad, because of the girly white look. Maybe they are indeed trying to make the tips look like cork. This leads me to another question: why on earth would they want their cigarettes to look like cork? ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/12 "2001-10-28T04:53:07Z")
A found this [here](http://yesmoke.com/eng/faq.asp#products), a site which sells cigs “From Switzerland World-Wide.” > [@](#): > > Q. Is there any difference between the white filter and the brown filter Marlboro Lights? > > A. Yes. The first are made to match the taste of American smokers while the second are suited to European tastes. Philip Morris does not provide any other information on this matter. According to smokers (and suggestions), the “white filters” may be slightly stronger. There is only one way to find out. Try them! (I know this doesn’t really answer the question, but perhaps this one’s unanswerable. Like why don’t sausages have feet? Or perhaps Philip Morris is up to something…) ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/13 "2001-10-28T04:59:51Z")
do you get Marlboro Mediums in US? ---
**Author:** ![Baron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de0a6/32.png) [@Baron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/14 "2001-10-28T05:05:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hawthorne \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by nineiron \* > > Why do they (and by “they” I mean all cigarette makers, not just the Marlboro folks) color the tips brown in the first place? > > WAG: to look like cork. \*\* I’ve always wondered this. It also answers my question of why the brown sections were sometimes speckled with little light brown triangles. But the real question–why cork? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/15 "2001-10-28T05:28:48Z")
## Tradition? In 1936 the Viceroy brand introduced a filter cigarette that was cork-tipped. ## I have read that filter tips were introduced to attempt to appeal to women. Here is some OLD cigarette memory. Marlboro was first introduced as a “Woman’s Cigarette.” SDMB members over 50 May recall a jingle “You get a lot to like with a Marlboro.” Anyhow, in the mid-50’s so many cigarette makers were trying to crack the woman market that Philip Morris declared a sex-change for their product. Out came the horses, the cowboy and the theme from “The Magnificent Seven.” ---
**Author:** ![grettle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@grettle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grettle)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/16 "2001-10-29T13:50:45Z")
if you’ve ever been to a party and had a bit too much to drink and then gotten a cigarette out of your pack (more’n likely a light) only to light the wrong end because the whole damn cigarette was the same colour, you appreciate the coloured tips (or indented tips of parliaments) and quit asking why. ---
**Author:** ![Zazie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Zazie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zazie)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-cigarette-question/89821/17 "2001-10-29T17:30:19Z")
Oh you cracked me up jkbelle!!! Hey I lit the BROWN tip before… I was into a very passionate discussion, did not even look. How bad is that! (and it stinks!) I still believe the brown tips (Europeans) are stronger than the white tips (for Marlboro lights)… They write the amount of tar and nicotine on the French packs but not on the American ones… I find that very odd… I figure the Americans would love to put that up in big letters!