Menthol is an organic compound naturally occurring in mint plants. By smoking menthol cigarettes, a smoker feels menthol coolness and freshness that helps to reduce the unpleasant odor, producing by smoking. Therefore the number of menthol smokers has risen over the years, even though smoking has declined. According to the statistics, nearly one third of American smokers prefers menthol cigarettes.
Menthol cigarettes gained the incredible popularity after 1927 under the catch phrase, "Menthol Cooled." Since the 1920s, numerous companies started selling menthol cigarette brands: Salem, Kool, Newport, Marlboro Menthol, and Camel Menthol round out the top sellers.
Today there is a great choice of menthol cigarettes offered at the market. Lately Phillip Morris has come out with a new innovative technology - Marlboro Blue Ice and Marlboro Blue Fresh. Marlboro Blue Ice has an ice ball capsule inside the filter. A smoker can activate the ice ball by squashing the capsule while smoking and get the extra cooling menthol taste!
However recently FDA was pushing a ban on menthol as flavoring. Therefore cigarette companies have funded scientific surveys to find out whether menthol cigarettes are really more harmful than regular ones. The achieved results reported the menthol flavoring is simply a matter of preference for the smoker and doesn't create any additional adverse effect to smoker's health. Menthol creates the same effect while smoking as chewing a menthol gum or candy.
There were also humors around menthol cigarettes that they may contain fiberglass which cause the smokers mouth, throat, and lungs to have miniature cuts throughout, thereby giving the cool sensation. This has been proven totally false. Fiberglass is not a component to menthol cigarettes.
Therefore there is no scientific evidence so far that menthol cigarettes are more harmful than the regular ones.
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