low-tar

[ adjective loh-tahr; noun loh-tahr ]

adjective

1. (of cigarettes or tobacco) containing less tar than usual or standard.

noun

1. a cigarette, blend of tobacco, etc., containing a relatively low amount of tar.

Word History and Origins

Origin of low-tar¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

In the very first episode of "Mad Men," Jon Hamm's antihero protagonist Don Draper, an advertising agency creative executive circa 1960, laments to his mistress that he's out of tricks for softening the image of his tobacco company client: "The whole safer cigarette thing is over. No more doctors, no more testimonials, no more cough-free, soothes-your-T-zone, low-tar, low-nicotine, filter-tip. Nothing. All I have is a crush-proof box, and four out of five dead people smoke your brand."

From Salon

Risk compensation has been brought up to question a wide range of public health interventions, including diet soda, low-tar cigarettes, child-safety caps on medication, hypertension treatments, and needle-exchange programs.

From Slate

By 1927, “Spud Menthol Cooled Cigarettes” were sold nationwide, and since then tobacco companies have used menthol to mask throat and lung irritation and to make low-tar cigarettes more palatable.

From Washington Post

Russell, who died in 2009, wanted to develop a low-tar cigarette that would be high in nicotine, to give smokers the hit they wanted without inhaling more deeply.

From The Guardian

Arranged by Peter Tear, then Liberty’s head of marketing and publicity, and choreographed by Larry Fuller of “Evita,” the show somehow managed to cross-promote the low-tar Silk Cut cigarette with a silk congress happening in London.

From New York Times