ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 28, 1996 TAG: 9605290044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
Smokers in Chattanooga, Tenn., will be able to buy Eclipse, the world's almost completely smokeless cigarette, in stores beginning Monday.
R.J. Reynolds will announce today that its initial testing of Eclipse in Chattanooga went so well that it is beginning a full-scale test market in that city.
An open test market, complete with advertising, is traditionally the last step companies take before launching a new product.
``Clearly, we were pleased enough in the three to four weeks we spent in Chattanooga to go forward very quickly,'' said R.J. Reynolds spokeswoman Maura Ellis.
Eclipse does not burn tobacco. It heats it through a small carbon tip at the end of the cigarette, which produces 90 percent less smoke than regular cigarettes, virtually no ash and little odor.
Anti-tobacco scientists note, however, that Eclipse emits more dangerous carbon monoxide than regular cigarettes, that it contains glass fibers that might be inhaled and that it contains much more glycerine, which produces a carcinogen when burned.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 32 linesby CNB