Hopefully safer cigarettes fail in market

RICHMOND, Va., June 26 (UPI) -- Philip Morris USA, the largest U.S. cigarette maker, has pulled Marlboro Ultra Smooth cigarettes from production, the company said.

The Marlboro Ultra Smooth with activated carbon filters failed to catch consumer interest, "presumably because they didn't think the taste and flavor was acceptable," said Brendan McCormick, a spokesman for Altria Group Inc., which owns Philip Morris.

The Wall Street Journal Tuesday reported Philip Morris sales volume declined by 4.6 percent in 2007, below the average industry drop of 4 percent -- although the company says sales volume declined 3.6 percent.

Having shed its international operations the tobacco giant has focused on developing a reduced-risk brand to increase domestic sales, the Journal said. But industry efforts to produce potentially reduced-risk cigarettes has been elusive, the Journal reported.

Philip Morris spent nearly 10 years developing the Accord, which included a battery-operated holder that would heat, rather than burn, tobacco, the Journal said. Both the Accord and a smokeless product, Taboka Tobaccopaks, were discontinued.