Phillip Morris is nothing but EVIL.
Nicotine in tobacco products can be found in a free-base or protonated (“salt”) form, depending on the pH of the product. In internal tobacco industry documents, nicotine form has been long recognized as central to the sensory experience of tobacco use, particularly in what is known as “impact”1. In the 1960s, Philip Morris began manipulating the ratio of free-base to protonated nicotine in cigarette smoke, a factor that is described as key to the ascension of the Marlboro brand to the status of the world’s top-selling cigarette1.
1.
Stevenson, T. & Proctor, R. N. The SECRET and SOUL of Marlboro: Phillip Morris and the origins, spread, and denial of nicotine freebasing. Am. J. Public Health 98, 1184–1194. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2007.121657 (2008).
https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2007.121657
Marlboro was an obscure brand marketed for ladies in the 40's and 50's and exploded into the #1 brand practically overnight when they basically freebased the nicotine and made it like 'crack nicotine' to enhance the addiction. It took a few years for most other brands to figure it out but by then PM and Marlboro left them all eating dust.