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Natural American Spirit and Camel are both Reynolds brands, and have been since January 2002, when R.J. Reynolds bought Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company for $354 million. Camel is Reynolds’ flagship, the third-largest cigarette brand in the US, with 46 styles. American Spirit is the fourth-largest, the leading brand in the super-premium tier, with 17 cigarette styles and 6 roll-your-own products, all king-size boxes, and a regulatory history built around the words “natural” and “additive-free” that the FTC and FDA have both acted on. This page sets the two side by side on the public record.
Last verified September 11, 2026 against the Oregon (July 2026) and New Jersey (June 2025) state tobacco directories, Reynolds American SEC filings, FTC and FDA records, Nielsen data as reported by Tobacco Reporter, and the sources listed at the end. Style counts are directory listings, which certify a style for sale in that state; they do not mean every store carries it.
Side by side
| Fact | Natural American Spirit | Camel |
|---|---|---|
| US manufacturer | Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, a Reynolds American subsidiary; production moved from Oxford, North Carolina to Reynolds’ Tobaccoville plant between 2022 and 2024 | R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Tobaccoville, North Carolina |
| Parent | British American Tobacco, through Reynolds American | Same |
| Launched | Company founded 1982 in Santa Fe, New Mexico; pre-rolled cigarettes sold under the name from 1985 | 1913, by R.J. Reynolds |
| Ownership path | Independent until January 16, 2002, when Reynolds bought Santa Fe for $354 million; international rights sold to Japan Tobacco for about $5 billion in 2016, US rights retained | Reynolds throughout |
| Price tier | Super-premium; “the leading super-premium cigarette brand” (Reynolds 10-K) | Premium |
| US market share | 3.7% (Nielsen, December 2023); 4.4% (Tobacco Insider, January 2025); 1.6% in 2014, so it has more than doubled | 7.8% (Nielsen, December 2023); 7.9% (Tobacco Insider, January 2025) |
| Rank | No. 4 | No. 3 |
| Styles in the Oregon directory | 17 cigarette styles (Reynolds’ site says 15 current) plus 6 roll-your-own | 46 |
| Lengths | King only | King, 99s, Wides |
| Packs | Box only | Box; three soft packs |
| Menthol styles | 2 of 17 | 13 named menthol styles, plus 2 Crush capsule styles |
| Unfiltered style | Yes: Non-Filter (Brown Box) | Yes: Regular Non-Filter Soft |
| Organic tobacco styles | 5, using US-grown certified-organic tobacco | None |
| Ingredient statement | “Tobacco Ingredients: Tobacco & Water” (permitted under the 2017 FDA agreement); “additive-free” and “natural” removed from labeling | No ingredient claim |
| Master Settlement Agreement | Santa Fe is a subsequent participating manufacturer | Reynolds is an original participant (1998) |
| Pack | 20 cigarettes | 20 cigarettes |
The lineups
Natural American Spirit (17 cigarette styles)
Style names are as printed in the Oregon directory; “Mellow Taste,” “Full-Bodied Taste” and similar words are the manufacturer’s official style names, not this page’s descriptions. Every style is a king-size box.
| Style as listed (Oregon) | Menthol | Filter | Organic | First listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-Bodied Taste (Blue Box) | No | Filtered | No | 2003 |
| Mellow Taste (Yellow Box) | No | Filtered | No | 2003 |
| Smooth Mellow Taste (Orange Box) | No | Filtered | No | 2003 |
| Balanced Taste (Celadon Box) | No | Filtered | No | 2003 |
| Balanced Taste (Hunter Box) | No | Filtered | No | 2017 |
| Menthol Full-Bodied Taste (Dark Green Box) | Yes | Filtered | No | 2003 |
| Menthol Mellow Taste (Green Box) | Yes | Filtered | No | 2003 |
| Non-Filter (Brown Box) | No | Unfiltered | No | 2011 |
| U.S. Grown Full-Bodied Taste (Dark Blue Box) | No | Filtered | No | 2010 |
| U.S. Grown Organic Full-Bodied Taste (Turquoise Box) | No | Filtered | Yes | 2003 |
| U.S. Grown Organic Mellow Taste (Gold Box) | No | Filtered | Yes | 2003 |
| U.S. Grown Organic Mellow Taste (Tan Box) | No | Filtered | Yes | 2010 |
| Made with Organic Tobacco Sky Smooth Taste | No | Filtered | Yes | 2020 |
| U.S. Grown Rich Robust Taste, Perique Blend (Black Box) | No | Filtered | No | 2004 |
| U.S. Grown Rich Taste, Perique Blend (Gray Box) | No | Filtered | No | 2010 |
| Full-Bodied Red Box | No | Filtered | No | May 2023 |
| Smooth Gold Box | No | Filtered | No | May 2023 |
Reynolds’ brand page says 15 cigarette styles and four roll-your-own; the directory’s 17 likely includes superseded styles (Celadon and Hunter “Balanced Taste,” Gold and Tan “Organic Mellow Taste”) still certified for sale. The six roll-your-own products are Original Blend, 100% Organic, 100% US Grown, US Grown and Perique Blend in 1.41 oz pouches and 150 g tins.
Camel (46 styles)
| Family | Styles | Menthol | First listed in Oregon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Non-Filter Soft | 1 | No | 2003 |
| Classic: Filters (box, soft, 99’s), Blue (box, soft, 99’s), Gold (box, 99), Platinum, Menthol, Menthol Silver | 11 | 2 of 11 | 2017 to 2021 |
| Classic Wides: Filters, Blue, Menthol, Menthol Silver | 4 | 2 of 4 | 2017 |
| Classic Turkish: Royal, Gold, Silver | 3 | No | 2020 |
| Turkish Blend: Royal, Gold, Silver, Jade, Jade Silver | 5 | Jade styles carry Reynolds’ menthol color code | 2016 to 2017 |
| Crush: Crush, Crush Rich (with menthol option), Crush Menthol, Crush Menthol Silver, Crush Smooth Menthol, Crush Smooth Menthol Silver | 6 | 4 menthol, 2 capsule | 2008 to 2019 |
| Crisp Non-Menthol Green | 1 | No | December 2022 |
| No. 9: Smooth Taste, Smooth Menthe | 2 | 1 of 2 | 2018 |
| Black Series: Red, Red 99, Gold, Blue, Blend 01, 02, 03 | 7 | No | 2024 |
| Craft: Red, Red 99, Gold, Gold 99, Menthol, Menthol 99 | 6 | 2 of 6 | May 2026 |
Full Camel pack listings: Camel.
Natural, additive-free, and what the regulators said
American Spirit’s identity is its ingredient claim, and that claim has been litigated twice. In April 2000 the FTC accepted a consent agreement, made final that June, over advertising that the agency said implied “without a reasonable basis” that the cigarettes “are safer to smoke than other cigarettes because they contain no additives.” The order required every ad to carry the disclosure “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” On August 27, 2015 the FDA sent Santa Fe a warning letter stating that “Natural” and “Additive Free” on the packs were modified-risk claims that need FDA authorization under section 911 of the Tobacco Control Act. The two sides settled on January 19, 2017: Santa Fe agreed to remove “additive-free” and “natural” from labeling, advertising and promotion, while keeping “Natural American Spirit” as the brand name and the statement “Tobacco Ingredients: Tobacco & Water.” In May 2017 FTC staff accepted the wording “Natural American Spirit cigarettes are not safer than other cigarettes” as an alternative to the 2000 disclosure. That is the current state: the packs say the tobacco is tobacco and water, and the disclaimer that this does not make the cigarette safer is a legal requirement, not a caution this page added. Camel has no ingredient claim and no equivalent history.
History
Natural American Spirit. Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company was founded in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1982 and began selling pre-rolled cigarettes under the Natural American Spirit name in 1985, made under contract. Manufacturing moved to Oxford, North Carolina from 1996. R.J. Reynolds bought the company on January 16, 2002 for $354 million, kept it as a separate subsidiary, and in 2016 sold the brand’s international business to Japan Tobacco for about $5 billion while keeping the US rights. The Santa Fe offices closed in June 2018 and the Oxford plant was folded into Reynolds’ Tobaccoville operation from 2022. Reynolds’ filings call it the leading super-premium cigarette brand; its share went from 1.6% in 2014 to 3.7% in Nielsen’s December 2023 data, and BAT credited it, with Newport soft packs, for its US premium share gains in 2024.
Camel. R.J. Reynolds introduced Camel in 1913 as a blend of Turkish and domestic tobaccos in a pack of 20, and the company’s own creative history calls it the first cigarette sold and advertised nationally in America. “I’d walk a mile for a Camel” dates to 1920 or 1921; filtered Camel to 1966; Camel Crush, the first widely sold capsule cigarette, to 2008. The company passed through RJR Nabisco (1985 to 1999), merged with Brown & Williamson’s US business in July 2004 to form Reynolds American, and was bought outright by BAT in July 2017. The Black Series (2024) and Craft (2026) sub-lines are the newest. Production is at Tobaccoville, near Winston-Salem, built in 1985.
Regulation
Both brands report to Reynolds American, which is an original signatory of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement; Santa Fe joined as a subsequent participating manufacturer. The menthol styles of both are subject to the sales bans in Massachusetts (June 1, 2020) and California (December 21, 2022); the federal menthol proposal was withdrawn January 21, 2025. Camel’s California episode, in which the Attorney General named Camel Crisp and three Crush Oasis styles as presumptively flavored in May 2023 and Reynolds dropped its lawsuit in December 2024 after the state amended its flavor definition, is covered in Marlboro vs Camel. American Spirit’s FTC and FDA record is above. Texas, where Saucey delivers tobacco, has no menthol restriction.
FAQs
Are American Spirit and Camel made by the same company? Both belong to Reynolds American (BAT). Camel is made by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; American Spirit by Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, a Reynolds subsidiary since 2002, now at the same Tobaccoville plant.
Is American Spirit additive-free? The packs state “Tobacco Ingredients: Tobacco & Water.” The words “additive-free” and “natural” were removed from labeling under a 2017 agreement with the FDA, and a 2000 FTC order requires the company to say that no additives does not mean a safer cigarette.
Which is more expensive? American Spirit is positioned as super-premium, a tier above Camel’s premium. Tax, most of the price of any pack, is the same on both. See How Much Does a Pack of Cigarettes Cost?
Which sells more? Camel, roughly 8% of the US market to American Spirit’s roughly 4%, though American Spirit’s share has grown faster over the last decade.
Do both come unfiltered? Yes: American Spirit Non-Filter (brown box) and Camel Regular Non-Filter (soft pack). More at Unfiltered Cigarettes.
Does American Spirit have 100s or a soft pack? No. All 17 styles are king-size boxes. Camel has 99s, Wides and three soft packs.
Sources
- Oregon Department of Justice, Tobacco Brand Directory, July 21, 2026; New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, Tobacco Directory, June 30, 2025
- Reynolds American, Building Brands; Reynolds American Form 10-K filings for 2004 and 2014 (SEC EDGAR); Reynolds American, changes in US manufacturing operations, March 24, 2022; Santa Fe New Mexican, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. closing Santa Fe offices, March 19, 2018; Convenience Store News, Reynolds sells international rights to Natural American Spirit
- Federal Trade Commission, FTC accepts settlements of charges that “alternative” cigarette ads are deceptive, April 27, 2000, and case file 992-3026; FTC staff advisory opinion to Santa Fe, May 9, 2017
- FDA warning letter to Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, August 27, 2015 (copy); Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, statement on the FDA agreement, March 2, 2017; Tobacco Business, Santa Fe to drop additive-free labels
- R.J. Reynolds, Camel creative history (Stanford SRITA); BAT, Full-year 2024 results; Tobacco Reporter, Nicotine market shares stay flat through December, January 11, 2024; Tobacco Insider, USA: Cigarette Brands, January 24, 2025
- Public Health Law Center, Proposed Menthol Rules Withdrawn, February 7, 2025; Mass.gov, 2019 Tobacco Control Law
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The fine print
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