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Camel and Lucky Strike are made by the same company. R.J. Reynolds created Camel in 1913 and has made it ever since; Lucky Strike came to Reynolds in 2004 with the Brown & Williamson merger, after a century under the American Tobacco Company and BAT. Today Camel is the third-largest cigarette brand in the US with 46 styles in the Oregon directory; Lucky Strike is a much smaller brand with 11 styles, ten of them added in 2020 when Reynolds relaunched it as a filtered brand. This page compares them on the public record: ownership, size, styles, formats and history.
Last verified September 11, 2026 against the Oregon (July 2026) and New Jersey (June 2025) state tobacco directories, Reynolds American SEC filings, BAT’s results, 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 | Camel | Lucky Strike |
|---|---|---|
| US manufacturer | R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Tobaccoville, North Carolina | R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Tobaccoville, North Carolina |
| Parent | British American Tobacco, through Reynolds American (since July 2017) | Same |
| Launched | 1913, by R.J. Reynolds; “the first branded cigarette in America to be sold, advertised and promoted nationally” (Reynolds’ own history) | 1871 as a plug tobacco under R.A. Patterson; a cigarette by the early 1900s; “It’s Toasted” from 1917 |
| Ownership path | Reynolds throughout (RJR Nabisco 1985 to 1999; Reynolds American from 2004) | American Tobacco Company; BAT’s Brown & Williamson from 1994; Reynolds since July 30, 2004 |
| Price tier | Premium (Reynolds’ “growth brand” alongside value-tier Pall Mall) | Not classified publicly; Reynolds grouped it among “non-support brands” in 2006 |
| US market share | 7.8% (Nielsen, four weeks to December 30, 2023); 7.9% (Tobacco Insider, January 2025) | 2.1% (Tobacco Insider, January 2025); BAT calls it “the fastest growing cigarette brand in the market” (2024 results) |
| Rank | 3rd, behind Marlboro and Newport | 7th (Tobacco Insider, 2025) |
| Styles in the Oregon directory | 46 | 11 |
| Lengths | King, 99s, Wides (wider circumference) | King, 100s |
| Packs | Box; three soft packs (Classic Filters, Classic Blue, Regular Non-Filter) | Box; one soft pack (Non-Filter) |
| Menthol styles | 13 named menthol styles (counting the two Turkish Blend Jade styles), plus 2 Crush styles listed “with menthol option” (capsule) | 5 of 11 |
| Unfiltered style | Yes: Camel Regular Non-Filter Soft | Yes: Lucky Strike Non-Filter Soft |
| Capsule filter styles | Camel Crush family (first listed August 2008) | Activate Blue and Activate Green Menthol (mechanism not confirmed from the directory) |
| Master Settlement Agreement | Reynolds is an original participant (1998) | Same maker; Brown & Williamson also signed in 1998 |
| Pack | 20 cigarettes | 20 cigarettes |
The lineups
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 (king) | 3 | No | 2020 |
| Turkish Blend: Royal, Gold, Silver, Jade, Jade Silver | 5 | Jade styles carry Reynolds’ menthol color code (not confirmed from the directory) | 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 (see Regulation) | 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 |
Style names are as printed in the directory; “Smooth Taste” and similar words are Reynolds’ style names, not this page’s description. Camel Crush Oasis (Silver, Blue, Green), the non-menthol styles Reynolds introduced for California in 2023, are no longer marketed and are not in the July 2026 directory.
Lucky Strike (11 styles)
| Style as listed (Oregon) | Length | Pack | Menthol | Oregon listing date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucky Strike Non-Filter Soft | King | Soft | No | July 18, 2007 |
| Lucky Strike Red Filters Box / 100’s Box | King, 100s | Box | No | May 7, 2020 |
| Lucky Strike Gold Filters Box / 100s Box | King, 100s | Box | No | May 7, 2020 |
| Lucky Strike Menthol King Box / 100s Box | King, 100s | Box | Yes | October 21, 2020 |
| Lucky Strike Menthol Silver King Box / 100s Box | King, 100s | Box | Yes | October 21, 2020 |
| Lucky Strike Activate Blue King Box | King | Box | No | October 21, 2020 |
| Lucky Strike Activate Green Menthol King Box | King | Box | Yes | October 21, 2020 |
Full pack listings: Camel and Lucky Strike.
History
Camel. R.J. Reynolds founded his company in Winston, North Carolina in 1875 and introduced four cigarette brands in 1913; Camel, a blend of Turkish and domestic tobaccos sold in a pack of 20, was the one that survived, and Reynolds’ 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 depending on the source. Filtered Camel arrived in 1966 in soft and hard packs. Corporate ownership went through RJR Nabisco (1985 to 1999), then the Brown & Williamson merger that created Reynolds American on July 30, 2004, then BAT’s purchase of the whole company on July 25, 2017. Camel Crush, with a menthol capsule in the filter, was first listed in Oregon in August 2008 and now anchors a six-style family. The Black Series (2024) and Craft (May 2026) families are the newest. Cigarettes are made at the Tobaccoville plant near Winston-Salem, built in 1985, into which Reynolds consolidated its other North Carolina operations between 2022 and 2024.
Lucky Strike. The name traces, in secondary sources, to an 1871 plug tobacco from R.A. Patterson of Richmond, acquired by the American Tobacco Company in 1905. The company began the “It’s Toasted” slogan in 1917 and the brand was among the largest in the country through the 1940s before a long decline. In April 1994 BAT Industries agreed to buy the American Tobacco Company for $1 billion, and after the FTC’s April 1995 consent order Lucky Strike went to BAT’s Brown & Williamson. When Brown & Williamson’s US business merged with Reynolds in July 2004, Lucky Strike became a Reynolds brand and Camel’s stablemate. Reynolds described it in 2006 as a “non-support brand” managed for profitability; for most of the next fifteen years the only US style was the unfiltered soft pack, listed in Oregon in 2007. Filtered Red and Gold styles were listed in May 2020 and Menthol and Activate styles in October 2020. BAT has since reported Lucky Strike as the fastest-growing cigarette brand in the US (full-year 2024 results) and, with Natural American Spirit, one of the two brands behind its US share gains (June 2025).
Regulation
Both brands are made by Reynolds, an original signatory of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, and both are listed under Reynolds in every state directory checked. 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 has one regulatory episode Lucky Strike does not: in May 2023 the California Attorney General named Camel Crisp and three Camel Crush Oasis styles, sold as non-menthol after the state ban, as presumptively flavored products. Reynolds sued California on May 11, 2023 and dropped the suit on December 30, 2024 after the state amended its law (AB 3218 and SB 1230, effective January 1, 2025) to define a “cooling sensation” as a characterizing flavor. The Oasis styles are no longer marketed; Camel Crisp remains in the Oregon directory. No FDA warning letter specific to either brand was found in the searches run for this page. Texas, where Saucey delivers tobacco, has no menthol restriction.
FAQs
Are Camel and Lucky Strike made by the same company? Yes. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, owned by British American Tobacco, makes both. Camel has always been a Reynolds brand; Lucky Strike has been one since 2004.
Which is older? The Lucky Strike name (1871) is older; Camel (1913) has been a nationally sold cigarette longer without interruption.
Which sells more? Camel, at roughly 8% of the US market against about 2% for Lucky Strike, though BAT reports Lucky Strike growing faster.
Do both come unfiltered? Yes. Camel Regular Non-Filter and Lucky Strike Non-Filter are both soft packs and both in the Oregon directory. More at Unfiltered Cigarettes.
What is a capsule cigarette? A filter with a small bead that releases menthol or another flavoring when crushed. Camel Crush was the first widely sold US example (2008). Lucky Strike Activate is listed by name only in the directory; we could not confirm its mechanism from a primary source.
What do they cost? Camel is a premium brand; Lucky Strike’s tier is not published. Taxes, most of the price of any pack, are the same on every brand. See How Much Does a Pack of Cigarettes Cost?
Sources
- Oregon Department of Justice, Tobacco Brand Directory, July 21, 2026; New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, Tobacco Directory, June 30, 2025
- R.J. Reynolds, Camel creative history (internal document, Stanford SRITA); NCpedia, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; Reynolds American Form 10-K filings for 2004, 2010 and 2014 (SEC EDGAR); Reynolds American, changes in US manufacturing operations, March 24, 2022
- Stanford SRITA, It’s Toasted; Baltimore Sun, BAT Industries agrees to buy American Tobacco, April 27, 1994; FTC, B.A.T Industries consent order, April 21, 1995
- BAT, BAT Completes Acquisition of Reynolds, July 25, 2017; BAT, Full-year 2024 results; BAT first-half 2025 pre-close trading update, June 3, 2025
- Tobacco Reporter, Nicotine market shares stay flat through December, January 11, 2024 (Nielsen data); Tobacco Insider, USA: Cigarette Brands, January 24, 2025
- Reynolds American, Reynolds files lawsuit in California, May 2023; California Healthline, reporting on California’s non-menthol cigarettes; Public Health Law Center, Proposed Menthol Rules Withdrawn, February 7, 2025; Mass.gov, 2019 Tobacco Control Law
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