Every Maverick Cigarette Type: A Guide

WARNING: Cigarettes are addictive.

Maverick is a discount-tier cigarette brand created by Lorillard in the mid-1980s and made today by ITG Brands in Greensboro, North Carolina. The current US line is ten styles, all in boxes, in king and 100 mm lengths: seven non-menthol and three menthol. This guide lists them by the name in the state directories, explains what the color names replaced, and covers the brand’s path from Lorillard to ITG, the one style the FDA ordered off the market, and the state laws that decide where the menthol styles can be sold.

Last verified September 11, 2026 against the Oregon (July 2026), New Jersey (June 2025), North Dakota (June 2026), Arkansas (May 2025) and Utah (February 2025) state tobacco directories, which list the same ten styles. A directory listing means the style is certified for sale in that state, not that every store carries it. Sources at the end.

The brand

The lineup

“Maverick Red” is retailer and customer shorthand; the pack and the directories say “Maverick.” “Gold” and “Silver” are the names that replaced “Lights” and “Ultra Lights” after June 22, 2010, when the Tobacco Control Act barred those words from cigarette packaging; the exact date Lorillard renamed the Maverick styles is not in a public record. One style is gone: the FDA issued a “not substantially equivalent” order for Maverick Menthol Silver Box 100s on July 14, 2016, finding it had changed from the product on the market in February 2007, and retail sales had to stop by August 13, 2016. It remains on the FDA’s public list of marketed products that received such an order. “Maverick American Blend” and “American Lights,” which appear in some online lists, are not in any US directory and appear to be European styles.

History

Lorillard, the oldest tobacco company in the United States, built its business on Newport, which accounted for most of its volume. Maverick was its discount entry. The trademark record dates the name to December 1984, with registration in 1987, and collector archives show 1980s “Maverick Specials” soft packs; Wikipedia’s launch date of 1986 matches the trademark filing rather than first use. In a November 2012 filing Lorillard described its portfolio as Newport plus four other families, Kent, True, Old Gold and Maverick, and in its last quarterly report as an independent company, in April 2015, it called Maverick its leading discount brand, with wholesale volume down 1.1% from the year before.

The 2015 merger moved the brand. Reynolds American agreed to buy Lorillard in July 2014 for $27.4 billion, mainly to get Newport, and to satisfy the Federal Trade Commission it sold Winston, Kool, Salem and Maverick, together with Lorillard’s Greensboro factory and its blu e-cigarette business, to Imperial Tobacco Group for about $7.1 billion. The consent order came May 26, 2015 and both deals closed June 12, 2015. The buyer, Lignum-2, LLC, became ITG Brands, now the third-largest US cigarette maker. The Greensboro plant that made Maverick under Lorillard still makes it under ITG. In October 2022 the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that ITG must also cover the Florida settlement payments attached to the four brands, a liability of more than $170 million at the time plus ongoing annual amounts.

A claim that circulates online is that Maverick began as Harley-Davidson cigarettes. The Maverick trademark record dates the name to December 1984, and we found no primary source connecting the two brands. Treat the story as unconfirmed.

Menthol and the law

The three menthol styles (Menthol, Menthol 100s, Menthol Gold 100s) cannot be sold at ordinary retail in Massachusetts (flavored cigarettes restricted to licensed smoking bars since June 1, 2020) or California (SB 793, in effect December 21, 2022), and are covered by local menthol ordinances in a number of cities and counties. The seven non-menthol styles can be sold in those states; in California, non-menthol cigarettes must be on the Attorney General’s Unflavored Tobacco List. Texas, where Saucey delivers tobacco, has no menthol restriction.

There is no federal menthol ban. The FDA proposed one on May 4, 2022, sent the final rule to the White House in October 2023, and withdrew it on January 21, 2025; the lawsuit seeking to compel the rule was dismissed October 27, 2025. No FDA warning letter names Maverick. The one FDA action against the brand is the 2016 order on Menthol Silver 100s described above.

FAQs

Who makes Maverick cigarettes? ITG Brands, in Greensboro, North Carolina, owned by Imperial Brands. Lorillard made it from the 1980s until June 2015.

Is Maverick a discount brand? Yes. Lorillard positioned it in the discount tier and ITG still does. Pricing tiers are set by the manufacturer; taxes, which are most of the price of any pack, are the same on every brand. The state-by-state breakdown is at How Much Does a Pack of Cigarettes Cost?

What is Maverick Gold? The style formerly sold as Maverick Lights, renamed when the FDA barred “light” from packs in 2010. Silver is the former Ultra Lights.

What happened to Maverick Menthol Silver? The FDA ordered it off the market in July 2016 under the substantial-equivalence rules of the Tobacco Control Act. It has not returned.

Does Maverick come in a soft pack? Not currently. All ten styles are boxes.

How does Maverick compare with Pall Mall? Both are discount-tier brands, from different companies: Pall Mall from R.J. Reynolds, Maverick from ITG. The full Pall Mall line is in the Pall Mall guide.

Sources

• Oregon Department of Justice, Tobacco Brand Directory, July 21, 2026; New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, Tobacco Directory, June 30, 2025; North Dakota Attorney General directory, June 30, 2026; Arkansas Attorney General directory, May 30, 2025; Utah State Fire Marshal fire-safe cigarette list, February 19, 2025
• ITG Brands, Maverick brand page and About Us
• USPTO trademark records via Justia: MAVERICK M, serial 73624104 (Lorillard, first use December 18, 1984) and American Quality Maverick, reg. 4028261 (ITG Brands)
• Lorillard, Inc., first-quarter 2015 results, April 17, 2015; Lorillard press release, November 13, 2012, and Form 10-K for 2014 (SEC EDGAR)
• Federal Trade Commission, FTC Requires Reynolds and Lorillard to Divest Four Cigarette Brands, May 26, 2015; Reynolds American Form 8-K, June 12, 2015; Drug Store News, Imperial Tobacco to acquire brands from Reynolds American, July 15, 2014; Tobacco Reporter, ITG Liable for Florida Settlement Payments, October 4, 2022
• FDA, Marketed Tobacco Products that Receive an NSE (Maverick Menthol Silver Box 100s, July 14, 2016); CSP Daily News, FDA Issues Not Substantially Equivalent Order on Maverick Menthol Product, July 2016; FDA, Light, Low, Mild or Similar Descriptors
• Federal Register, Tobacco Product Standard for Menthol in Cigarettes, May 4, 2022; Public Health Law Center, Proposed Menthol Rules Withdrawn, February 7, 2025; Mass.gov, 2019 Tobacco Control Law; Public Health Law Center, Proposition 31 in California Passed, November 9, 2022
• National Association of Attorneys General, Participating Manufacturers list, November 15, 2024; Tobacco Insider, USA: Cigarette Brands, January 24, 2025 (industry press)