Susan Ivey, CEO of Reynolds Tobacco Company Lauren Lightcap, Marcus Mills, Thom Otroba

 Reynolds is transforming itself into a company that also offers an array of smokeless alternatives— including strips, lozenges and snuff.

 They are the second largest producer of tobacco in the United States with 28.3% of the market share

 One in five American adults smokes today  Down from one in three in 1980  70% of smokers say they want to quit

 Last year, sales volumes for smokeless tobacco products rose about 7%, while cigarette volumes fell about 9%, according to industry estimates

 Ms. Ivey, a smoker since college, is the first woman to run a major tobacco company  She was hired in 1981 as a salesperson for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.  In 2001, Brown & Williamson, the No. 3 player in the U.S., named Ms. Ivey CEO.  Ms. Ivey developed an interest in dissolvable- tobacco products

 Brown & Williamson was acquired by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. in 2004  Tapped as CEO of the newly named Reynolds American, Ms. Ivey embarked on a two- pronged strategy she called "total tobacco."  reduce costs in its cigarette operations and invest part of the savings in the smokeless tobacco category.

 Ivey has cut Reynolds' stable of cigarette products by nearly 600 items, or 70%, including "soft-pack" varieties of Kool, Winston and Doral.  She made her first big move in 2006, buying Conwood Co., the maker of Grizzly moist snuff, for $3.5 billion.

 The company was apprehensive about a move towards smokeless tobacco with the fear that they would be forgoing the company tradition of producing cigarettes.

 Reynolds is banking on support from scientists and public-health professionals who argue that lives could potentially be saved by encouraging smokers to switch to smokeless tobacco.  Federal rules prohibit companies from marketing the products as a safer alternative to cigarettes. These rules are not expected to change in the near future.  The new smokeless products are designed to appeal to women.

 Camel Snus—pouches of spit-free oral tobacco popularized in Sweden.  Camel Orbs—tiny oval-shaped lozenges  Camel Strips—thin tobacco wafers that melt on the tongue after three minutes  Reynolds promotes them as options when lighting up is impractical or illegal.

 Some tobacco-control advocates have criticized Reynolds' dissolvable products as nicotine candies designed to appeal to children.  adolescents may be drawn to the products' "brightly colored packaging" and "easily concealable size”

 New products “[give] smokers a mechanism for maintaining their addiction when they work in smoke-free locations," which actually decreases "the incentive to quit."

 Reynolds Tobacco Company is currently moving towards a smokeless tobacco market.  Cut cigarette products by 70%  Smokeless tobacco sales volumes have risen 7%  Smokeless tobacco products are met with mixed reviews.