Julep cigarettes were marketed first by the (1) Julep Cigarette Company of Boston and Hahira, Georgia about 1935, then later (we think around 1941) by (2) Penn Tobacco Company of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and finally around 1958 by (3) Brown and Williamson. The relationship of these companies to each other is not known. We do not know at this time (11/2001) if Juleps contained menthol. In fact, one company, Penn Tobacco Co., made it a point in their promotional material to emphasis: "Do not confuse new Juleps with menthol-tasting cigarettes."
1. Julep Cigarette Co. of Boston and Hahira, Georgia - there is a possible connection with Lloyd F. Hughes (nicknamed Spud) the discover of menthol cigarettes and the first to market a menthol called Spud. For more information on Spud Hughes and the origin of menthol cigarettes. In the summer of 1928 Spud Hughes was about to run out of money from the sale of his business to Axton-Fisher Tobacco Co.. He went to Brooklyn, got a job first in a filling station, then as a postman and worked at night on a new cigarette Julep. When last seen in 1932 Spud, his wife and their three children, riding in a \\$75 automobile and peddling cigarettes on the way, headed toward Hahira, Georgia where he was trying to make Juleps into another great money maker (Fortune, November 1932).
A commercial cigarette manufacturing plant was built in Hahira, Georgia in 1926. When the factory first opened it manufactured "Oteen" cigarettes until the depression hit in 1929.
The factory stayed idle until about 1935 when it was purchased by the Julep Cigarette Company of Boston Massachusetts. The factory was called the Julep Cigarette Tobacco Company of Hahira and manufactured , "Julep" cigarettes which were sold nationwide. After a few years the factory closed and all cigarette making equipment was removed http:www.hahira.ga.us/cigfactory.htm
The FTC described the Julep Tobacco Co., a corporation, 31 State Street, Boston, Mass, as a vendor/advertiser and was engaged in selling Julep Cigarettes. In the cease and desist order (September 27, 1938) the FTC accused the company of falsely misrepresenting Julep cigarettes by claiming the cigarette never makes the throat dry or parched, they do not tire the appetite, they "banish" morning after, stale mouth taste, counteract irritants present in tobacco and may have a therapeutic action on the throat.
2.Penn Tobacco Company, Wilkes-Barre, PA - according to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) Penn was corporation engaged
in the business of manufacturing so-called mint-cooled cigarettes
and a pipe tobacco allegedly
made from coarse cut white burley tobacco containing no latakia (a type of tobacco) , sold tobacco under brand name
Kentucky Club.
The Penn Tobacco Company had been formed just after the turn of the Century. On January 1, 1901, the Penn factory consisted of Henry Weigand, as Superintendent, another man, six girls and one cutting machine valued at \\$750.00. The two men prepared the tobacco for the girls to hand-pack. Then, Weigand, who later became president of the Penn Company, would harness their horse, "Flute," to the buggy and peddle the tobacco from store to store. To introduce the tobacco, he and a few girls would visit the local unions at night and pass out samples. This first tobacco product of the Penn Company, Penn's Stripped.
Kentucky Club first appeared in the depression year of 1934, as a rough-cut smoking mixture in a pocket-size paper package. About one year later it was marketed in a pocket tin in its present form -- fine-cut. Other products include a smoking tobacco for pipe or cigarette called Honey Moon. http://wheeling.weirton.lib.wv.us/history/bus/bloch-54.htm.
Basic Text of these Penn Tobacco Company ads Do not confuse new Juleps with menthol-tasting cigarettes: "Here's how to smoke all you want - If you really enjoy smoking, yet feel you smoke too uch, you don't have to cut down and deprive yourself of smoking pleasure! Follow the lead of thousands of others - switch to new Julep Cigarettes. Smoke all you want without unpleasant symptoms of oversmoking! A smoking miracle? Yes, it's the triple miracle of mint. (1) Your mouht doesn't get smoke-waery! (2) Your throat doesn't get that harsh, hacking feeling! (3) Your breath avoids tobacco-taint! Get Juleps today - get more joy out of smoking!
Also another Julep Cigarette ad from the Roswell Park Pollay Collection.
The FTC accused Penn of misrepresenting the Julep Cigarettes with promotional phrases like "Remember Juleps, forget your cough" and from the use of the words "forget your cough" implying the cigarette was a treatment or remedy for coughs. Federal Trade Commission Decisions volume 34 pg 1636-1637, February 9, 1942
In 1943, Bloch Brothers purchased the Penn Tobacco Company of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.
Production was carried on in the Wilkes-Barre factory over a period of almost five years before the
machinery was shipped to Wheeling. It is extremely interesting to us that Bloch Brothers (of Mail Pouch chewing tobacco fame) of Wheeling, West Virginia that Spud Hughes contracted with Bloch to first make his Spud mentholated cigarettes. Once a week Spud would visit the factory to blend the tobacco (Fortune, November 1932).
3. Brown & Williamson - prepared to market a Mint Julep filter tip cigarette around 1958. We are not sure if product was ever marketed. The Julep Filter Tip Cigarette label below was from of one of the last Brown and Williamson documents to mention Julep, October 1958 (Document #685072612_2613).

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