Eli Cutter was tough, but he wasn't as tough as the macho young men he was designed to appeal to. Eli touted his cigarettes for their legendary taste, but they didn't make the grade--twice! First tested in California's cattle country in November 1984, and a year later in what was once the Oklahoma Territory--Indian country! Pardners Brown & Williamson, two hard-as-nails businessmen out of Louisville, ran Eli right out of town. Left behind were four chapters of his 'life and times', a deck of poker cards with a howling coyote for a joker, and three packs of his tailor-mades. Chapter one of Eli's story is scribbled below...

"MY LIFE & TIMES by Eli Cutter. The life and times of Eli Cutter, as transcribed by Willard T. Parkins, night jailer, Ouray, Colorado. An unedited narrative of perhaps one of the most courageous and relentless characters of the Old West. Eli Cutter. You probably heard of me. Newspapers. Magazines. The Police Gazette and such. Scribblers been coming around here on a daily basis, wanting the story of my life. I can hardly get away from them, unjustly locked up as I am--for the second time--in this tight little cell. The Scribblers want to get it while they can. They listen, eyes round as saucers, take down ever word I say. Scribble, scribble on their little paper pads. Oh well, I figure, I got nothing else to do til next week anyway. But then I read this stuff they wrote. They got me saying I want to apologize, that I'm sorry for my life. Where'd they get that? I never did say it. My life's been hell with the lid off, yes. More thunder and lightning than poetry and lace, that's true. But not a chapter or verse of it would I trade for any other man's three score and ten on this spinning globe. The only thing I'm sorry for is that it's me sitting here and not that damn Torrance C. Buckner. My father told me once if a man was truly lucky in this life he'd have a good woman who loved him and work he enjoyed. I had them both, for a time. Her name was Rebecca. She was from San Francisco with a past that included Tors Buckner. I knew him only by his foul reputation then. The work was a piece of earth on the Blanco River in the Texas Hills. I gladly gave up my rough ways and I bought an ax and a mule. I chopped and plowed and hoed from dawn to dusk. Rebecca brought me water. I could go all day on one of her smiles. I built a cabin. I cleared a field. I made pictures in my head of us growing old and gray together on that one place, adding rooms to the cabin when the babies came, and then later more for the grandchildren. It lasted just one month shy of a year. Tors Buckner came and stole Rebecca away. He told a vile lie to do it. I walked through the plowed field one last time, then I closed the door on the cabin and rode away from there, taking only my pistol and my brass-mounted Henry .44. The word went out ahead of me: Eli's coming. That was more than twenty years ago... I don't talk to the Scribblers anymore. I put on a mean ugly face now when they come around. They don't stay long. That suits me. I've decided to tell it myself, the true story of my life stretching back through the wild old days and how it led me to this iron crate I'm sitting in now. It's six days till the Hang Man gets me Excuse me if I hurry..."

The advertising campaign that agency Geer, du Bois' created for the grizzled, bearded cowpoke was clever enough for some initial sales, but few repeat buyers. The original Eli Cutter black and gold label intentionally resembled graphics used for Jack Daniels---whiskey with a strong younger adult following. The targeted male smokers were in the 18-24 age group.

The ad pictured above top right was only used in the 1985 Oklahoma test. At least three slogans were featured: 'The Flavor Lives On,' 'What you stand for in this world depends on what you won't stand for,' and 'You don't know a man till you know he'll stand beside you.' The November 1984 test-market was held in Sacramento, Fresno, and Denver. This first test included the 85mm filter king packaged in both flip-top box and soft pack, plus the 70mm regular--all three versions used black and gold graphics. For the second Oklahoma test, the color of the packs were changed to buff for 'lights' and an off red for full-flavor. The 70mm non-filter had sold so poorly in the California and Denver markets that it wasn't produced the second time around.