Laramie Cigarettes

Laramie Cigarettes is a fictional brand of cigarettes that recurs throughout the series and is vigorously marketed to the cartoon's underage characters. Their slogan is "Laramie Cigarettes - high tars".

Laramie Users

Several characters smoke Laramie Cigarettes. Edna Krabappel (who also smokes menthol cigarettes) smoked one in Lemon of Troy right before writing on the board with it. In Duffless, Bart tests Laramie Cigarettes on Santa's Little Helper. Patty and Selma Bouvier are both seen consistently smoking Laramies almost every time they appear, and the playground bullies are often seen playing with Laramie boxes, and smoking.

Laramie Marketing

Laramie Cigarettes is constantly trying to market their cigarettes to minors. They sponsored the Radioactive Man television show in the 1950s, and the company's mascot is called Menthol Moose (a takeoff on Joe Camel). They are also the main sponsor of the Little Miss Springfield competition. In "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)", they tried to buy the rights to Homer's new 'Tomacco' fruit (half tomato, half tobacco).

In the 2001 episode "HOMR" it is revealed in an old infomercial that the cigarette of choice of Itchy and Scratchy is "Laramie Extra-Tar," now with more "nico-glycerol." According to fellow celebrity endorser Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, contents of the cigarette are unknown, but he claims "I just know I can't stop smoking them." Itchy, Scratchy and Rochester proceed to laugh, smoke, and cough heavily.

Despite the Joe Camel references, the logo and package design of Laramie cigarettes look almost identical to that of Marlboro Cigarettes, and the name of the cartoon smokes is apparently in reference to the town of Laramie, Wyoming which, like Marlboro, is known for having a cowboy and wild west image. (Laramie banned smoking in enclosed workplaces, including bars and restaurants in 2004.)

In the episode "Three Men and a Comic Book," a commercial is shown of Radioactive Man pitching Laramies; Fallout Boy asks when he can smoke, just like his hero (he is told, "Not until you're 16."). This was a spoof of 1960s-era Winston commercials where cartoon characters — most notably, The Flintstones — starred in the commercials and were seen smoking.

Behind the Laughter

Laramie Cigarettes is a parody of cigarettes and cigarette advertising in general, and in particular of cigarette advertising in the USA during the 1950s and 1960s.