Business Notes TOBACCO

The company had hailed its product as the "most significant breakthrough in cigarette history." But after seven years of development at an estimated cost of more than $300 million and five months of test marketing, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco last week scrapped its Premier cigarette. Billed as a "cleaner smoke," Premier heated its tobacco instead of burning it. But the product tasted and smelled awful to most consumers.

Yet RJR has other innovations to offer the shrinking ranks of smokers. The company has been working on Chelsea, a vanilla-scented cigarette designed for women smokers. Test marketing will begin next month.