WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. A tiny blue capsule is the key element in R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s latest attempt to woo smokers.

The capsule is embedded into the filter of a regular Camel Lights cigarette.

When smokers squeeze and snap the capsule, it releases menthol to change the flavor. The cigarette -- packaged in a sleek black and blue box and called Camel Crush -- is being test-marketed at North Carolina Quality Mart convenience stores, and, beginning this month, in Pennsylvania.

"We're giving the adult smoker the ability to savor two distinct flavors with Camel Crush and customize the experience," said Brian Stebbins, the senior business-unit director for Camel. "They can crush it a little and get a slight flavor over the length of the smoke. They can crush it completely and get a fresh menthol blast."

Reynolds views product innovation as a positive and differentiating way to compete for adult smokers and market share.

However, the capsule also has become the latest target of anti-smoking groups, which claim that product innovations such as Camel Crush and the marketing of cigarettes are geared toward attracting young consumers.

"Tobacco companies have carefully designed their products to attract new users, almost all of whom are children," said The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in a February report titled "Big Tobacco's Guinea Pigs."

Stebbins declined to say how much Reynolds spent to develop Camel Crush, but it has been in the works for several years.

"We had to find the proper type of capsule," Stebbins said. "We also had to invent manufacturing machinery to put the capsule in the same place in the filter consistently without breaking it." Reynolds said it has obtained a patent on the machinery.

Camel Crush represents the biggest cigarette innovation since Reynolds introduced its Eclipse brand in 1996.

Eclipse, which remains available nationwide on a request basis by wholesalers and retailers, has struggled to catch on with smokers. It has been criticized for claims of reduced risk of some cancers.

Unlike traditional cigarettes, smokers do not light tobacco with Eclipse. They light a carbon tip that heats air that, as it is inhaled, passes over tobacco in a cylinder that's identical to a standard cigarette. The flavors of tobacco and nicotine are inhaled and then exhaled by smokers.

"There's no way for consumers to know what's in that capsule," said Joel Spivak, the media-relations director with The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. He said that flavored pellets used in Camel Exotic Blends released dangerous chemicals when tested.

Bill Godshall, the executive director for Smokefree Pennsylvania, said that The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids publicly accuses all new tobacco products, especially those made by Reynolds, of being target-marketed to children.

Richard Craver is a staff writer for the Winston-Salem Journal.