{"id":100503,"date":"2016-07-18T17:13:10","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T21:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=100503"},"modified":"2016-07-18T17:35:03","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T21:35:03","slug":"kool-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"Kool Customer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"269_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hunter S. Thompson, who would be seventy-nine today, started smoking Kools when he was a sophomore in high school; he remained loyal to the brand until 1962, when he discovered Dunhills. In 1960, he wrote the letter below to the distribution manager of the Brown\u00a0and\u00a0Williamson Tobacco Co. You can read more of Thompson\u2019s early correspondence in\u00a0<\/em>The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955\u20131967<\/a>.\u00a0The Paris Review interviewed Thompson in our Fall\u00a02000 issue.<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

January 15, 1960
164 Ave. Flamboyanes
Hyde Park, Puerto Rico<\/p>\n

Distribution Manager
Brown-Williamson Tobacco Co.
Hill St.
Louisville, Kentucky<\/p>\n

Dear Sir:<\/p>\n

I regret to inform you that Salems have all but swamped Kools in the Puerto Rico cigarette market. I don\u2019t know if this makes much difference to you or not, but let me tell you that it bothers the mortal hell out of me. I\u2019ve been smoking Kools for close to ten years, but down here I\u2019d have an easier time getting a steady supply of reefers. There are god knows how many cigarette machines in San Juan, and in only three of them can I find king-size Kools. This is working a tremendous hardship on me, and I\u2019m writing you in hopes that you\u2019ll do something about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m quite willing to do my part. If you lack a competent distributor down here, then consider me at your service. Nothing would make me happier than to drive Salems off the market for good and ever. It\u2019s without a doubt the\u00a0foulest cigarette in the history of tobacco-addicted man\u2014a tasteless mish-mash of paper and dry weeds.<\/p>\n

But I have yet to run across a cigarette machine that doesn\u2019t have two racks <\/em>of Salems. And as I said before, only three that I\u2019ve found contain filter Kools.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no excuse for this kind of negligence on your part. If Kools are deemed too strong for the Puerto Rican taste, then get that hustling huckster Ted Bates on the ball and have him educate these people. He\u2019s not paid to ignore new markets.<\/p>\n

As a native of Louisville, and as one of a long line of Brown-Williamson customers\u2014and primarily as a man who will <\/em>have Kools\u2014I deplore this great vacuum in your distribution. As I said before, I will be glad to help in any way I can. At the moment I\u2019m an associate editor of a new sports magazine here and I\u2019ll be glad to sell you a full-page ad to begin the campaign. Personally, I don\u2019t give a damn if you want the ad or not, but contact me if it interests you.<\/p>\n

My primary concern is the frustrating lack of Kools in Puerto Rico. Whatever action you decide to take on this, please let me hear from you.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,
Hunter S. Thompson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hunter S. Thompson, who would be seventy-nine today, started smoking Kools when he was a sophomore in high school; he remained loyal to the brand until 1962, when he discovered Dunhills. In 1960, he wrote the letter below to the distribution manager of the Brown\u00a0and\u00a0Williamson Tobacco Co. You can read more of Thompson\u2019s early correspondence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1900],"tags":[15198,1464,23292,5466,23290,182,269,2441,23291,3819,16601,6695,23294,23293],"class_list":["post-100503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-correspondence","tag-addiction","tag-cigarettes","tag-distribution","tag-hunter-s-thompson","tag-kool","tag-letters","tag-magazines","tag-marketing","tag-puerto-rico","tag-salem","tag-sales","tag-smoking","tag-ted-bates","tag-tobacco"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKool Customer: Hunter S. Thompson Sells Cigs in Puerto Rico<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A 1960 letter finds the chain-smoking author offering to distribute cigarettes for Kool in Puerto Rico.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kool Customer by Hunter S. Thompson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"July 18, 2016 \u2013 Hunter S. Thompson, who would be seventy-nine today, started smoking Kools when he was a sophomore in high school; he remained loyal to the brand until\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-18T21:13:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-18T21:35:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/269_1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"823\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"230\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hunter S. Thompson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hunter S. Thompson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hunter S. Thompson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e45dd2ffdf348998f52abee1d7ef2986\"},\"headline\":\"Kool Customer\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-18T21:13:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-18T21:35:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/\"},\"wordCount\":473,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/269_1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"addiction\",\"cigarettes\",\"distribution\",\"Hunter S. Thompson\",\"Kool\",\"letters\",\"magazines\",\"marketing\",\"Puerto Rico\",\"Salem\",\"sales\",\"smoking\",\"Ted Bates\",\"tobacco\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Correspondence\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/\",\"name\":\"Kool Customer: Hunter S. Thompson Sells Cigs in Puerto Rico\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/269_1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-18T21:13:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-18T21:35:03+00:00\",\"description\":\"A 1960 letter finds the chain-smoking author offering to distribute cigarettes for Kool in Puerto Rico.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/269_1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/269_1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Kool Customer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e45dd2ffdf348998f52abee1d7ef2986\",\"name\":\"Hunter S. Thompson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9b7aed5d65fade6263bbe136467922891d201e8b2ed26dc3a587cec24e14d97?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9b7aed5d65fade6263bbe136467922891d201e8b2ed26dc3a587cec24e14d97?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hunter S. Thompson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/hsthompson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kool Customer: Hunter S. Thompson Sells Cigs in Puerto Rico","description":"A 1960 letter finds the chain-smoking author offering to distribute cigarettes for Kool in Puerto Rico.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kool Customer by Hunter S. Thompson","og_description":"July 18, 2016 \u2013 Hunter S. Thompson, who would be seventy-nine today, started smoking Kools when he was a sophomore in high school; he remained loyal to the brand until","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2016-07-18T21:13:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-07-18T21:35:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":823,"height":230,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/269_1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hunter S. Thompson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hunter S. Thompson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/"},"author":{"name":"Hunter S. Thompson","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e45dd2ffdf348998f52abee1d7ef2986"},"headline":"Kool Customer","datePublished":"2016-07-18T21:13:10+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-18T21:35:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/"},"wordCount":473,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/269_1.jpg","keywords":["addiction","cigarettes","distribution","Hunter S. Thompson","Kool","letters","magazines","marketing","Puerto Rico","Salem","sales","smoking","Ted Bates","tobacco"],"articleSection":["Correspondence"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/","name":"Kool Customer: Hunter S. Thompson Sells Cigs in Puerto Rico","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/269_1.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-18T21:13:10+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-18T21:35:03+00:00","description":"A 1960 letter finds the chain-smoking author offering to distribute cigarettes for Kool in Puerto Rico.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/269_1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/269_1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/kool-customer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kool Customer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e45dd2ffdf348998f52abee1d7ef2986","name":"Hunter S. Thompson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9b7aed5d65fade6263bbe136467922891d201e8b2ed26dc3a587cec24e14d97?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9b7aed5d65fade6263bbe136467922891d201e8b2ed26dc3a587cec24e14d97?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hunter S. Thompson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/hsthompson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1022"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100503"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100514,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100503\/revisions\/100514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}