It's wild to see the ad copy promote the high cost of Camels ("costlier tobacco".) I grew up fairly poor, but my dad always had money for cigarettes and was a 2-3 pack a day smoker. Almost always Camels. Occasionally Marlboros. In any case, I don't remember them being marketed as a cigarette for people who wanted to light more money on fire than their neighbors, but perhaps I just didn't pick up on it as a kid.
During the early 90s, RJ Reynolds had a promotion called "Camel Cash", where each pack of cigarettes came with a coupon that could be redeemed for Camel merch (tshirts, beach towels, etc.) Our car was covered in cigarette ash, a vaguely sticky layer of tar, and stacks and stacks of Camel Cash. Most of the instrument cluster was obscured by Camel Cash stacked in front of it. We were Camel Cash millionaires.
If memory serves, cigarette packs were priced fairly close to each other. They were implying they did not skimp on the quality of the source product (unlike the other brands' thieving profiteers ;-)
There were definitely "expensive" cigarettes and "cheap" cigarettes. It wasn't uncommon for my parents/their friends to go back and forth between a few brands as their fortunes changed.
I worked in a small kiosk in the late 80's. Most cigarettes were the same price, but Camels were quite a bit more expensive (25% or so as I recall.)
Our target market was, how shall I put it, price sensitive. The Camels weren't terribly popular :)
During the early 90s, RJ Reynolds had a promotion called "Camel Cash", where each pack of cigarettes came with a coupon that could be redeemed for Camel merch (tshirts, beach towels, etc.) Our car was covered in cigarette ash, a vaguely sticky layer of tar, and stacks and stacks of Camel Cash. Most of the instrument cluster was obscured by Camel Cash stacked in front of it. We were Camel Cash millionaires.