William C. “Bill” Luffman has worked in the tobacco industry nearly his entire life. Bill grew up working in the flue-cured tobacco fields of Wilkes County, NC (planting/harvesting/curing). He began a 31-year career with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (Winston-Salem, NC USA) in 1975. During his first fifteen years, Bill was in the Primary Processing Division of manufacturing operations where he eventually became an expert in the processing of tobacco blends with responsibility for standard operating procedure and specifications.
In 1990, Bill received a promotion and transfer to Research & Development reporting to domestic brands R&D. Bill evolved into “Master Product Developer” with oversight of RJR’s domestic cigarette blends and was a qualified expert smoker on all RJRT sensory evaluation panels. During his tenure at R&D, Bill amassed 16 leadership awards and initiated nearly 40 cost-efficiency programs that resulted in a $325 Million (USD) annualized savings. After selling its non-USA business to Japan Tobacco International in 1999, RJR began developing export markets for tobacco components, blends and contract manufactured cigarettes. Bill was the technical head of this very successful international business development unit. Bill departed RJR with the title of Master Scientist and was the first non-degreed recipient of that highest obtainable technical position.
Bill has traveled to more than 50 countries and has developed and assisted in the development of many commercially successful cigarette brands. LUFFMAN brand cigarettes, popular in Malaysia & Singapore, are named in his honor. As an independent contractor, Bill has served for more than six years as a technical consultant for Tobacco Associates and is currently TA’s chief technical consultant.