The brand's history starts in 1952, and it was naturally named after the founder, Herbert Kent.

Kent is a cigarette brand, which is well-known all around the world. It is manufactured by British American Tobacco Company, one of the largest cigarette producers in the world. Kent cigarettes are characterized with essentially high quality, rich-blended tobacco and aroma. But probably the most prominent feature of Kent cigarettes is their special charcoal filter, a unique invention of this label. Moreover, those were Kent cigarettes which became first cigarettes with filter.

Kent's Micronite filter was introduced shortly after the publication of a series of articles in Reader's Digest in 1952 entitled "Cancer by the Carton," that scared American consumers into seeking out a filter brand at a time when most brands were filterless. From March 1952 until at least May 1956, however, the Micronite filter in Kent cigarettes contained deadly blue asbestos. Kent now uses charcoal filters (a form of activated carbon). Their activated charcoal filter stopped a lot of harmful substances, and the taste of cigarettes became extremely pure and tender, in comparison to the previous cigarettes.

In the 1950', slogans became a way for cigarette companies to distinguish themselves. A popular Kent Cigarettes Slogan reads: "Your Voice of Wisdom says Smoke Kent".

Today there are several kinds of Kent cigarettes developed specially for enjoyment and satisfaction of different tastes. They came to being after a recent rebranding of Kent, which took place in 2006.