[3][2] Karo cigarettes were formerly produced in East Germany by the VEB Zigarettenfabriken Dresden, and because they were produced in the German Democratic Republic, the cigarette was made only from tobacco without added perfumes, fragrances, or flavor enhancers.

[6] In East Germany, the cigarettes had been nicknamed "Lungentorpedo" ("lung torpedo") on the basis of their unique and strong taste.

[8] After the German reunification, the brand was advertised with the slogan that it was an "attack on the taste of the unification".

[10] Wolfgang Lippert sang it in 1982 in his hit Erna kommt ("Erna comes"), with Hugo Egon Balder's western cover version simply changing the words "a Karo" to "cigarette".

[11][12] The brand was also smoked by Jürgen Wolff from "Folkländer" and Bernd Stamm from "Polkatoffel".