Kensitas Club (commonly shortened to Club), is a Scottish brand of
cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by
Gallaher Group
Gallaher Group was a United Kingdom-based multinational tobacco company which traded on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, prior to its acquisition by Japan Tobacco in April 2007. Japan Tobacco trades in ...
, a subsidiary of
Japan Tobacco
Hepburn: ''Nippon Senbai Kōsha''
, type = 1985-: Public (''kabushiki gaisha'') 1949-1985: Statutory corporation
, traded_as =
, industry = FoodTobacco
, foundation = 1898 (as Imperial Japanese Tobacco Company)1 June 1949 (as Japan Tobacco ...
. Before May 2017, Club cigarettes in UK came in a distinct blue packet with the CLUB name and a lion's head.
History
Early packaging and advertising literature featured the Kensitas
butler, Jenkyn, always portrayed presenting the cigarettes on a tray. Jenkyn continued to be used by Kensitas in their advertising until the late 1950s.
Kensitas claimed that their cigarettes "were made by the Kensitas private process which includes the use of
Ultra Violet Rays".
[ Brand slogans included ''"Kensitas - that's good!"'', ''"Our Belief, the Finest Leaf"'' and ''"As good as really good cigarettes can be"''.]
Kensitas Club is available in a king size and a super king size variety. No 'light' or menthol substitutes are available. In August 2018, hand-rolling tobacco was added to the product range. Although lights were available at one time, they have been discontinued. The brand built its popularity using gift coupons enclosed within cigarette packets which could be saved and redeemed at Kensitas Gift Centres in major UK cities.
Kensitas Club cigarette packs and tins, from the 1930s onwards, contained various series of cigarette cards. Series included flags of the British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
, as well as countries in Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
.
In February 2018 the brand was relaunched at a price of around £7.65 for a pack of 20. Before this a pack had cost around £10.55. All packs of 10 cigarettes were made illegal in UK in May 2017.
Each cigarette contains 10 mg of carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...
, 10 mg of tar
Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...
and 0.9 mg of nicotine
Nicotine is a natural product, naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreational drug use, recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As ...
.
Deceptive advertising
In 1932 newspaper advertisements, deceptive copy
Copy may refer to:
*Copying or the product of copying (including the plural "copies"); the duplication of information or an artifact
**Cut, copy and paste, a method of reproducing text or other data in computing
**File copying
**Photocopying, a pr ...
was used to advertise Kensitas cigarettes by claiming they would ''"protect the throat"'' and promising that "1004 British Doctors have stated KENSITAS to be less irritating."
See also
* Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice of burning tobacco and ingesting the resulting smoke. The smoke may be inhaled, as is done with cigarettes, or simply released from the mouth, as is generally done with pipes and cigars. The practice is believed ...
References
Gallaher Group brands
Japan Tobacco brands
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