Prince Albert tobacco advertisement, 1913

Prince Albert is an American brand of hand-rolled-cigarette and

pipe tobacco A tobacco pipe, often called simply a pipe, is a device specifically made to smoke tobacco. It comprises a chamber (the bowl (smoking), bowl) for the tobacco from which a thin hollow stem (shank) emerges, ending in a mouthpiece. Pipes can rang ...

, introduced by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1907. It has been owned since 1987 by John Middleton Inc.

History

Prince Albert is one of the more popular independent brands of pipe tobacco in the United States; in the 1930s, it was the "second largest money-maker" for Reynolds. More recently, it has also become available in the form of pipe-tobacco cigars. (A 1960s experiment with filtered

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

s was deemed a failure.) The blend is burley-based and remains one of America's top-selling pipe tobaccos. The tobacco was named by

R. J. Reynolds Richard Joshua Reynolds (July 20, 1850 – July 29, 1918) was an American businessman and founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The son of a tobacco farmer, he worked for his father and attended Emory & Henry College from 1868 to 1870 ...

after

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

, who was known as Prince Albert before being crowned as the King of England. The portrait of Prince Albert was based on one acquired by Reynolds at a tea party with

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

. Prince Albert's cigars are available in packs of 5. Prince Albert's pipe tobacco is available in pouches and tins.

Varieties

Cigars

*Prince Albert's Soft Cherry Vanilla *Prince Albert's Soft & Sweet Vanilla

Pipe tobacco

*Prince Albert *Prince Albert Crimp Cut *Prince Albert Cherry Vanilla *Prince Albert Soft Vanilla Cavendish *Prince Albert Mellow

"Prince Albert in a can"

The brand is the basis of a practical joke, usually made in the form of a

prank call A prank call (also known as a crank call) is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call. It can be illegal under certain circumstances. Recordings of prank ph ...

. The prankster typically calls a store and asks if they have "Prince Albert in a can". When the unsuspecting clerk responds, "yes", (because the tobacco is typically packaged in a can, though other forms of packaging also existed), the caller follows up with, "Well, you'd better let him out!" or similar.

References

{{Altria Pipe tobacco brands R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company brands Products introduced in 1907 Edward VII