50 Fun Facts About Cigarette

The word "cigarette" reached English in the 1840s from which language?

France's state tobacco monopoly began manufacturing them in 1845; the Spanish had earlier called paper-wrapped tobacco a papelate.

British soldiers picked up cigarettes from Ottoman comrades and Russian enemies during which war?

The Turks and Russians were rolling tobacco in strips of old newspaper for lack of proper cigar leaf.

Which civilisations were smoking tobacco through reeds and tubes in Mesoamerica around the 9th century?

Their pottery and temple carvings frequently show priests and gods smoking.

By what grim nickname were cigarettes already known in the late 19th century?

The nickname came decades before the link to lung cancer was scientifically established.

James Bonsack's 1880s machine raised daily cigarette output from about 40,000 to roughly how many?

James Buchanan Duke installed two of them, spent heavily on advertising, and was America's biggest cigarette maker by 1889.

Which trust did James Buchanan Duke found in 1890, controlling over 90% of the US cigarette market?

He also gave his name and money to Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

In which year did the US remove cigarettes from military rations?

Cigarettes were rationed to soldiers in both world wars and packed into C-rations in Vietnam.

In 2004, which country became the first to completely outlaw the growing, production and sale of tobacco?

Enforcement tightened with the Tobacco Control Act of 2010.

Marlboro was launched in 1924 and initially marketed to whom?

The 1930s slogan was "Mild As May"; the cowboy did not arrive until 1954.

The Marlboro name was taken from the London address of a factory on which thoroughfare?

Philip Morris's brother and widow opened it after his death in 1873.

In which year did Marlboro become the best-selling tobacco brand in the world?

Within a year of the cowboy campaign starting in 1954 it had jumped from a minor brand to fourth in America.

Which advertising executive conceived the Marlboro Man in 1954?

Early models included a Navy lieutenant played by Burnett's own art supervisor before the cowboy took over.

What nickname did Marlboro Reds earn after several Marlboro Man models died of smoking?

Wayne McLaren, David McLean, Dick Hammer, Eric Lawson and Tobin Jackson all died of smoking-related illness.

In which year did the Marlboro Man campaign end in the United States?

It had run for 45 years, the longest-lived cigarette campaign in American advertising.

Which slogan did Lucky Strike debut in 1917 to promote its manufacturing method?

Camel hit back by claiming its cigarettes were never parched or toasted.

In 1934 PR pioneer Edward Bernays tried to make which colour fashionable to sell Lucky Strikes?

The pack's green and red clashed with women's clothes, so he staged a Green Ball at the Waldorf Astoria.

R. J. Reynolds introduced Camel cigarettes in which year?

Reynolds is credited with innovating the packaged cigarette; his home town of Winston-Salem is nicknamed Camel City.

The camel on the original Camel pack was photographed at which travelling show?

A promotional camel named Old Joe was later driven through towns handing out free cigarettes.

Which brand's decades-long slogan claimed a smoker would walk a mile for one?

The classic unfiltered soft-pack version is still known as Camel Straights.

A 1991 JAMA study found six-year-olds recognised the Joe Camel cartoon about as readily as which logo?

Over 90% of the children matched Joe Camel to cigarettes; RJR dropped him in 1997 under legal pressure.

In what year did RJR voluntarily retire the Joe Camel campaign?

The Federal Trade Commission had filed a formal complaint for unfair practices in exposing children to smoking.

From 1952 to 1956, Kent's heavily advertised Micronite filter contained what?

Lorillard promised the greatest health protection in history, then quietly switched to cellulose acetate.

Which brand was the first to introduce filter tips, in 1936?

Hungarian inventor Boris Aivaz had patented a crepe-paper filter back in 1925.

Which cigarette brand sponsored The Flintstones from 1960 to 1962, with Fred lighting up for Wilma?

Fred and Barney appeared in the commercials singing the jingle.

The last cigarette commercial on US television, on January 1, 1971, was for which brand?

The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, signed by Nixon in 1970, banned cigarette ads from radio and TV.

Which US president signed the 1970 act that banned cigarette advertising on radio and television?

It also toughened the pack warning to say the Surgeon General had determined smoking is dangerous to your health.

Which US Surgeon General issued the landmark 1964 report linking smoking to disease?

The report set off the wave of legislation that put warnings on packs and ads off the airwaves.

Who was the first to develop a menthol cigarette, in 1924?

His Spud brand was the fifth most popular in America by 1932, and the only menthol until Kool arrived in 1933.

Which company created the Kool menthol brand in 1933?

For over twenty years it was the only significant menthol brand, yet never got much above 2% market share.

The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement committed US tobacco firms to pay states at least how much?

In return the states dropped their Medicaid lawsuits and the companies accepted limits on marketing to youth.

Nicotine is named after Jean Nicot, who served France as ambassador in which city?

He sent tobacco plants and seeds to Paris in 1560 and pushed their medicinal use at court.

Which naturalist named the tobacco genus Nicotiana after Jean Nicot?

The chemical nicotine took its name from the plant in turn.

In which year did German chemists Posselt and Reimann first isolate nicotine from the tobacco plant?

They believed it was a poison; it was used as an insecticide from at least 1690.

Which English king wrote the 1604 pamphlet A Counterblaste to Tobacco?

He called it hateful to the nose and harmful to the brain, then slapped a heavy tariff on imports.

Which Jamestown settler was the first to raise tobacco successfully for commercial sale?

He arrived in 1609; the leaf was soon called brown gold, and he later married Pocahontas.

Cigarette cards were originally put in packs for what practical purpose?

Between 1875 and the 1940s they came to feature actresses, ballplayers and flags; the Honus Wagner card is the most valuable of all.

The most valuable cigarette card in the world depicts which baseball player?

The T206 Ty Cobb is another notably rare one.

In the United States, a pack must contain at least how many cigarettes?

Australia's most common pack size is 25, and 50s are sold there too.

Zippo lighters have been made since 1932 in which Pennsylvania town?

Founder George Blaisdell liked the sound of the word zipper and thought zippo sounded more modern.

The Zippo name was inspired by which everyday invention?

Blaisdell modelled the lighter itself on an Austrian design by IMCO.

Which country was the first to require plain, logo-free cigarette packaging, from December 2012?

The packs are a drab dark brown; tobacco companies sued and lost, and other countries followed.

Which country implemented a nationwide ban on smoking in all workplaces on 29 March 2004?

One study found cigarette sales fell 16% in the six months after the ban.

The first building in the world to ban smoking, in 1876, was a government building in which city?

New Zealand's Old Government Building was made of wood, which may explain the caution.

Which regime ran the first state-supported anti-smoking campaign, driven partly by its leader's distaste for tobacco?

German researchers had strengthened the link between smoking and disease; Hitler personally funded a tobacco-hazards institute at Jena.

According to the World Health Organization, roughly how many deaths a year are caused by tobacco smoking?

Second-hand smoke alone is estimated to cause tens of thousands of deaths a year in the US.

In the Taíno language, one explanation is that "tobacco" referred to what?

Another chronicler said it meant a roll of leaves; the leaves themselves were called cohiba.

Within a year of the cowboy campaign, Marlboro jumped to which rank among US cigarette brands?

That instant success convinced Philip Morris to drop every other Marlboro Man in favour of the cowboy.

US per-capita cigarette consumption peaked in which year, at 4,259 a year?

About 50% of men and 33% of women smoked at that time; by 2000 the figure had fallen to 2,092 per capita.

The 17th-century Spanish paper-wrapped cigarette, seen in Goya paintings, was called what?

Maize wrappers had replaced New World plant leaves before fine paper took over; Goya's La Cometa and La Merienda show them being smoked.

A 2024 study estimated that each cigarette cuts life expectancy by roughly how much?

Earlier studies put the figure at about 11 minutes; nicotine addiction is what keeps people smoking despite the toxic chemicals in the smoke.