John Silver (cigarette)
An old Swedish pack of John Silver cigarettes, with a Swedish text warning at the bottom of the pack. | |
Product type | Cigarette |
---|---|
Produced by | JTI Sweden, a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco |
Country | Sweden |
Introduced | 1947 |
Discontinued | 1948, re-introduced in 1952 |
Markets | See Markets |
Previous owners | Tobaksmonopolet, Svenska Tobaks AB, Austria Tabak GmbH |
John Silver is a Swedish brand of cigarettes, which was owned and manufactured by the Tobaksmonopolet (later called Svenska Tobaks AB).[1] Today, JTI Sweden manufactures the brand, which is a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco.[2]
History
[edit]John Silver was launched in 1947 as a filterless cigarette of the American type in order to compete with American brands that became popular after World War II.[3][4] It was the first "American blend cigarette" produced by a Swedish tobacco company. The mixture was produced by William c. Bethea who was hired by the Tobaksmonopolet in 1947.[5][6]
The cigarette was named in an internal name contest, held by Svenska Tobaks, and was given the name of the fictional pirate Long John Silver from the book Treasure Island. After one year the brand was discontinued because of delivery problems of the tobacco but it was re-released in 1952. In 1958 it became the largest domestic cigarette on the Swedish market. A filtered variant of John Silver was introduced in 1966, and in 1978 a roll tobacco variant was launched.[7][8] John Silver is available in soft pack and hard pack (flip-top box), both as normal and Duty Free variants.[9] The tobacco mixture consists of Virginia and Burley type tobaccos.
In 1999, Swedish Match sold the brand to "Austria Tabak". Following further acquisitions in the tobacco industry, since 2007, the Japanese counterpart Japan Tobacco and their Swedish subsidiary JTI Sweden own the tobacco brand.
Markets
[edit]John Silver is mainly sold in Sweden, but also was or still is sold in Germany, Austria and Spain.[10][11][12]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "BrandJohn Silver - Cigarettes Pedia". Cigarettespedia.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
- ^ "Sweden". Jti.com. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
- ^ "Fred, frihet & American blend - Trender och tobaksreklam under 50 år". Tobaks & Tändsticksmuseum Stockholm. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
- ^ "Swedish Match - Svenska Tobaks AB". Swedishmatch.com. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
- ^ "Krigets påverkan och nya lanseringar". Swedish Match. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
- ^ "Produkter". Tobakshistoria.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
- ^ "Swedish Match" (PDF). Swedishmatch.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
- ^ "Sweden". Jti.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
- ^ "John Silver". Zigsam.at. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
- ^ "BrandJohn Silver - Cigarettes Pedia". Cigarettespedia.com. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
- ^ "John Silver". Zigsam.at. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
- ^ "Brands". Cigarety.by. Retrieved 2 February 2018.