Craven A is a British brand of cigarette, currently manufactured by Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco.
Craven A is a British brand of cigarette, currently manufactured by Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco. The cigarette brand is named after the third Earl of Craven.
History
After the end of World War I, the cigarette market resumed its normal competitive spirit with the Carreras Tobacco Company once more well to the fore. Bernhard Baron, a director of Carreras, knew that to compete successfully his product had to be better than his competitors' and in 1921 Carreras launched Craven A, a brand that became a household name in over 120 countries with the slogan "Will Not Affect Your Throat". It was the first machine-made cork-tipped cigarette, and it used the name of the Earl of Craven; presumably its name did not refer to the normal meaning of the word 'craven' (cowardly).
Following the success of Craven A, several other companies launched cork-tipped cigarettes which enjoyed varying degrees of success. Few (if any) of these remain available as of 2019.
At the same time as Craven A was pioneering a new fashion in cigarette smoking, the competition was moving in on the coupon business. Carreras participated in this market with their Black Cat brand.
The brand was widely used in World War II not only by British soldiers, but in general. Craven A was one of several brands donated by tobacco manufacturers to soldiers' rations in the hope of developing ongoing brand loyalty.
Also during the Second World War, General Charles de Gaulle, in exile in London, had a hard time getting his usual French brown cigarettes brand Gitanes. Not really having a choice, he started smoking Craven A and apparently took a liking to the blond tobacco, which until then had been rare in occupied France.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, chain-smoked fifty Craven A cigarettes a day, even while terminally ill with tuberculosis.
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