# Cigarette brands that used to be popular, but which are now rare or nonexistent **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933 "2009-07-14T02:32:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/121 "2010-09-04T04:45:32Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Triumphs. They were this odd non-tobacco (I think) cigarette back in the early 70s that I sort of like. Tried them first because I was driving a TR4-A at the time and thought the pack looked cool on the dash. Most people said they would rather smoke cabbage leaves that had been boiled and then dried but my memory says they weren’t that bad. I don’t know about cabbage, but don’t be hatin’ on my [leafy-green fetish of smokin’ lettuce](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dqTrUpmwPg) (musical youtubes). ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/122 "2010-09-05T18:42:41Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I smoke Picayunes in High School. The guy who married my cousin used to carry them around when someone wanted to bum a smoke off him. He had no takers. They quit making Picayunes a while back, but a few years ago, a friend of mine walked into a gas station and they had a little display of discount cigarettes with a dozen packs of Picayunes marked at $3.00 each. They obviously had a couple of cartons that had been laying around for years and wanted to get rid of them. He offered $20 for all of them and they accepted. He gave me a few packs and kept the rest. They were almost certainly unsmokable (stale), but were in perfect condition for collectors packs. Our interest in them is that they were the “Pride of New Orleans”, although I don’t know if they ever were actually made in New Orleans. But 20+ years ago, they were available at every store in the New Orleans area and a lot of old folks smoked them. I don’t know what the distribution was outside of the south, or even if anyone outside of southern Louisiana or southern Mississippi would even know what “Picayune” means. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/123 "2010-09-05T19:30:07Z")
OT a bit since I don’t think they were ever popular in the US, but what about Gitanes. Are those still around in euroland? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/124 "2010-09-05T19:35:23Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > Our interest in them is that they were the “Pride of New Orleans”… > > I don’t know what the distribution was outside of the south, or even if anyone outside of southern Louisiana or southern Mississippi would even know what “Picayune” means. My Cousin lived in Louisiana. I bought them at Osco Drugs in the Park Plaza shopping center in Little Rock. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Taters](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/taters/32/2845_2.png) [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/125 "2010-09-05T21:03:13Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Anyone remember [Eve cigarettes](http://www.unionroom.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/eve_cigarettes.jpg), with the psychedelic curly-ques. Yes, my grandmother smoked those. I was going to list these, until I saw that you had already done it. ---
**Author:** ![mjack123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@mjack123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjack123)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/126 "2010-09-22T02:12:39Z")
I believe Lark and Benson & Hedges Multi-Filter aren’t made anymore. I haven’t seen either brand in a long time. My uncle smoked Larks many years ago, before he quit. Viceroy is another brand I haven’t seen in ages. They used to be popular back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/127 "2012-04-27T22:04:02Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Tareytons. They used to have ads with pictures of Tareyton smokers all beaten up, reading “I’d rather fight than switch!” I guess they finally got quashed. My mom’s brand for many years. After they disappeared she smoked B&H. She quit about 10 years ago. I don’t know if B&H are still sold. While I never really truly smoked them I went through a phase of carrying around a lit MORE Red 100 in social situations. Do they still make those? They’re brown. Don’t you get it? I’m artistic and alternative and tortured. [Hold smoke in mouth. Blow a smoke ring. Thanks, Mom.] ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/128 "2012-04-27T22:16:08Z")
The citation to 2009 data actually seems quite fitting. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/129 "2012-04-27T22:20:03Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Fatima sponsored Dragnet on radio, so it at least lasted into the late 40’s. Well into the 1950s, actually, since Dragnet only started in 1949 and continued well into the 1950s. For a time, the same episodes were presented on radio and TV, the radio presentations continuing mainly because Jack Webb liked the medium. At some point during the Fifties, though, they stopped advertising Fatimas and went to other Liggett and Morris brands, like Chesterfield and L&M. In hindsight there’s a touch of the surreal in all this; the character Joe Friday might have just rousted a suspect for “reefers”, and then during the break, you’d hear the actor Jack Webb earnestly pitching Fatimas or Chesterfields. I often listen to these old shows through podcasts, besides the stark, noir-ish quality of the stories themselves, the descriptions of 1950’s L.A. fascinate me. I haven’t smoked a cigarette in decades but those damn commercials make me want one! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/130 "2012-04-27T22:36:34Z")
I thought I bought Fatimas in the 1980s at a smoke shop. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/131 "2012-04-28T00:07:51Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > … While I never really truly smoked them I went through a phase of carrying around a lit MORE Red 100 in social situations. Do they still make those? They’re brown. Don’t you get it? I’m artistic and alternative and tortured. [Hold smoke in mouth. Blow a smoke ring. Thanks, Mom.] Yup, red and green, but they’re still 120mms. 😉 CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/132 "2012-04-28T00:59:29Z")
I smoked a brand called Richland back in the '80s. Its gimmick was a pack of 25 for the price of a regular 20 pack. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/133 "2012-04-28T01:08:22Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Yup, red and green, but they’re still 120mms. 😉 > > CMC fnord! The fake smoking must have clouded my memory. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/134 "2012-04-28T02:07:30Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > I love old time radio, and two of my favorites were Jack Benny and Red Skelton. Jack was sponsored by Lucky Strike, and Red was sponsored by Raleigh cigarettes. The cigarette commercials were as catchy as they were criminally irresponsible. Som of my favorites: > > Raleigh- > “I’d rather have a Raleigh! No other leading cigarette has less nicotine, less throat irritating tars, than the new, all new Raleigh 903! And now the star of the Raleigh Cigarette Program and MGM’s clown, Red Skelton!” > > Lucky Strike- > “Be Happy, Go Lucky- It’s Light Up Time!” > “LSMFT- Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco!” > “(auctioneer jive by Speed Riggs or FE Boone) Sold American!” Two of the best big bands of the day, Glen Gray’s and later Benny Goodman’s, were the big draws on the _Camel Caravan_, which came on - even before a note of music was heard - with the emphatic slogan: “_CAMELS…NEVER GET…ON YOUR NERVES!_” ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/135 "2012-04-28T04:21:22Z")
My grade-school buddy used to snitch Wings from his father’s store. They were mentholated and reputed to be mild. Weren’t there other mentholated brands? ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/136 "2012-04-28T15:30:10Z")
LS/MFT! Lucky Strike means fine tobacco! As a huge fan of Jack Benny, I’ve always heard the Lucky Strike commercials, and knew they were one of the most popular brands in those days. I’m assuming up to the 60s? I don’t smoke, but remember seeing them on the shelves back when I was younger, and now don’t. Also, Raleigh cigarettes were the sponsor of The Red Skelton Show on radio for a long time, and I don’t know if those are still around. And before Raleighs, he was a cast member of Avalon Time, Avalon being another forgotten brand. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/137 "2012-04-28T18:13:23Z")
Mama Plant told me that during WWII aluminium foil was used for the war effort. Lucky Strike replaced the foil in their cigarette packs with cellophane, and the package bore the sign, “Lucky Strike has gone to war!” ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/138 "2012-04-28T20:13:03Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > LS/MFT! Lucky Strike means fine tobacco! As a huge fan of Jack Benny, I’ve always heard the Lucky Strike commercials, and knew they were one of the most popular brands in those days. I’m assuming up to the 60s? I don’t smoke, but remember seeing them on the shelves back when I was younger, and now don’t. > > Also, Raleigh cigarettes were the sponsor of The Red Skelton Show on radio for a long time, and I don’t know if those are still around. And before Raleighs, he was a cast member of Avalon Time, Avalon being another forgotten brand. Hey, looks like I mentioned this already a really long time ago…except for the Avalon part. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/139 "2012-04-29T04:42:30Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > At some point during the Fifties, though, they stopped advertising Fatimas and went to other Liggett and Morris brands, like Chesterfield and L&M. ETC: I meant Liggett and **Myers** , not Morris. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933/140 "2012-04-30T20:08:01Z")
Victory V’s, which don’t seem to have survived the war. Even the Arabs wouldn’t smoke them. Woodbines were still around until a few years ago in the big supermarkets but seem to have gone now. Capstan Full Strength Weights - a very downmarket brand from Players Park Drive - still around, rather surprisingly. Kensitas -advertised with a butler handing them you on a silver salver “Your Kensitas, sir”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cigarette-brands-that-used-to-be-popular-but-which-are-now-rare-or-nonexistent/502933.md?page=8)