# Why are all cigarettes white? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742 "2016-08-04T15:04:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/1 "2016-08-04T15:04:07Z")
Seems like they are missing a huge opportunity there. Colors, stripes. American flag. Possibilities are endless. ---
**Author:** ![turtlescanfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@turtlescanfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turtlescanfly)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/2 "2016-08-04T15:05:34Z")
I once heard it said (perhaps in jest) that you could get just about every man in this homophobic country to quit smoking simply by making them pink. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/3 "2016-08-04T15:07:48Z")
Are you kidding, do you know how dangerous those dyes are when you smoke them? Joking aside, I do seem to remember some brands trying the colored paper approach, like the mini-cigar craze in the 1980’s. I’d guess the “opportunity” didn’t catch on with the smoking public. ---
**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/4 "2016-08-04T15:15:28Z")
I believe Black Russians are a different colour. What it s escapes me for the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/5 "2016-08-04T15:16:30Z")
In older movies, I remember people smoking European cigarettes that were dark. But in today’s world, you can have any [rainbow of colors](https://www.google.com/search?q=colored+cigarettes&num=100&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjz3_3PhqjOAhWs5YMKHYxaARcQsAQIIA&biw=1080&bih=1780#imgrc=_). They’ll just set up back an arm and a leg to go along with your lungs. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/6 "2016-08-04T15:20:21Z")
The More brand, introduced in the 1970s, had a dark brown wrapper. Some friends of my mother’s smoked them (they were targeted towards women); I always thought that they looked like bad 1970s paneling. [http://www.smokingfeelsgood.com/gallery2-good/d/2308-2/more-gl-sep-1985.jpg](http://www.smokingfeelsgood.com/gallery2-good/d/2308-2/more-gl-sep-1985.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/7 "2016-08-04T15:21:05Z")
Shermans are brown. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/8 "2016-08-04T15:31:35Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > But in today’s world, you can have any [rainbow of colors](https://www.google.com/search?q=colored+cigarettes&num=100&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjz3_3PhqjOAhWs5YMKHYxaARcQsAQIIA&biw=1080&bih=1780#imgrc=_). Well now you’ve done it. For the first time in my life you’ve made me see cigarettes as something other than little sticks of death. I can see those being enticing to someone like me who is strongly motivated by bright colors and patterns. My Mom used to smoke those brown Mores. Fortunately she quit about 40 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/9 "2016-08-04T16:06:00Z")
> [@turtlescanfly](#): > > I once heard it said (perhaps in jest) that you could get just about every man in this homophobic country to quit smoking simply by making them pink. I think it was a Paul Provenza line - “You want people to stop smoking? Don’t outlaw cigarettes - just make them pink. All women will immediately stop smoking … and ninety percent of the men.” ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/10 "2016-08-04T16:09:18Z")
[Yellow](https://tabac-boutique.com/350-thickbox/gitanes-mais.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/11 "2016-08-04T16:22:48Z")
In the 1950s, there was a brand called “Vogue”, which came in various pastel colors. Imported, I believe, maybe from France. Also, “Between the Acts”, which were cigarette-shaped cigars. I think they still exist. ---
**Author:** ![Anarcho\_Liberalist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Anarcho\_Liberalist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anarcho_Liberalist)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/12 "2016-08-04T16:36:47Z")
I guess it’s as simple as it seems: paper is white so cigarettes are white. Or better: they were always white so we got used to them being white and started _expecting_ them to be white. Why are marshmellows white and pink? Same process. Reminds me of an SD column about why alarm clocks snooze for 9 mins … Making cigarettes in flag colours or psychedelic tie dye or whatever is probably possible, but costs money. After the initial fashionable coolness wears off, the hip smokers (?) will go back to plain white and no one will pay more for the fancy ones. See the story of the brown cigarettes in the 80s mentioned above. As for the yellow Gitanes. They’re still sold in France - or at least they were 20 years ago - but as a hipster you do not want to be seen smoking one: those are for chain smoking unwashed old men smelling of sweat and garlic (or so i was told by young French people) ---
**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:** [August 4, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/13 "2016-08-04T17:12:54Z")
> [@qpw3141](#): > > I believe Black Russians are a different colour. > > What it s escapes me for the moment. Can you still buy them in the USA? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/14 "2016-08-04T17:43:33Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Seems like they are missing a huge opportunity there. Colors, stripes. American flag. Possibilities are endless. I can see where smoking on an American flag cigarette might bother some people. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/15 "2016-08-04T17:59:12Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I can see where smoking on an American flag cigarette might bother some people. Surely there were American flag rolling papers at Woodstock. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/16 "2016-08-04T17:59:38Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > I think it was a Paul Provenza line - “You want people to stop smoking? Don’t outlaw cigarettes - just make them pink. All women will immediately stop smoking … and ninety percent of the men.” By the logic that men would stop smoking just because they were pink wouldn’t it mean that most women would start smoking. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/17 "2016-08-04T19:32:50Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > In older movies, I remember people smoking European cigarettes that were dark. Yes, in the 70s Sobranie cigarettes (the makers of Black Russian) also came in a whole assortment of colours, pink, red, yellow, green, etc. Designed for cocktail parties, I believe. Maybe they still make them, but I gave up smoking in the 80s so I don’t keep up with these things now. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/18 "2016-08-04T20:00:27Z")
> [@turtlescanfly](#): > > I once heard it said (perhaps in jest) that you could get just about every man in this homophobic country to quit smoking simply by making them pink. In which homophobic country do you live? Are there really that many homophobes there? ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/19 "2016-08-04T20:13:42Z")
Kipling set the standard. > [@](#): > > An’ I seed her first a-smokin’ of a whackin’ white cheroot, 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742/20 "2016-08-04T20:35:26Z")
Djarum Blacks are black, and I don’t recall whether Black Death cigarettes were black or white. Too many years since my silly teenage days apparently… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-cigarettes-white/761742.md?page=2)