Tobacco

Despite the well-known health risks, millions of people worldwide continue to enjoy smoking conventional cigarettes.

We never set out to encourage people to take up smoking cigarettes, or to smoke more. Our cigarette business is based on understanding and meeting the preferences of today’s adult smokers with products that are manufactured to high standards and marketed responsibly.

We continue to be clear that combustible cigarettes pose serious health risks. The only ways to avoid these risks are to not start or to quit smoking. For those who still smoke, we encourage them to switch to scientifically substantiated, reduced risk alternatives. ^*†

When the tobacco rod is lit, the user inhales smoke through the filter.

The preferences of adult smokers guide the types and blends of tobaccos that we use in the tobacco rod. We do not add nicotine to our tobacco; it occurs naturally in all varieties of tobacco plants.

Food-type ingredients and flavourings are added to some types of cigarettes – typically American style blends – to balance the natural tobacco taste, replace sugars lost in curing and give individual brands their characteristic tobacco flavour and aroma. Other ingredients may control moisture, protect against microbial degradation and act as binders or fillers.

Filters are traditionally made from cellulose acetate fibres, known as tow. Recent innovations include flavour capsules in filters and tube filters.

The filter, paper and type of filter are all chosen to affect the sensory strength and smoke yield of the cigarette.

Innovation 

Innovations in our cigarette portfolio are an important part of our focus on providing adult smokers with a range of differentiated products to choose from. Innovations, such as new tube filters and capsules in filters that allow the smoker to change the taste of their cigarette, account for more than a third of all the cigarettes we sell.

Why do cigarettes pose serious health risks?

The reason why cigarettes can be harmful to health is because burning tobacco generates toxicants in the smoke that is produced. Inhaling these smoke toxicants is the cause of most smoking-related diseases. (Read more about this in our page on the primary health issues of smoking).

Our cigarette brands

In recent years, our Group’s share of the cigarette market has grown consistently, largely driven by our five global brands – Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall and Rothmans.

They have played a key role in our company’s success, accounting for approximately half of the cigarettes we sell worldwide. We strengthened our portfolio even further in 2017 when we acquired Reynolds American Inc. which saw leading US brands Newport, Camel and Natural American Spirit join our new Strategic Portfolio of priority brands.

Our portfolio also includes Fine Cut tobacco, sometimes referred to as roll-your-own or make-your-own, which despite being one of the oldest ways of smoking tobacco remains popular in certain countries.