Pall Mall cigarettes are a brand of cigarettes produced by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Pall Mall brand cigarettes were introduced in 1899 by the Butler & Butler Company, in an attempt to cater to the upper class with the first "premium" cigarette.
In 1907, Pall Mall was acquired by American Tobacco with the sale of Butler & Butler. Their new owners who used the premium brand to test out new innovations in cigarette design, with the "king-size" (now the standard size for cigarettes at 85mm), then a new way of stuffing the tobacco that was supposed to make the cigarettes easier on the throat.
Pall Malls reached the height of their popularity in 1960 when they were the number one brand of cigarettes in America. The gambles in design had paid off and so the company introduced "longs" or 100mm cigarettes (again creating a standard, this time for long cigarettes).
In 1994, when Pall Mall was purchased by Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, they had fallen behind in design, remaining one of the only cigarette brands to remain filterless. Finally, in 2001, the new filtered Pall Malls were introduced, catching up with the industry that was shaped by their innovation. Brown & Williamson merged with R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company on July 30, 2004, with the surviving company taking the name, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. R. J. Reynolds continues to make unfiltered and filtered styles of Pall Mall for the U.S. market, emphasizing the latter. British American Tobacco makes and sells Pall Mall outside the U.S.
The famous Pall Mall logo has large art nouveau lettering spelling out "Pall Mall" on the top front of the pack. On the face is a white coat of arms on the front and back of the pack. Showing two regal lions pawing the sides and a knight's helmet on top, the inside of the shield reads "Per Aspera Ad Astra" or "Through Difficulty to the Stars". There is a banner underneath the shield that holds a much more famous latin phrase, "In Hoc Signo Vinces" or "In this sign, you will conquer". The phrase was the one that appeared in a vision to St. Constantine before the Battle of Milvian Bridge where he was greatly outnumbered. God instructed St. Constantine to put the cross on all the shields of his men. The next day, St. Constantine was in Rome, victorious, paving the way for the Edict of Milan. The famous Pall Mall slogan, "Where Particular People Congregate", appears beneath the coat of arms. |
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