Silk Cut

Silk Cut

A pack of Silk Cut cigarettes with a French text warning that reads "Smoking seriously harms your health and that of others around you"
Product type	Cigarette
Owner	Gallaher Group, a division of Japan Tobacco
Introduced	1964

Silk Cut is a brand of cigarettes produced by the Gallaher Group, a division of Japan Tobacco. The packaging is characterised by a distinctive stark white packet with the brand name in a purple, blue, red, silver, white or green square.

In the past, Silk Cut cigarettes contained approximately 75% tobacco, the rest of the filling being Cytrel, a cellulose-based tobacco substitute. In present day the addition of Cytrel has been abandoned, making the cigarette additive-free.

The brand increased in popularity around the world throughout the 1970s and 1980s as the dangers of cigarette smoking became well known and consumers switched to a lower tar brand. At 5 mg tar, Silk Cut contained less than half the tar content of stronger brands such as Benson and Hedges or Marlboro.

Production company Gallaher held a Royal Warrant of Appointment for 122 years, until the warrant was revoked in 1999 by Queen Elizabeth II; the Prince of Wales' rigorous anti-smoking campaigning is thought to have been a major influence on that decision. Gallaher was allowed one year to remove the Royal Coat of Arms from the brand's packaging.

Silk Cut were also the title sponsors of rugby league's Challenge Cup for 16 years, between 1985 and 2001, and the competition was known as the 'Silk Cut Challenge Cup'. Silk Cut also sponsored the successful Jaguar XJR sportscars that competed in World Sportscar Championship, including the 24 Heures du Mans, but not in North America because of IMSA's title sponsorship of the GT series by R. J. Reynolds' Camel brand, which would have run the team in violation of the "Viceroy Rule".