Silk Cut

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Production company Gallaher held a Royal Warrant of Appointment for 122 years, until the warrant was revoked in 1999 by Queen Elizabeth II; the Prince of Wales' rigorous anti-smoking campaigning is thought to be a major influence on that decision.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

The brand was made popular by an advertising campaign launched in 1997, in preparation of a ban on tobacco advertising. The advertisements showed scissors cutting through purple silk with the Silk Cut logo on it. When the ban on tobacco advertisements came into effect Silk Cut removed the logo from the advertisements and only left the purple silk. A study showed that even without the Silk Cut logo, 98% consumers associated the advertisements with Silk Cut.

Silk Cut were also the title sponsors of rugby league's Challenge Cup for a while 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 and 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

It is now illegal to advertise tobacco in many countries and the adverts have stopped. In the 1990s Silk Cut was the best selling brand in the UK, but sales have declined behind cheaper budget brands as tax on tobacco has increased. In an attempt to counteract this, the manufacturers responded in the new millennium by introducing bevelled corners to redesigned regular gauge packaging, and marketing their first 'slim' cigarette in the UK, even though this wasn't the first 'slim' cigarette available in the UK as More, Karelia and Vogue are available in most tobacconists. Capri were available in the UK until the mid 1990s.

Silk Cut is also available in a lower tar version and an ultra low tar version with a tar content of only 0.1 mg. When terms such as 'light' and 'low tar' were made illegal to use in the UK for use of tobacco promotion (for fear that it deluded smokers into thinking such products were safer), some commentators predicted that Silk Cut's name and good brand-recognition as a low-tar product would favourably affect sales of the brand to health conscious consumers. Silk Cut Blue cigarettes contain 0.3 mg Nicotine and Tar content is 3 mg. Silk Cut Silver cigarettes contain 0.1 mg Nicotine and Tar content is 1 mg. Silk Cut White cigarettes contain 0.01 mg Nicotine and Tar content is 0.5 mg. Silk Cut cigarettes are also available in a '100s' range (superking size) and in a menthol variety.

It is a misconception that the tobacco in Silk Cuts contains less nicotine than other cigarette tobacco. The lower nicotine levels are caused by the design of the filter, which has many more holes than regular strength cigarette filters, to mix the smoke with air.