An old packet of Woodbine cigarettes, photographed
at the Musée Somme 1916 of Albert (Somme), France.
Photo: 4 September 2013.
Source: Own work.
This File is made available under the
Author: Alf van Beem.
(Wikimedia Commons)
unless stated otherwise.
Woodbine is a British brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Imperial Brands.
Woodbine cigarettes are named after the woodbine flowers, native to Eurasia.
Woodbine was launched in 1888 by W.D. & H.O. Wills.
Woodbine was launched in 1888 by W.D. & H.O. Wills.
Noted for its strong unfiltered cigarettes, the brand was cheap and popular in the Early-20th-Century with the working-class, as well as with Army men during the First and Second World War.[5][6]
In The Great War (World War One), the British Army Chaplain, Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy MC, was affectionately nicknamed “Woodbine Willie” by troops on The Western Front, to whom he handed out cigarettes, along with Bibles and spiritual comfort.
The Harsh Truth About Woodbine:
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In the 1890s, Woodbine cigarettes were offered at a margin of 19%, with a possible maximum discount of 10%.
In the United Kingdom, the brand was sold at very low advertising costs and total expenditure on sales promotion for all cigarettes and tobacco brands in 1925 was only 2d per pound of tobacco sold.[7]
The intricate 19th-Century packet design remained in use until the Mid-1960s. Although Wills changed the packaging, Woodbine sales continued to drop.
The intricate 19th-Century packet design remained in use until the Mid-1960s. Although Wills changed the packaging, Woodbine sales continued to drop.
Illustration:
A filtered version was launched in the United Kingdom in 1948, but was discontinued in 1988.
Woodbines came in four different packs:
Five cigarettes;
Ten cigarettes;
Twenty cigarettes;
Fifty cigarettes.
They were often known as “Woodies”.[8]
They were often known as “Woodies”.[8]
In the 1960s, a few television adverts were made in which Gordon Rollings played a man who engaged in numerous activities (including waiting for the bus or setting up a beach chair) and would always end in misery.
He then would grab a packet of Woodbines from his pocket and light one, followed by a happy tune and a man reading the line “Light up life with a Woodbine ! It’s Britain’s best-selling cigarette !”.[9][10][11] at the end.
The adverts were never played on TV, however, as all television commercials for cigarettes were banned on 1 August 1965.[12][13]
The adverts were never played on TV, however, as all television commercials for cigarettes were banned on 1 August 1965.[12][13]
A jingle was also made to promote Woodbine in the Late-1950s or Early-1960s.[14]
Woodbines were the oft-mentioned cigarette of choice for Tristan Farnon (Brian Sinclair), the younger of the two veterinary brothers in James Herriot’s semi-autobiographical All Creatures Great and Small series.
Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince Philip and mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II, who founded a Nursing Order of Greek Orthodox Nuns in 1949, smoked Woodbines.
Prince Philip’s biographer, Gyles Brandreth, wrote of Princess Alice during her time at Buckingham Palace: “They say you could always tell when she was coming along the corridor, because of the whiff of Woodbines in the air. The idea of the Duke of Edinburgh’s mum, dressed as a Nun, sucking on her Woodbine . . . it’s wonderful !”[15]
John Lennon was originally fond of smoking Woodbines while he was a student and into the Early-1960s, before switching to smoking the French-made Gauloises Bleues.
After switching, Lennon mocked the use of Woodbines during a documentary film that chronicled the Beatles’ first visit to America.[17]
Van Morrison, a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, mentions buying Woodbines in the song “Cleaning Windows” (“Bought five Woodbines at the shop on the corner . . . And went straight back to work”[18]) as a pictorial description of the main character of the song, who is a simple working man.
Woodbines are mentioned in Sheffield United Football Club’s anthem “The Greasy Chip Butty Song’.[20]
Some Late-19th-Century to Early-20th-Century steamships sported as many as five long and thin smokestacks (sometimes including a dummy one), notably the Russian cruiser Askold, earning them the nickname “Packet of Woodbines” among sailors.
