04. October 2023

Pirate was one of the first Western cigarette brands introduced to China in the late 19th century and was also one of the longest-lasting. More on its history in our previous article here.

10. April 2023

This exceptionally rare 1917 calendar poster for State Express 555 cigarettes from our collection, tells the unlikely story of a Western brand that, with one simple trick, became a top-seller in China and was even endorsed by the country’s most notorious “influencer” … State Express were luxury cigarettes manufactured in the United Kingdom by the Ardath Tobacco Company. The brand was founded in London in 1896 by tobacco merchant Sir Albert Levy (1864–1937).

10. October 2022

My Dear, or Měilì (美丽牌) meaning “beautiful” in Chinese, was the most popular Chinese cigarette brand out of Shanghai during Republican China. Since its inception it was famous for the attractive, confident and modern “new women” featured in its advertisements, ubiquitous across billboards, magazines and newspapers. Its Chinese slogan 有美皆备，无丽不臻 literally means “everyone wants the beauty because without beauty there is no completeness” but in more creative...

06. June 2022

A kerosene lamp branded by Lockwood Bros, Pampa, Sheffield and Shanghai Rex & Co (公发英行 - "Kung-Fah" ). From the MOFBA collection.

22. May 2022

The brand by British manufacturer W.D. & H.O. Wills was one of the first machine-made Western cigarettes introduced to the Chinese market in the late 20th century. When British American Tobacco (BAT) was formed in 1902 it took over all the assets and brand rights for China from Wills and would turn Ruby Queen into one of the most recognized and successful tobacco brands in the first Republic of China. At one point in the 1920s Ruby Queen would even become the second most popular cigarette...

11. April 2022

The Cycle brand was created in the early 1900s during the days of the American Bicycle Boom - a no-brainer for Big Tobacco to associate itself with the corresponding health benefits. In China Cycle was distributed by Enterprise Tobacco Co, Ltd. (和泰烟有限公司), part of the British American Tobacco (BAT) cigarette behemoth. The Chinese name is a direct translation using the now old-fashioned term 自由车, which translates to any sort of bike but comes with a nice spin as the literal...

14. November 2021

John Player & Sons, known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer founded in Nottingham, England in 1877. In 1901, the company merged with other companies to form The Imperial Tobacco Company. The largest constituent of Imperial Tobacco was W. D. & H. O. Wills (producer of the famous Pirate Cigarettes) but Player's retained its own identity with cigarette brands such as Navy Cut or Clipper. Then in 1902, Imperial Tobacco Company and the United States' American...

25. October 2021

"Wise men all choose to smoke Pirate cigarettes". They apparently are also awesome at basketball... 1930s ad poster from British American Tobacco (BAT) brand Pirate cigarettes.

13. September 2021

Presumably early 1920s as the eventual (and extremely popular!) Chinese brand name 老刀牌is not yet used, the key visuals cannon although is already trivialized. Read the brands back story and evolution here.