One of the best marketing stunts ever pulled was by Philip Morris in 1968 when he associated the struggles of being a woman and being liberated from the clichés of society through smoking. Female cigarette brands or brands that cater to addiction in women have been known to present themselves differently than men.
For a man, the concept of smoking is only limited to its addiction, but for a woman, the narrative has always been about liberation. It is packed in a way that ensures that taking a drag means letting go of the shackles of society. Marketing a product like a cigarette is easier for females since brands can manipulate women more easily with their inbuilt insecurity about themselves.
While the brands try to manipulate the concept of masculinity for men and insecurity and liberation with women for selling a cigarette, the factors that lead to a sale are not anything alike. A person, regardless of their gender, resorts to smoking for mostly one simple thing: stress. Smoking a cigarette feels like a quick escape from reality. Unlike its initial nature as a power symbol, it has now become a quick fix.
We all have seen multiple brands catering to male cigarette smokers, let us indulge today in the brands that cater particularly to female smokers and understand their legacy.
10 Top Female Cigarette Brands
1. Virginia Slims
Virginia Slims was the pioneer in introducing the concept of slim cigarettes for women. It is manufactured by Philip Morris USA (in the United States) and Philip Morris International (outside the United States). It has both menthol and non-menthol flavors.
It tried to infuse the image of feminism from 1968 through to 1980 and urged women to rebrand their image by smoking a cigarette. The brand tried to cater to the 18–35 years demographic and the femvertising advertising genre by challenging the stereotype that smoking is a manly trait.
- Market Trend: The brand saw a significant decline during 1985–1988 due to Marlboro entering the scene. However, in the coming years, it did try to revamp its image with a change in its slogan, which drew both negative and positive remarks. It has seen 11 packaging styles introduced or tested in the US market, of which 7 remain on the market. Currently, the brand is available both online and offline in almost all major countries.
- Price: Currently, it is difficult to get your hands on Virginia Slims in India. But it is priced at $13.99 abroad.
- Website: https://gtc.virginiaslims.com/
2. Benson & Hedges Deluxe Ultra Slims
Virginia Slims was introduced keeping the alternate design of Benson and Hedges in mind. The latter is owned by American conglomerate, Altria, and is one of the preferred brands amongst smokers, regardless of their gender. The brand has seen various collaborations and has introduced multiple premium variations to stay relevant with the changing times.
- Market Trend: It had seen a growth in its figures during World War II. Since then, it has witnessed a multiple change of hands when it comes to its ownership. Companies such as Rothman, Benson & Hedges, Philip Morris USA, British American Tobacco, or Japan Tobacco, manufacture the cigarettes depending on their region. It is also designed to appease the concept of style and luxury with a cigarette that is also visually attractive.
- Price: You will get your hands on a Benson & Hedges for ₹340 easily, but the Deluxe Ultra Slims are hard to get in India and are only accessible online. However, they are priced at $17.99 outside.
- Website: N/A
3. Silk Cut
Silk Cute Blue may not fulfill all the criteria of being a feminine cigarette brand, like being slim or having fruity flavors, but is still one of the most loved brands in the smoker community. Apart from its simple packaging and light on the senses, flavor it is one of the most loved brands in India, and other parts of the world. It is currently owned by the Gallaher Group, a division of Japan Tobacco.
- Market Trend: Silk cut was one of the best-selling brands in the 1990s and is even remembered by non-smokers alike owing to its unique surreal advertising concepts. The brand tries to highlight its different products under a different color, namely purple, blue, red, silver, white, or green.
The misconception about this brand, which still works in its favor, is the fact that it contains less Nicotine compared to other cigarette brands. But that’s not the case, it has 0.3 mg nicotine and tar content is 3 mg. It has a lesser tar content than the popular and preferred brands, which has worked in its favor ever since the media became more vocal about the dangers of cigarette smoking.
- Price: Any random shop in India will definitely have a Silk Cut Blue ready for you, or you can surely opt for a quick online delivery. It is priced at ₹50, but can sometimes vary according to your state or region.
- Website: N/A
4. Vogue
Apart from luring women by linking the concepts of liberty and feminism with smoking, another trick that works in the favor of the brands is the introduction of flavors. It is usually not a masculine trait, owing to various stereotypes that a man usually prefers non-flavored cigarettes. However, women have never shied away from a bit of flavor in their puffs, and Vogue Superslim and Vogue Super slim menthol manipulated this idea to their cause.
- Market Trend: Currently owned and manufactured by British American Tobacco, it has four more subproducts that cater to female smokers through the luxury and premium brand image. It is sold in the United States, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, and South Africa, among many others.
- Price: You can buy a Vogue Cigarette online in India for ₹1,700 to ₹1,800 and the price varies from $38.00 to $103.00 abroad as per the packaging.
- Website: N/A
5. Dunhill Fine Cut
Dunhill is one of the traditional names when it comes to cigarettes, but it has an underlying appeal as one of the best feminine cigarette brands owing to its premium quality. Manufactured by Alfred Dunhill Limited and British American Tobacco, the brand had a royal warrant from 1927 until 1995.
The popularity of the brand lies in its use of higher-quality tobacco. Since it was created by a tobacconist, it took care of health concerns that revolves around the product with its signature: cotton wool filter tip. Its brand logo of being a Hygienic cigarette paved the way for many female customers to become brand loyalists.
- Market Trend: It was launched in the market in 1908 with the brand name Absorbal and was reintroduced as “Dunhill International” in 1962.
- Price: Dunhill is a known brand in India and you can get your hands on one either online or offline for just ₹15 per piece. If you wish to buy a Dunhill abroad, you have to spend $18.99 per pack.
- Website: N/A
6. Capri
Another pioneer in the world of female cigarette brands is Capri. Manufactured and owned by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, it is another menthol cigarette brand that saw an inclination towards the slim range designed specially to target women.
- Market Trend: It is impossible to not discuss Capri in a female-focused cigarette list. The brand had relaunched its entire identity to compete with Virginia Silks at that time and launched the world’s first super slim cigarette in 1987. The brand does have a plain flavored product, but all of them are light or ultra-light, which ensures it remains a favorite amongst women.
- Price: It is an American brand and is rarely available locally in India, however, you can get a drag of Capri if you look for it online. It is quite a pricey brand, and the exact cost will depend on the website you buy from. However, in America it costs $179.99 a carton but that also varies as per the vendor or mode of purchase.
- Website: N/A
7. Parliament
Another brilliant masterstroke by Philip Morris USA in the year 1931, Parliament is mainly known for its paper filters. The concept of filters in cigarettes came into existence in the year 1950 and hence Parliament’s recessed filter, which ensured a smooth experience, took the cake.
- Market Trend: The brand is preferred by women mainly because of the smooth after-taste it leaves after a smoking session. The packaging focused on catering specifically to women with an underlined marketing strategy, which is their love for being clean. It might sound a bit regressive right now with words like “If you like things neat and clean… you’ll like Parliament” which somehow indicates that it’s always a woman’s initiative to clean, but it worked well and was appreciated by women largely back then.
Philip Morris has declared that it is their 12th best-selling international brand and the 4th largest brand. Currently, the brand is sold in more than 30 countries.
- Price: You might not be able to get your hands on a Parliament in India and only have to rely on an online delivery. It is priced at around, ₹1000. The pricing outside depends upon your quantity but one stick of Parliament cigarette costs $2.29.
- Website: https://gtc.myparliament.com/
8. Sobranie
Owned by the Gallaher Group, a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco, Sobranie is quite an interesting name in this list. You will be surprised to know that it is one of the oldest brands to sell cigarettes and is known for selling luxury rather than addiction.
Sobranie taps the women with its style statement and ensures that women with income get lured in for elegance. It had different packaging with various colors and operated on the idea that an occasion without Sobranie is not complete.
- Market Trend: The idea of selling class to women worked wonders with the brand, and in fact, people still are Sobranie loyalists. Sobranie has a royal legacy and has seen the lights of the royal courts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Spain, Romania, Greece, and the Imperial Court of Russia.
It has also sponsored the Jordan Grand Prix team in 2004 and 2005. Currently, apart from a few selective countries, you can find its presence in many duty-free airports.
- Price: Owing to its reputation of being a premium cigarette, Sobranie is only available in India through online purchase and is priced around ₹2000. It is difficult to get your hands on this beauty even in America, however, a few online portals sell it for $68.99.
- Website: N/A
9. Glamour
This super slim cigarette is religiously dedicated to catering to the women consumer with its stereotypical pink packaging. The brand targets a woman’s audacity, combined with the style of a woman doing something “manly”.
Glamour is manufactured by the Gallagher Tobacco Company, which was acquired by Japan Tobacco International (JTI) in 2007.
- Market Trend: Even though the brand had a high rise, it was discontinued in many markets by 2004 due to the growing concern about health issues amongst people. It couldn’t stand tall to the concerns or the growing competition in the market, which included more polished brands and e-cigarettes.
- Price: In India, Glamour is a bit hard to get, and the pricing will depend on your provider. In America the Glamour is priced at $ 29.40 per carton.
- Website: N/A
10. ESSE Lite
I have been saving one of the best for the last with this Korean brand cigarette, owned and manufactured by the Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation. The reason ESSE controls the world’s one-third of the sale of super slim cigarettes in the world is owing to its less nicotine and tar content.
The brand has simple packaging and a minimalistic approach and lets its product do the talking for any slim cigarette lover.
- Market Trend: ESSE’s export sales include a staggering 202 billion units produced in South Korea and 43 million units made overseas. I think it is majorly because ESSE has a particular fan following in men, and it successfully rejects any stereotype associated with slim cigarettes.
- Price: You can find ESSE anywhere in India, but you have to be extra careful about any cheap duplicates that are rampant in the market. Esse comes for, ₹150 in India and is only available in the Asian and some European countries.
- Website: https://www.essecigarettes.com/
Health Considerations
There is so much noise about promoting a cigarette brand in a woman-centric way that we tend to forget that the harmful effects of smoking are not gender-specific. Any woman or man can be affected by the side effects of smoking that can even lead to losing their life.
It may be so that sometimes the act of smoking is a rebellious one, owing to the prejudices attached to it, but that act of rebellion in most cases results in lifelong addiction with fatal side effects.
Not only does smoking cause cancer, but it can impact your entire bodily function and most definitely affect your heart and lungs. It can cause chronic respiratory diseases, increase the risk of a heart attack, and lead to poor oral hygiene and skin issues.
As per the CDC, “Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States”. Weirdly enough, cigarettes have taken more lives in the US than its wars. But this is just the statistic for one country, if we start counting the number of deaths tobacco has caused in a year, we might never even think about a cigarette again.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), women addicted to smoking are more prone to cervical cancer. Another shocking claim by Vicki Seltzer, M.D., Vice President for Women’s Health Services at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in New York, smoking interferes with ovulation and messes up the reproductive health of a woman.
Conclusion
It is interesting to know that a product that is consumed by men and women alike is marketed in two distinctive ways. For women, the act of smoking is always associated with liberation and breaking of societal norms that exist only to appease a regressive mindset.
But it is not only in the marketing of the product, it is also how a woman who is smoking is addressed in real life too. Instead of rebuking the person for an addiction that can potentially kill them, we tend to be moral policing them, which is rarely in the case of a man.
Addiction is a culpable habit; it is not an acquired trait. So, regardless of the gender, the focus should always be on not giving in to it. Moreover, it is also important to understand the undertone that a brand is using to sell its product to you to ensure you don’t give in to your emotions.
People are also reading:
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do female-focused cigarette brands differ from regular ones?
The female-focused cigarette brands tend to focus on the symbolism of smoking a cigarette, rather than the product itself. You will find that most of these brands tend to associate their product with an act of freedom first and then talk about the upside of the product. They also tend to appeal to the female preference of relating oneself with a stylish and elegant product, and hence focusing more on slimmer cigarettes with interesting packaging.
2. What flavors are popular among female smokers?
It is usually seen that women prefer cigarettes that are a bit mellow and are infused with flavors. This is mostly to ensure that it doesn’t leave a bad taste in their mouth and also help them have a cherished smoking session. Women tend to prefer menthol, mint, or any fruity flavored cigarettes more than a man.
3. Which cigarette brands have the most stylish packaging for women?
The packaging of the brand is one of the major prerequisites of selling a cigarette to a woman, and the brand ensures it is classy and eye-pleasing. Ever since the concept of selling a cigarette to women was introduced, brands like Virginia Slims, Glamour, Capri, and Vogue Pearl have tried their best to aesthetically please their demographic.
4. What are the most popular slim cigarettes for women?
The legacy that was started by Virginia Silks of selling slim cigarettes to women has been carried by brands like Benson & Hedges, Marlboro, Parliament, Pall Mall Super Slims, and Sobranie.
5. How do female smokers choose their cigarette brands?
There is no such thing as a female smoker or a male smoker. Irrespective of their gender, they are a slave to their addiction. However, big brands and their marketing experts have figured out how a female smoker buys her product. Apart from being socially influenced to smoke, they feed their addictions with a brand that offers better flavors, has some cultural significance or has a celebrity endorsement backing them. However, a cheaper cigarette will always appeal to a smoker, be it a woman or a man.
6. Are there nicotine-free cigarette options for women?
Initially, the concept of nicotine-free cigarettes might have been a myth, but various brands have found a way around this. Now there are flavored cigarettes that come in various fruity and flowery flavors and are mostly herbal cigarettes. Some examples of such brands are Smoky Herbals, Aarogyam Herbals, White Leaf Premium, and Royal Swag Ayurvedic Herbal Cigarettes, and others.
