{{Short description|British cigarette brand}} {{multiple issues| {{Advert|date=April 2022}} {{original research|date=June 2018}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2018}} }} {{infobox brand | name = Regal | logo = Regal cigarettes logo.png | image = | caption = | type = Cigarette | producedby = Imperial Tobacco | origin = United Kingdom | introduced = {{start date and age|1969}} | discontinued = | related = | markets = | previousowners = | trademarkregistrations= | ambassadors = | tagline = | website = | footnotes = Carcinogenicity: IARC group 1 }} '''Regal''' is a British brand of cigarettes. It is currently owned and manufactured by Imperial Tobacco.
==History== The coupon cigarette was originally released as '''Embassy Regal Filter''' in 1969.<ref name="Alford2013">{{cite book|author=B.W.E Alford|title=W.D. & H.O. Wills and the development of the UK tobacco Industry: 1786-1965|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jQz8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA455|date=5 November 2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-136-58426-8|page=455}}</ref> The brand became very popular and sold coupon cigarettes until around 1999. Classed as a "premium" brand cigarette, they are one of the most expensive cigarette products available in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goodley |first=Alvin |date=2022-03-18 |title=8 Most Expensive Types of Cigarettes on the Market |url=https://rarest.org/stuff/expensive-cigarettes |access-date=2025-11-05 |website=Rarest.org |language=en-US}}</ref> Regal are very popular in Scotland, Northern Ireland and in the north of England; further south Regal's sister brand Embassy is more popular.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} Regal is available in king size and regular filter size.
In 2014 the cigarette factory in Nottingham that produced Regal cigarettes closed and production was moved to Germany and Poland.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/15/nottingham-cigarette-factory-closure-jobs-imperial-tobacco|title=Nottingham cigarette factory closure threatens more than 500 jobs|first=Julia|last=Kollewe|date=15 April 2014|website=The Guardian|access-date=20 January 2018}}</ref>
=="Reg" advertising campaign== thumb|150px|British pack of Regal cigarettes In the 1990s, Imperial Tobacco launched an advertising campaign featuring an everyman named Reg who offered his dad-humour insights on various subjects. The first ad read, "Reg on Smoking: I smoke 'em because my name's on 'em." As he held his fingers over the 'al' in Regal. More adverts followed, such as "Reg on train-spotting: "There's one." and "Reg on party politics: 'If you drop ash on the carpet you won't get invited again.'"<ref name="HarraldWatkins2010">{{cite book|author1=Chris Harrald|author2=Fletcher Watkins|title=The Cigarette Book: The History and Culture of Smoking|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTMhAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT176|date=1 November 2010|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|isbn=978-1-62873-241-2|page=176}}</ref>
Imperial Tobacco claimed that Reg did not encourage children to smoke, as the character was viewed as "repulsive and far from cool".<ref name="HarraldWatkins2010" /> However, the campaign was eventually withdrawn because medical researchers discovered that the stupid humour of the ads appealed mostly to young adolescents, whereas adults 33–55 years old, who were supposedly the target group for the campaign, did not identify with Reg.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Hastings GB, Ryan H, Teer P, MacKintosh AM | title = Cigarette advertising and children's smoking: why Reg was withdrawn | journal = BMJ | volume = 309 | issue = 6959 | pages = 933–7 | date = October 1994 | pmid = 7950668 | pmc = 2541121 | doi=10.1136/bmj.309.6959.933}}</ref>
==Counterfeits== In April 2002, ''The Daily Telegraph'' reported that middlemen were offering supposedly duty-free Regal and Silk Cut cigarettes to consumers. These products turned out to be illegally counterfeited in Chinese factories on the border between Fujian and Guangdong provinces and were highly toxic. Alongside the health risks of smoking, the cigarettes were produced in unhygienic factory conditions and included tobacco sweepings, sawdust, dirt, banned chemicals as well as high levels of tar and nicotine. These counterfeits cost £2.5 billion in lost revenue in 2001 and were thought to account for 'at least a quarter of all the cigarettes smoked in Britain' in that year according to HM Treasury.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/1390853/Poison-warning-over-Chinas-billions-of-bootleg-cigarettes.html|title=Poison warning over China's billions of bootleg cigarettes|first=Damien|last=McElroy|date=14 April 2002|access-date=20 January 2018|website=Telegraph.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2123054.stm|title=Warning over fake cigarettes|date=11 July 2002|access-date=20 January 2018|website=News.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Imperial Tobacco}}
Category:Cigarette brands Category:Imperial Brands brands Category:British brands Category:1969 introductions