SAX (also known as SAX Musical) is an Italian brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by BAT Italia, a subsidiary of

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products including electronic cigarettes. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, E ...

History

The brand was founded in 1961 and was sold in a traditional red pack with a

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

emitting music until 1979, when the design was overhauled and the pack design was changed to dark green. It is known as one of the older-style brand of cigarettes, along with MS and Alfa. The brand was originally owned by the ''"Monopolio di Stato"'' or State Monopoly in English, until the Ente Tabacchi Italiani company was founded in 1998 and took over all manufacturing. After ETI got taken over by

and became BAT Italia, the company is responsible for production of the brand. The brand is currently marketed as a mid-tier brand which is not too expensive. In March 2004, it was reported that the price of cigarettes was increased by 50 cents and a pack of SAX cigarettes cost €2,80. In January 2015, it was reported that the price of cigarettes was increased by 40 cents and a pack of SAX cigarettes cost €4,50. As of 2017, a 20-pack of SAX cigarettes cost €4,40.

Controversy

Italian smokers want compensation over deceit of cigarettes

In June 2010, it was reported that 3.5 million Italian smokers demanded compensation from BAT Italia due to the increase in the addictiveness of their cigarettes and not eliminating the nicotine in their cigarettes. The compensation that every person can claim is €3000 and the brands in question are MS, Alfa, Bis, Brera, Colombo, Cortina, Esportazione, Eura, HB,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, Lido, MS Club, Mundial, Nazionale, Nazionali, N80, Rothmans, SAX Musical, St. Moritz, Stop, Super, Zenit,

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

, Dunhill,

Lucky Strike Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco group. Individual cigarettes of the brand are often referred to colloquially as "Luckies." Name Lucky Strike was introduced as a brand of plug tobacco (chew ...

and Pall Mall.

Sponsorship

MotoGP

SAX cigarettes were a sponsor of the

Aprilia Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle and Scooter (motorcycle), scooter manufacturer in Noale, Italy, founded by Alberto Beggio. History Early days Aprilia, named after the Pre-war automobile, pre-war Lancia Aprilia, was founded after the Seco ...

Racing Team in the

2003 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season The 2003 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 55th F.I.M. Road racing World Championship season. The season consisted of 16 races, beginning with the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix on 6 April 2003 and ending with the Valencian Community ...

Products

Below is a list of all the SAX cigarette variants: * SAX Musical Passion (Formerly called SAX Special and SAX Red) * SAX Musical Emotion (Formerly called SAX Light and SAX Blu) * SAX Musical Sensation (Formerly known as SAX Ultra and SAX Azure)

Ingredients

The following ingredients are used in all SAX cigarette variants: * Tobacco * Water *

Monopropylene Glycol Propylene glycol (IUPAC name: propane-1,2-diol) is a viscous, colorless liquid. It is almost odorless and has a faintly sweet taste. Its chemical formula is CH3CH(OH)CH2OH. As it contains two alcohol groups, it is classified as a diol. An aliph ...

* Sugars (

sucrose Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...

invert sugar Inverted sugar syrup is a syrup mixture of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose, made by splitting disaccharide sucrose. This mixture's optical rotation is opposite to that of the original sugar, which is why it is called an ''invert'' sug ...

cane sugar Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...

sorbitol Sorbitol (), less commonly known as glucitol (), is a sugar alcohol with a sweet taste which the human body metabolizes slowly. It can be obtained by reduction of glucose, which changes the converted aldehyde group (−CHO) to a primary alco ...

) *

Licorice Liquorice (Commonwealth English) or licorice (American English; see spelling differences; ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring is ...

juice * Cocoa * Honey * Natural and artificial flavors

References

{{British American Tobacco British American Tobacco brands Products introduced in 1961 Cigarette brands