Parisienne (''Parisiennes'' in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

)- is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

brand of

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...

s, currently owned by

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 ...

and manufactured in the city of Boncourt. They approximately produce 6-7 billion sticks per year.

History

Parisienne was launched in 1887 by François-Joseph Burrus and the first filtered cigarettes were produced in 1947.

Rothmans Rothmans may refer to: * Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, a Canadian tobacco company * Rothmans International, a former British tobacco manufacturer, founded by Louis Rothman See also

* Rothman, a surname * Rothmans 12 hours, a series of sports car r ...

buys the brand and factory in 1996, before merging with British American Tobacco in 1999. Parisienne is one of the most popular cigarette brands in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Despite its level of popularity, both domestically and internationally, the brand is sold very rarely outside Switzerland. It had a market share of 13.7% in 2003 and was thus the best-selling cigarette brand in Switzerland after

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (PMI, now separate from Altria) in most global territories outside the ...

. In the past, the brand was also distributed in Switzerland under the name Parisiennes. Today, Parisiennes Filtres are made by

Altadis Altadis is a Spanish-French multinational purveyor and manufacturer of cigarettes, tobacco and cigars. It was formed via a 1999 merger between Tabacalera, the former Spanish tobacco monopoly and , the former French tobacco monopoly. Through its ...

in Argentina. Though Parisienne Jaune is the most widely bought kind, the cigarettes come in the following varieties of increasing strength: Ciel, Orange, Bleue, Verte, Jaune, Noire, Super. The brand is also sold as

rolling tobacco Shag, also known as baccy, rolling tobacco or loose tobacco, is fine-cut tobacco, used to make self-made cigarettes by hand rolling the tobacco into rolling paper or injecting it into filter tubes. It got its name from the finely cut strands app ...

Parisienne People

The brand was originally called Parisienne People. In the late 1990s, a number of internationally renowned film directors, including

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...

Emir Kusturica Emir Kusturica ( sr-cyrl, Емир Кустурица, ; born 24 November 1954) is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, actor, film producer and musician. Kusturica has been an active filmmaker since the 1980s. He has competed at the Cannes ...

and the

Coen Brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, together known as the Coen brothers (), are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Among their most acclaimed works are '' Blood Simple'' (198 ...

, created advertisements for the brand under the old name. These shorts were shown in cinemas across Switzerland before the film trailers. The directors were given free rein with the adverts and the directorial style of each can clearly be distinguished in their respective shorts.

Markets

Parisienne cigarettes are mainly sold in

(about half its volumes), but also are or were sold in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The brand is also sold in

, where it's known as ''"Parisiennes"''.

References

External links

{{British American Tobacco British American Tobacco brands