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Craven A

Craven A is a brand of cigarette which were made in Canada, Jamaica, and Vietnam. The cigarettes exhibit the English-style flavor of a Virginia-tobacco dominant blend, with that plant's attendant nutty sweetness. The cigarette was named after the third Earl of Craven in 1860.

Craven A's were a favourite cigarette during World War II. In Vietnam, Craven A is one of most popular brands, especially in the southern part of the country.

The Craven A brand has in recent times been closely associated with a number of entertainment events in Canada. Amongst these has been the "Just for Laughs" Canadian Comedy Tour in March of 1999.

Brand

Vintage Craven A sign

The Craven A brand is owned by Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc (RBH), which also owns or otherwise controls a wide variety of cigarette brands.

Craven A is part of the RBH "premium brand strategy", principally within the Canadian market; however, the brand has experienced "long-term declines in market share", in part due to the elimination of all sponsorship activities in Canada in October 2003. Craven "A" is Jamaica's favourite brand of cigarette and a famous Jamaican artist Vybz Kartel mentions it in some of his songs such as "di way we roll".

Trivia

London 1949, with a Craven "A" advert.

• Norwegian resistance worker Dagmar Lahlum was smoking Craven A's when she met the British double agent Eddie Chapman in Oslo in 1943.
• Craven A was the brand of cigarette smoked by the founder of Pakistan, Muhammed Ali Jinnah.
• Craven A appear in the Bob Marley song "Craven Choke Puppy". From a Jamaican context the line "Craven Choke Puppy" is a colloquial idiomatic metaphor using an actual action of a dog and "cravin" too much beyond one's mean.
• Craven A cigarettes are featured in Dr. No, the first installment in James Bond's series. The driver - who is working for Dr. No - bites into a Craven A to ingest some instant deadly poison rather than reveal to James Bond the name of his employer
• In several of his biographies, Charles de Gaulle is often said to have been smoking up to 2 packs of plain-tipped Craven A cigarettes a day while he was in London during WWII as the leader of "Free France".
• At least three motor racing venues in Australia had corners that were at one time known as Craven A.
• American Actress Tallulah Bankhead always smoked Craven A cigarettes.
• A common, comic version of the song "Jingle Bells" has lyrics modified to "Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin's run away. Father Christmas burnt his whiskers smoking Craven A"
• In her 1986 album Les Bêtises, French singer Sabine Paturel sings: "J'ai tout mangé le chocolat, J'ai tout fumé les Craven A..." ("I ate all the chocolate, I smoked all the Craven A...")

References