Senior Service (cigarette)


Senior Service is a British brand of filterless cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Gallaher Group, a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco. The brand is named after the nickname of the Royal Navy.

History

Senior Service was launched in 1925 by "J.A. Pattreiouex Ltd", a company that was acquired by Gallaher in 1937. Senior Service is still available in various supermarkets throughout the United Kingdom, and is one of the most expensive brands available for purchase. One of the most popular slogans used with the brand is "Senior Service Satisfy".
In 1938, J. A. Pattreioux Ltd. issued a 48-card set of "Flying" cigarette trading photo cards that were issued with Senior Service cigarettes. The cards measure 3.05 × 2.05 inches, and were assigned the London Cigarette Card Company Catalog reference number H.564-3B. The fronts of the 1938 "Flying" cards featured glossy black-and-white photos surrounded by a thin white margin. The card title was located in a rectangular white box centered at the bottom of the image area. The photo cards were presented in both landscape and portrait formats. The backs of the cards, printed with black ink, featured two rectangular boxes surrounded by a common rectangular box. The top box featured four vertical segments: the name of the set "FLYING" with two opposing airplane icons; the series length and card number; the card title; and descriptive text. The lower box displayed the products name "Senior Service cigarettes". Various poster advertisements were made to promote Senior Service cigarettes as well.
In 2014, the Senior Service cigarette factory that produced the Senior Service cigarettes on Ashton Road, Hyde was closed down and later demolished. It had opened in 1905, and manufactured cigarettes until 1999, when production was moved to Northern Ireland

Packaging

The pack is white, with an orange-blue stripe at the top. The new pack removed the orange and instead put two seagulls on either side of the pack. The brand's emblem is a sailing ship, with on the side two olive tree branches and on top a crown. Underneath is written "Senior Service" with underneath that the words "The perfection of Cigarette Luxury". The old packs had the words "Fine Virginia" written instead. On the reverse side of the original packaging, the words "A Product of the Master Mind." were written.

In popular culture

smokes Senior Service cigarettes in Ian Fleming's novels, Goldfinger, Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, and The Man with the Golden Gun.
It has appeared at 28' on Aki Kaurismaki's film I Hired a Contract Killer.
Mentioned by Polly Shelby in Peaky Blinders, Series 3 Episode 4.
Elvis Costello wrote a song titled "Senior Service" in 1979 with many references to smoking a cigarette.

Markets

Senior Service is mainly sold in the United Kingdom, but also is or was sold in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and South Africa.
They were discontinued by the manufacturer in the UK from January 2020.