Hamlet (cigar)

Hamlet is a brand of cigar produced by the Gallaher Group division of Japan Tobacco.

First launched in the United Kingdom in 1964, they are now sold in a number of western European markets in both miniatures and regular length, and were frequently described as "the mild cigar" in their former advertising campaigns.

Classic examples included: Since the UK banned all tobacco advertising on television, cinema and radio in the 1990s,[1] as did much of Europe during that decade, the adverts are no longer aired.

The final cinema adverts were initially shown from 1999 with the special slogan "Happiness will always be a cigar called Hamlet,"[2] although they reverted to the original tagline for a period after the UK tobacco industry refused to cease advertising voluntarily.

[6] By 2014 plans were afoot to move production again — this time to Lodz, Poland[7][8] — with the Ballymena facility also to be shuttered by 2017.

A pack of Hamlet cigars in 2011, before plain packaging laws