Capri

Capri (also known as Caprice in Germany) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

Product type: Cigarette

Owner: R.J. Reynolds

Produced by: R.J. Reynolds

Country: United States

Introduced: 1956; 66 years ago

Previous owners: Brown & Williamson

Tagline: “Menthol, but with a soft, fresh taste.”, “The slimmest slim in town”, “There is no slimmer way to smoke”

Capri is mainly sold in the United States, but also was or still is sold in Mexico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Costa Rica, Brazil, West Germany, Germany (where the brand is known as “Caprice” due to a trademark issue), Switzerland, Italy, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Hong Kong and Japan.

The first American version of Capri was introduced in 1956 by Lee Brothers Tobacco, as “Capri Rainbows”, a high-end brand with different-coloured cigarette papers. At a later point, the Capri trademark was acquired by Brown & Williamson, who first made Capri as a regular-gauge menthol cigarette.

The brand was relaunched in 1987 as the world’s first superslim cigarette, and to compete with other slim cigarettes which were marketed towards women at the time, such as Virginia Slims. Susan Cameron was one of the people who oversaw the re-launch of the brand at the time.

When Brown & Williamson merged with R.J. Reynolds in 2004, a new company called Reynolds American was formed, and the company manufactures the brand to this day.

The cigarette has a slim shape, at 17 mm in circumference and 100 mm in length, specifically marketed towards women. By comparison, standard cigarettes are 25 mm in circumference, and slim cigarettes are 23 mm in circumference. Capri is available in regular light and menthol light varieties, as well as regular and menthol ultra-light varieties. Capri is also available in a 120 mm length, which the packaging describes as “luxury length.” All versions of Capri are lights or ultra-lights.