Capstan is a British brand of unfiltered cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Imperial Brands. The brand dwindled in popularity when the health effects of tobacco became more widely known; few shops sell them today.
History
Capstan was originally launched by W.D. & H.O. Wills in 1894, and was one of the most popular brands of cigarettes in the early-twentieth century.[1] W.D. & H.O. Wills spent £4,000 (equivalent to £477,509.50 in 2018) on promoting the Capstan cigarettes in 1900, and these amounts were in addition to regular charges for advertising, including showcards and newspaper advertisements.[2] It was W.D. & H.O. Wills' answer to Player's Medium cigarettes.[3] In 1973, the UK Government published a table of the tar and nicotine contents of cigarettes available in the UK market, and Capstan Full Strength contained, by a margin of 0.21 mg/cigarette, the highest nicotine content (3.39 mg/cigarette) of any brand, and the second-highest tar content.