Chesterfield (cigarette)
Encyclopedia
Chesterfield is a brand of cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...

 made by Altria. It was one of the most recognized brands of the early 20th century, but sales have declined steadily over the years. It was named for Chesterfield County, Virginia
Chesterfield County, Virginia
Chesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. In 2010, its population was estimated to be 316,236. Chesterfield County is now the fourth-largest municipality in Virginia . Its county seat is Chesterfield...

. Chesterfield is still being made today; it is still popular in Europe, but has been absent from U.S. advertising for many years. For many years Chesterfield cigarettes were produced by the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company
Liggett Group
Liggett Group , formerly known as Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, is the fourth largest tobacco company in the United States. Its headquarters are located in Durham, North Carolina, though its manufacturing facility is 30 miles to the west in Mebane, North Carolina...

. In 1999, Liggett sold the L&M, Lark and Chesterfield brands to Philip Morris Companies Inc., now known as the Altria Group
Altria Group
Altria Group, Inc. is based in Henrico County, Virginia, and is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. It is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations...

.

Chesterfield was the subject of a song recorded by Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues refers primarily to a guitar style, the Piedmont fingerstyle, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger,...

 musician Buddy Moss
Buddy Moss
Eugene "Buddy" Moss was, in the estimation of many blues scholars, one of two the most influential East Coast blues guitarists to record in the period between Blind Blake's final sessions in 1932 and Blind Boy Fuller's debut in 1935...

, with the focus being on their current rarity and superiority over other brands.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Chesterfield sponsored a popular radio program, the Chesterfield Hour, which featured big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

s such as those of Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...

, Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...

 and Harry James
Harry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...

..

Liggett & Myers, makers of Chesterfield, sponsored Dragnet
Dragnet
Dragnet may refer to:* A type of fishing net*Dragnet , a coordinated search, named for the fishing net-Dragnet media series:...

, both on radio and on TV. The manufacturer originally advertised Fatima Cigarettes before switching to Chesterfields.

In the 1940s and 1950s Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...

, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 and Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

 were among Chesterfield's official spokesmen.

In the novel Goldfinger
Goldfinger
Goldfinger is the seventh novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 23 March 1959. Goldfinger originally bore the title The Richest Man in the World and was written in January and February 1958...

 by Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...

, James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

felt Chesterfields were the only decent brand of American cigarettes.

Only two varieties of Chesterfield are available in the United States:
  • Chesterfield Red Pack (Filter): Kings - Box
  • Chesterfield Non-Filter: Kings - Soft


In South Africa, there are three varieties available (all sold in flip-top boxes of either 20 or 30 cigarettes per box):
  • Chesterfield Classic Red
  • Chesterfield Classic Blue
  • Chesterfield Green (Menthol)


Non-filter is not available in South Africa.
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