Drum (tobacco)

Last updated
Drum
Drum tobacco logo.png
Product type Shag tobacco
Owner Imperial Brands (1998–)
Country Netherlands
Introduced1952;72 years ago (1952) [1]
MarketsU.S., Europe
Previous owners Sara Lee Corp.
Carcinogenicity: IARC group 1

Drum is a Dutch brand of fine-cut handrolling tobacco, or shag, introduced in 1952. [1] It was originally produced and distributed by the Douwe Egberts corporation. Douwe Egberts was purchased by the Sara Lee Corporation, which sold Drum to Imperial Brands, the current British producer. [2]

Contents

Outside the US

A packet of Drum shag 40 gram pouch.(Halfzware Shag) Drum Original Tobacco.jpg
A packet of Drum shag 40 gram pouch.(Halfzware Shag)

Drum is worldwide the #1 brand for shag tobacco. [3] Before Sara Lee sold their Drum and Van Nelle tobacco section to Imperial the main factories for Drum were Drachten and Joure. The factory in Drachten was closed directly after the move to Imperial in 1989 and IT decided to further integrate the production within Douwe Egberts / Van Nelle (DEVN) which also had production facilities in the nearby Joure (30 km) and Meppel (60 km). IT invested 22 million guilders (€10 million) in new machinery for the remaining locations. [3] Drum Tobacco is also produced outside the Netherlands in several factories of the Imperial Tobacco group.

United Kingdom

Before Douwe Egberts introduced Drum in the UK there was an active gray market and Drum had a large market-share: as the tobacco prices were once much higher in the UK than on the European mainland, there were many people who traveled to (mainly) Belgium or France by ferry to import alcohol and tobacco. Although this is still going on, the price differences from 10 years ago have decreased. [4]

However, rolling tobacco still, as of October 2023, remains around a third of the price in Belgium as it is in the UK, and smuggling continues. When Douwe Egberts was ready to introduce Drum they faced some legal problems, forcing them to change the brand name to Duma, and was struggling to get a foothold on the UK duty-paid market [5]

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, Drum is the #2 selling brand of shag-tobacco, just below Van Nelle, which is also a brand of Imperial Tobacco. [6] Smoking shag tobacco used to be more popular in the Netherlands than smoking ready-made cigarettes. In 1989, the 'market share' of shag-tobacco was 53%, but decreased to 42% in 2010. [7]

The main reason for the popularity is the price. A typical cigarette contains less than 1 gram of tobacco. A pouch of 40-42.5 grams is about the same price as a box of 19-20 cigarettes, so the cost of a self-rolled cigarette is half the price of a ready-made cigarette. Many people also put much less tobacco in a self-rolled cigarette. The taxes on tobacco, however, are mainly based on the weight of tobacco, so the margins for the producer are lower on shag than on ready-made cigarettes. [8]

Even in countries where the price of shag tobacco is much higher, people may smoke shag to save money by putting less tobacco in each cigarette.

European Blends

As the original terms "half-zwaar" (medium strong) and "mild" can't be used anymore due to European rules the different blends are now referenced by their color. Not all blends are available in each country.

TobaccoSelectOriginalBright BlueGold
Dark Kentucky***********-**----*-----
Bright Virginia***********-*****-****--
Burley & Oriental------------***---****--

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British American Tobacco</span> British multinational tobacco company

British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2021, it is the largest tobacco company in the world based on net sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joure</span> Town in Friesland, Netherlands

Joure is a town in the north of the Netherlands. It is the administrative center of De Fryske Marren, Friesland. With 13,090 inhabitants, it is also the most populous town in the municipality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japan Tobacco</span> Japanese cigarette manufacturing company

The Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) is a Japanese diversified tobacco company. It was established in 1985 as a tokushu gaisha that inherited the right to monopolize and manufacture cigarettes from the Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation and required the government to hold at least 50% of its shares. In addition to tobacco, JT diversified its businesses, establishing the pharmaceutical research institute in 1993 and making a full-scale entry into the food and beverage industry in 1998. In 2008, it acquired the food manufacturer Katokichi, now TableMark, as a wholly-owned subsidiary, integrating its food business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Brands</span> British tobacco company

Imperial Brands plc is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in London and Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco and the world's largest producer of fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rothmans, Benson & Hedges</span> Canadian manufacturer and distributor of tobacco products

Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. (RBH) is a Canadian manufacturer and distributor of tobacco products. It was formed by the merger of the Canadian units of Rothmans International and the Benson & Hedges brand – owned by Philip Morris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douwe Egberts</span> Company

Douwe Egberts is a Dutch brand of coffee which is majority-owned by JDE Peet's. It was founded in Joure, Netherlands, by Egbert Douwes in 1753 as De Witte Os, a general grocery shop. The company later started dealing specifically in coffee, tea, and tobacco. By 1925, it had changed its name to Douwe Egberts and introduced its logo, a red seal with a "D.E." initialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Player & Sons</span> English manufacturer of tobacco products

John Player & Sons, most often known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. In 1901, the company merged with other companies to form The Imperial Tobacco Company to face competition from US manufacturers. The company also released several series of association football trading cards in the 1930s under the Player's brand.

Superkings is a British brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Imperial Tobacco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shag (tobacco)</span> Fine-cut tobacco

Shag, also known as rolling tobacco or loose tobacco, is fine-cut tobacco, used to make self-made cigarettes by hand rolling the tobacco into rolling paper or injecting it into filter tubes. It got its name from the finely cut strands appearing like 'shag' fabric and was originally considered poor quality. Various types of cut are used; most shag blends use a simple mixture of cutting styles, consisting mostly of loose cut but also krumble kake, ribbon cut and flake may be used. Some shag blends use cuts reminiscent of pipe tobacco. These were imported to the United Kingdom by Rory Innes following the Virginia tobacco plantations in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lambert & Butler</span> Former English tobacco manufacturing company

Lambert & Butler is a former English tobacco manufacturing company, established in 1834 in Clerkenwell, Central London, that operated as a private business until 1901 when it merged with other UK manufacturers to form the Imperial Tobacco Company. Apart from tobacco products L&B also released several cigarette card sets from the 1910s to the 1930s. They consisted of various topics including motor cars, locomotives, horsemanship, aviation, and association football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winfield (cigarette)</span> Australian cigarette brand

Winfield is an Australian brand of cigarettes, currently owned by multinational company British American Tobacco. Cigarettes are manufactured and imported by British American Tobacco Australia (BATA), a subsidiary of British American Tobacco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pickwick (brand)</span>

Pickwick is a tea brand, marketed by Dutch company JDE Peet's. It is the largest tea brand in the Netherlands and the leading brand in market share of black tea there, although its share has been decreasing due to competition. As of 2014, it is also the leading tea brand in Denmark, with 27% of market share.

White Ox is a Dutch brand of rolling tobacco available worldwide. In Australia it is widely available to purchase from licensed tobacco retailers and is imported by Imperial Tobacco Australia LTD.

Embassy is a British brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Imperial Tobacco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoking in the United Kingdom</span>

Smoking in the United Kingdom involves the consumption of combustible cigarettes and other forms of tobacco in the United Kingdom, as well as the history of the tobacco industry, together with government regulation and medical issues.

Tobacco smoking in Pakistan is legal, but under certain circumstances is banned. If calculated on per day basis, 177 million cigarettes per day were consumed in FY-14. According to the Pakistan Demographic Health Survey, 46 per cent men and 5.7 per cent women smoke tobacco. The habit is mostly found in the youth of Pakistan and in farmers, and is thought to be responsible for various health problems and deaths in the country. Pakistan has the highest consumption of tobacco in South Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illicit cigarette trade</span> Trade in tobacco goods which fail to comply with legislation

The illicit cigarette trade is defined as "the production, import, export, purchase, sale, or possession of tobacco goods which fail to comply with legislation". Illicit cigarette trade activities fall under 3 categories:

  1. Contraband: cigarettes smuggled from abroad without domestic duty paid;
  2. Counterfeit: cigarettes manufactured without authorization of the rightful owners, with intent to deceive consumers and to avoid paying duty;
  3. Illicit whites: brands manufactured legitimately in one country, but smuggled and sold in another without duties being paid.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">JDE Peet's</span> Dutch beverage company

JDE Peet's N.V. is an American-Dutch company that owns beverage brands, mostly of coffee, tea and hot chocolate. It was formed in 2015 following the merger of the coffee division of Mondelez International with Douwe Egberts as Jacobs Douwe Egberts. The stock of JDE Peet's is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Stuyvesant (cigarette)</span> Brand of cigarettes and Art Foundation

Peter Stuyvesant is a brand of cigarettes currently owned by British American Tobacco and manufactured by the American Cigarette Company. In Australia and New Zealand, the brand is manufactured by Imperial Tobacco. The cigarette brand is named after Petrus Stuyvesant, Director General of New Netherland, later New York State, New Jersey, Delaware and parts of surrounding states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caballero (cigarette)</span> Dutch cigarette brand

Caballero is a Dutch brand of unfiltered cigarettes owned and manufactured by British American Tobacco (BAT). Caballero is the Spanish word for knight.

References

  1. 1 2 About us on Imperial Tobacco (archived, 11 March 2006)
  2. NY Times: Sara Lee sells tobacco division for $ 1,1 billion, 8 April 1998. Visited 1 July 2012
  3. 1 2 Trouw (newspaper) Tobacco factory bought and closed (Dutch), 8 December 1998. Visited: 30 June 2012
  4. Evilzone How to smuggle cigarettes from mainland Europe, visited 2 July 2012
  5. Tobaccopapers website Drum advertising strategy, retrieved: 2 July 2012
  6. VNK: Top 10 most sold shag brands 2010 Archived 2017-02-13 at the Wayback Machine , visited: 1 July 2010
  7. VNK (Combined Dutch (shag)tobacco producers):Overview newsarticles Archived 2013-01-08 at the Wayback Machine (Dutch), visited 1 July 2012
  8. VNK Website Price breakdown (excise, VAT & trade) Archived 2022-06-19 at the Wayback Machine , visited 1 July 2012