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Sweet cigarettes
Sticks of sugar in packets that once copied real cigarette brands. Sweet cigarettes are still sold, but not under that name, and the reasons why are worth knowing.
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Sweet cigarettes, or candy cigarettes, were one of the more controversial sweets of the old sweet shop: sticks of sugar made and packed to look like real cigarettes. They are still made, but they are no longer called cigarettes in Britain, and many people now look at them very differently.
What they were
Sweet cigarettes first appeared in the late 19th century. Most were made of chalky sugar, though some were bubble gum or chocolate, wrapped in paper and packed and branded to look like cigarettes. Some even hid powdered sugar in the wrapper, so you could blow through the sweet and puff out a cloud of sugar like smoke. One brand, Popeye Cigarettes, had red tips to look like a lit cigarette, before being renamed candy sticks and made without the red tip.
In Britain, Barratt made them. By the 1950s, sweet cigarettes were one of the seven main types of sweet Barratt produced, alongside rock, sherbet products, starch goods, liquorice, boilings, and caramels and toffees: see Dip Dabs for more on Barratt.
Why they became controversial
Candy cigarettes have long been controversial, because research suggests they prime children to take up smoking. A 1990 study found that children aged around 11 or 12 who ate candy cigarettes were twice as likely to smoke as those who did not. A 2007 study of nearly 26,000 adults found that 88 per cent of current and former smokers reported eating candy cigarettes, compared with 78 per cent of people who had never smoked.
The packaging was part of the problem. Tobacco companies and sweet makers once worked together, letting candy cigarettes carry branding almost identical to real cigarette brands. After the United States Surgeon General's report on smoking in 1964 criticised candy cigarettes for trying to lure young people into smoking, tobacco companies began to distance themselves from them.
Candy sticks today
Several countries have banned the sale of candy cigarettes, including Australia and Brazil. In Canada, the law stops candy cigarettes carrying branding that looks like real cigarette brands, and in the United States they cannot be labelled as cigarettes. In the United Kingdom they are still on sale, but labelled as candy sticks, to remove the association with smoking.
An uncomfortable memory
Sweet cigarettes are a good example of how attitudes change. Like the golliwog on sweet wrappers, they are part of the history of the British sweet shop that is now seen very differently: see the golliwog and British sweets. For a very different approach to sweets and smoking, see the Chupa Chups story: Enric Bernat, Chupa Chups and Salvador Dalí.
Citable formats
For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
Free to cite, quote, and reuse with attribution to sweeties.net.
Questions and answers
Are sweet cigarettes banned in the UK?
No. They are still sold in the UK, but labelled as candy sticks rather than cigarettes, to remove the link with smoking. Some countries, including Australia and Brazil, have banned them.
Why are sweet cigarettes controversial?
Because research has linked them with children taking up smoking. A 1990 study found children who ate them were twice as likely to smoke, and some were sold in packets that copied real cigarette brands.
What were sweet cigarettes made of?
Usually chalky sugar, though some were bubble gum or chocolate, wrapped in paper. Some had a red tip to look lit, and some held powdered sugar you could blow out like smoke.
Sources
- Candy cigarette, Wikipedia
- Barratt (confectionery), Wikipedia
Keep reading
- British heritage sweetsChocolate cigarettesChocolate and candy cigarettes: sweets made to look like cigarettes since the late 19th century, the research linking them to smoking, and the bans.
- British heritage sweetsSweets you can no longer buySpangles, Pacers, Aztec, Texan, Opal Fruits and Marathon: the British sweets and bars that disappeared or changed their names, and the few that came back.
- The people behind the sweetsEnric Bernat, Chupa Chups and Salvador DalíEnric Bernat's investors walked out when he pitched a lollipop. He made it anyway, called it Chupa Chups, and got Salvador Dalí to design the logo in 1969.
- Sweet scandals and controversiesThe golliwog and British sweetsFor decades the golliwog appeared on Black Jack wrappers and Robertson's jam jars. How a Victorian character became a mascot, and why it was dropped.
- British heritage sweetsOld fashioned sweets: the A to ZAn A to Z of old fashioned British sweets, from acid drops and aniseed balls to Wham bars and yellowman, with a line on each and a link to its full story.
- British heritage sweetsTraditional English sweetsA county by county guide to traditional English sweets, from Pontefract cakes and Kendal Mint Cake to Uncle Joe's Mint Balls and Love Hearts.