"As supplied to the house of Lords"
This edition gives a brief look to the rather famous house of Ardath.State Express Works, 39-51 Worship Street, London
Founded 1895 at Leadenhall Street by Sir Albert Levy and was originally called Albert Levy & Thomas, and also traded under the name La Casa de Habana.
The name of the company was changed in 1901 to the Ardath Tobacco Company, and was split in 1925 when it was sold; British American Tobacco acquired the overseas rights of Ardath, while the Imperial Tobacco Group retained the rights of sale within the United Kingdom and Ireland.
In the United Kingdom, Ardath's brands endured, to the point where they were granted a Royal Warrant by King George VI in 1946.
In 1961, British American Tobacco bought out Imperial Tobacco's share of Ardath, thus gaining full control of Ardath's trademarks.
They are most noted for their finely made cigarettes, especially the 555 brand.
we're on to a more modern blend, an extremely high quality mixture that rivalled Balkan Sobranie.
Many pipesmokers still today can fondly recall it, as it was in production for a couple of decades.
It was State Express London Mixture.
Introduced in 1967 and made at the Ogden's factory for BAT.
And not only that, but an olde English penny was taped to the bottom for ease of convenience to aid opening.
I'm unsure how a company could afford to do such a thing, although it may have had something to do with the currency change-over because decimalisation was in swing at that time.
I'm unsure as to how long exactly they continued with that practice, but it must've made for a helluva presentation!
Sadly,
I could find no pics of either the olde penny or the leaf.
I'd love to hear descriptions or reminiscences from anyone who smoked this stuff!
I haven't been able to find a pic of the Navy Cut.