The Plunkett and Elliott Tobacco Company, more commonly known as P&E Cigarettes, or simply, P&E, is a tobacco company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious tobacco companies in the United States, and has been in operation in its current form since 1801.
| Formerly | The Plunkett and Elliott Tobacco Company of Delaware |
|---|---|
| Industry | Tobacco production, tobacco sale |
| Predecessor | The Plunkett Tobacco Company of Virginia Colony
|
| Founded | June 22, 1801 in Dover, Delaware |
| Founder | Thomas Plunkett |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts |
Key people | David Demrich (CEO) |
History
editThe Plunkett and Elliott Tobacco Company began as two separate companies: The Plunkett Tobacco Company of Virginia Colony, and The H. A. Elliott Tobacco Company. The Plunkett Tobacco Company of Virginia was founded in 1691 by Enoch Mosgrove Plunkett, who owned and operated a tobacco plantation in Belvedere Beach, Virginia, on the Potomac River. He grew, processed, and sold tobacco leaves to England for it to be distributed across Europe.
The H. A. Elliott Tobacco Company was founded in 1732 in Abbotts Mill, Delaware, by Henry Abbott Elliott. In contrast with The Plunkett Tobacco Company of Virginia Colony, it sold tobacco and tobacco products domestically. During the American Revolutionary War, it supplied tobacco products to the Continental Army.
Merger, 19th century
editIn 1799, the then leader of The Plunkett Tobacco Company of Virginia Colony, Thomas Plunkett, purchased 25% of The H. A. Elliott Tobacco Company. In April of 1801, Henry A. Elliott, II., proposed a merger of the two companies to Thomas Plunkett. Plunkett agreed, and the merger was finalized on June 22, 1801, creating The Plunkett and Elliott Tobacco Company of Delaware, which opened its main office in Dover, Delaware, near to Abbotts Mill. Elliott originally had no plans on staying with the company. In 1804, Plunkett unexpectedly died and transferred the ownership of the company to his son, Thomas Plunkett, Jr.
Plunkett remained as the leader of The Plunkett and Elliott Tobacco Company until his death in 1834. He had no children and was the only surviving child of Thomas Plunkett, and as such, the ownership of the company was passed to Elliott's son, Henry A. Elliott, III. Elliott expanded the company's operations and opened an office at 404 Washington Street in Boston, which would eventually become the headquarters of the company in 1857, and dropped the "of Delaware" from the name.
However, the Dover office remained, and would become a processing plant. In 1879, Elliott died, and the ownership of the company passed to his son, Charles Elliott. Soon after, in 1880, the cigarette roller was invented by James Albert Bonsack. The company purchased several of these machines, totaling a daily output of 2,400,000 million cigarettes. Soon after, the company became a household brand, and the two processing and distribution centers located in Dover and Boston were strained. Elliott ordered the construction and opening of processing and distribution centers in Chicago, St. Louis, Savannah, and New York City. Furthermore, in 1891, processing distribution centers were opened in New Orleans, Dodge City, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco. However, all the tobacco was still grown at Plunkett Plantation in Belvedere Beach, Virginia, and tobacco fields in Abbotts Mill, Delaware, in which Elliott had begun work on a mass transportation network to transport the dried tobacco leaves from Virginia and Delaware to all the processing and distribution centers through specialty trains. However, Charles Elliott died in 1901.
20th century
editAfter the death of Charles Elliott, his three children: Charles Elliott, Jr., Columbus Elliott, and May Elliott, entered into a dispute over who would take over the now third largest tobacco company in the United States. They fought for five years, with numerous legal disputes, until the Board of Directors of the company passed a memorandum to remove the Elliott Family from all company leadership. They instated the Chairman of the Board of Directors at that time, Harold Melbourne, as the newly created position of Chief Executive Officer, as well as his position of Chairman of the Board of Directors. Melbourne introduced the oak leaf insignia found on official company packaging in 1916, and is still used today.
In 1915, Melbourne began introducing automobiles to the company, as a way to transport tobacco leaves from the fields in Virginia and Delaware to all of the processing and distribution centers. The approximated amount of cigarettes produced at all of the processing and distribution centers was estimated in 1914 to be 60,000,000. The cost at that time to purchase one was $0.09, approximately $2.83 in 2024 money, totaling $169,800,000 in 2024 revenue. Melbourne also began scaling back production of pipe tobacco, as its market share had largely been reduced since the mass production of cigarettes beginning in 1880.
In 1922, engineers at the research and laboratories division of the company patented the flip-top lid on cigarette packaging, and it hit the market in 1924. It was an instant success, and for a brief period in 1925, the company was the most preferred cigarette brand in the United States. However, in 1927, Melbourne contracted tuberculosis and died on December 5, 1927. The Board of Directors adjourned any meetings until after Christmas, when they would vote on who would replace Melbourne. On January 8, 1928, they voted in Frank Heff as the new Chief Executive Officer of the company, as well as the new Chairman of the Board.
Within a few days of Heff becoming the Chief Executive Officer of the company as well as the Chairman of the Board, he repealed the memorandum from 1906 that removed and prohibited Elliott family members from being part of the leadership. By October 1928, Charles Elliott, III., joined the board, the grandson of Charles Elliott. Since then, there has always been at least one Elliott family member on the Board of Directors. Today, there are three: Christopher Elliott, Lisa Elliott Headritch, and Perry Elliott.
Heff expanded the automobile transportation of tobacco, however, the company was still heavily reliant on railway transportation for tobacco. In addition, in May of 1929, he closed the Dodge City processing and distribution center, citing revenue losses from keeping it operational. To still fulfill processing and distribution needs for the area, he moved it to Wichita, Kansas.
However, in September of 1929, the Great Depression struck. The company had to lay off 7% of its workforce during the Great Depression. In addition, Frank Heff suffered chronic work related stress during the winter of 1929-1930. During the winter, close associates and relatives could not think of a time when he didn't have a cigarette. He spent most of his time at the country estate of Plunkett Plantation, a 452 acre riverside parcel of property with a 11,110 square foot mansion with tobacco fields in Belvedere Beach, the foundation of The Plunkett Tobacco Company of Virginia Colony. On March 2, 1930, he filed a temporary resignation so he could take a seven month break while an interim chief executive officer would take his place. On March 10, 1930, the board voted in Charles Elliott, III., as the interim CEO.
During Elliott's tenure, he restructured the financial operations of the company to combat the effects of the Great Depression. Much of the negative effects were able to be reversed under Elliott's tenure, and he left office on October 10, 1930, and Heff returned, in an improved mental state.
Beginning in December, Elliott ordered the construction of a new headquarters to replace the older brick and lime building at 404 Washington Street in Boston, that was built circa 1831. It was in major disrepair and the new building brought hundreds of jobs to the city for the construction of a new building. During the construction of the new headquarters, the company moved to a different location at 42 Avery Street in Boston. The new building was to be built out of concrete, stone, cast iron, and would be 20 floors. It was completed in January of 1932, and the company moved to the location in March. In May, they sold the Avery Street location.
During World War 2, the company attempted to supply cigarettes as rations to soldiers overseas. However, they were unable to do so. By 1942, they had recouperated 95% of the workforce they had lost during the initial years of the Great Depression. When the war ended, they sponsored numerous parades in Boston for celebrating the return of troops. The post-war boom brought major success to the company with post-war consumerism at it's peak.
In July of 1953, Frank Heff stepped down as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. On July 25, 1953, the Board of Directors voted in Markham Steele as the new Chairman of the Board and Chief Operating Officer. During the first two months, Markham Steele majorly rebranded the company. He believed that the brand name "The Plunkett and Elliott Tobacco Company" was far too long, and while, a household name, was growing old as a brand name. He rebranded all products as "P&E", starting with "P&E Cigarettes", "P&E Cigars", "P&E Pipe Tobacco", as well as rebranding the research and engineering branch of the company to "P&E Labs", and trademarked "P&E".
In addition, an early trend of producing cigarettes with filters was growing among other tobacco producers. In October 1953, the company introduced "P&E Filtered", and demand for filtered cigarettes grew. Steele started drawing back production of cigarettes without filters, and by 1969, production ended, with the last pack coming from the New Orleans production and distribution facility, and was presented to John McKeithen, Governor of Louisiana, who was fond of P&E cigarettes.
In 1970, the company began producing the filters in a dark green color, in contrast with the rising popularity of orange and brown filters. Steele wanted to emphasize the company's unique branding of the recognizable oak leaf insignia, as well as other unique trademarks and design motifs. After more and more studies were published that linked cigarette smoking as dangerous with numerous health risks, Steele organized an uplifting campaign that was attempted to distract from the negative health base. He was able to install the now recognizable dark green filters in movies and television shows as part of product placement for P&E, as well as the slogan "Reach Out and Light Up", which ran ads with the jingle and was the company's official slogan until 1981, even after the prohibition of cigarette commercials on television. In 2024, it was brought back for a limited run on YouTube.
Steele remained as the company's CEO until his death on February 23, 1994, at the age of 82. He had been part of the company's leadership since he joined the Board of Directors in 1939. His successor was announced on March 1, 1994, as Clayton Corsellis. This decision was controversial, after it was revealed that Corsellis had attempted to begin a marketing campaign targeted towards teenagers in the early 1990's. Nevertheless, he ascended to the position of Chairman of the Board, as well as CEO. In 1997, Corsellis created a lobbying organization for P&E called Heritage Tobacco, which aimed to lessen restrictions and regulations on tobacco marketing, production, and use.
On March 7, 1998, the official P&E website opened: www.plunkettelliott.com. It featured a page about the company's history, as well as a section to find locations near you where you could purchase P&E products and accessories, and an official forum dedicated to P&E cigarettes, products, accessories, and memorabilia.
In December of 1999, Corsellis sponsored and paid for full page advertisements in numerous major newspapers across the United States, that read "Y2K's coming soon, and it could wreck the world: but your trusty P&E companion will stick by your side, regardless of the amount of zeroes." This advertisement gained controversy for the promotion of cigarettes over what much of the world relied on at that time. Corsellis never apologized.
21st century
editIn 2000, limited edition legacy "P&E: The New Millennium" products and accessories became available for a short time between January 2000 and March 2000. Demand far outnumbered supply, and lighters, cigars, ashtrays, and cigarettes that were branded "The New Millennium" became collectors items. In 2001, due to popular demand, the company released, from June 22-July 22, 2001, limited edition products that were branded "P&E Bicentennial". These items not only included smoking products, but also everyday items such as keyrings, wallets, as well as a keyboard cover for iBook "Clamshell" models. In 2003, the company opened two distribution centers in Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona.
In 2005, the company began an online e-commerce business for buying P&E products and accessories. Initially sluggish in sales, it began increasing in sales, until by 2009, it accounted for 24% of their sales. Corsellis structured the operation so it would not have to downsize the amount of employees, instead, the delivery drivers who used to deliver to stores would now deliver directly to the buyer's door, after receiving a 21+ signature on the package.
Starting in 2014, Corsellis received lots of public scrutiny after an exposé was published by The New York Times that revealed that minors or otherwise underage buyers could purchase a PO Box and have cigarettes delivered to the PO Box from the online store and be able to circumvent the adult signatures required. In a press release, the company stated "We strive to ensure our products are only accessible by those who are old enough to use them, and are deeply concerned about this method of obtaining our products illegally. We are working with USPS officials to end this method of obtaining our products illegally." However, in 2016, Corsellis resigned for unknown reasons, and, on May 11, 2016, David Demrich replaced him as Chairman of the Board as well as CEO.
The company has still received public scrutiny for their seemingly unwillingness to combat the PO Box issue, and it still remains an ongoing loophole used by minors. In July 2024, the company brought back the Steele-era slogan "Reach out and Light Up" with montage commercials of video footage throughout time enjoying P&E products. It faced criticism for targeting young adults, as a young adult was depicted in the end of the commercial. lighting up a P&E cigarette. In response, P&E lowered funding for Heritage Tobacco.
Products
editP&E sells numerous products. Today, they sell branded lighters, ashtrays, cigars, filtered cigarettes, unfiltered cigarettes, pipe tobacco, as well as other smokeless tobacco products such as snus, chewing tobacco, as well as e-cigarettes. They do not sell disposable e-cigarettes, citing environmental concerns.
Branding
editAfter Markham Steele rebranded and redesigned the company's branding and packaging, the branding and design language has largely remained the same. The oak leaf insignia, while not his design idea, is still used on packaging and printed on cigarettes, cigars, as well as snus cans. In addition, dark green is still the company color, known as "Plunkett green". The color is printed on the paper that wraps the filters, as well as the color the plastic is that is used to make e-cigarettes. Certain novelty e-cigarettes also feature dark green dye in the vaping liquid, to produce dark green vapor.