LIVE PACK: Matchette

I know of two size of packings being 10 cigarettes with 14 matches at sixpence and 20 cigarettes with 28 matches at one shilling. Both are hull and slide with the matches lined up in book match format stapled to the back of the slide. One side of the hull has a surface like that on the side of a safety match box with instructions "strike here".

Having seen empty hulls I often wondered why they were so wide, but a live pack solves the mystery. The cigarettes are packed in groups of 5 each separated in their own compartment by a corrugated inner card. Instructions on the slide advise smokers to "smoke all cigarettes in one compartment first. This will ensure remainder staying securely packed and will prevent deterioration". An amusing comment printed on the back of the hull explains that the novel inclusion of matches prevents that "matchless predicament which all smokers know". It also cleverly describes the product as a "matchless cigarette with matches".

With so many innovations you might imagine Matchette would have been a huge success, particularly since the price at sixpence for 10 was comparable to other large brands like Player's Navy Cut or Will's Gold Flake. I suspect maybe the cigarettes themselves were not quite as good as the maker's claimed, but the real reason that this was a short lived brand could well have been the cumbersome size of the packet. The 20 size particularly is quite a monster.