Prince Albert (tobacco)

Prince Albert is an American brand of tobacco, introduced by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1907. It has been owned since 1987 by John Middleton Inc.

History

Prince Albert is one of the more popular independent brands of pipe tobacco in the United States; in the 1930's, it was the "second largest money-maker" for Reynolds. More recently, it has also become available in the form of pipe-tobacco cigars. (A 1960's experiment with filtered cigarettes was deemed a failure.) The blend is burley-based and remains one of America's top-selling pipe tobaccos.

The tobacco was personally named by R. J. Reynolds after Edward VII, who was known as Prince Albert before being crowned King. For some time after Prince Albert had become King Edward VII, the can bore the additional words "Now King" under the portrait, which was based on one acquired by Reynolds at a tea party with Mark Twain.

The Van Dyke Parks song Clang of the Yankee Reaper references the tobacco with the line "The sun never set on the Empire / Prince Albert came in a can."

Prince Albert's cigars are available in packs of 5. Prince Albert's pipe tobacco is available in 1.5 ounce pouches and 14 ounce tins.

"Prince Albert in a can"

The brand is the basis of a practical joke, usually made in the form of a prank call. The prankster typically calls a store and asks if they have "Prince Albert in a can." When the unsuspecting clerk responds "yes" (because the tobacco is typically packaged in a can, though other forms of packaging also existed), the caller follows up with, "Well, you'd better let him out!" or "Then why don't you let him out before he suffocates!?"

In pop culture

The joke was used in the 1990 horror miniseries Stephen King's It where Pennywise (Tim Curry) taunts one of his intended victims (he says "Well ya better let the poor guy out" as the closer).

In Weird Al Yankovic's parody of TLC's Waterfalls (TLC song) "Phony Calls" on Bad Hair Day, the lyrics include the reference "Little Melvin has a natural obsession/Askin' for Prince Albert in a can/He gets a kick each time he makes a collect call/To some guy he doesn't know who lives in Japan".

In Death Masks by Jim Butcher, Harry Dresden makes an offering of Prince Albert tobacco to a loa he'd summoned. Later, Molly Carpenter tricks their Russian friend Sanya into prank-calling a number of stores, under the guise of helping Harry with his shopping list. Sanya doesn't understand why asking if they have "Prince Albert in a can" causes people to hang up.

In the Family Guy (season 2) episode "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", Stewie makes the stereotypical prank call to a talk show called The Diane Show.

Brendan Fraser's character buys Prince Albert pipe tobacco while stockpiling supplies in the film Blast From the Past.

In Retail (comic strip) on 3-11-11 Cooper takes a call for Prince Albert in a can. Assuming it is a joke he hangs up, only to notice that the store does in fact sell "Prince Albert" in a can.

In the Wings (NBC TV series) episode Airport '90, Lowell calls Faye from within the terminal in an attempt to prank her using the Prince Albert in a can joke.

Source: Internet