Shag, also known as baccy, rolling tobacco or loose tobacco, is fine-cut tobacco, used to make self-made cigarettes by hand rolling the tobacco into rolling paper or injecting it into filter tubes. It got its name from the finely cut strands appearing like 'shag' fabric and was originally considered poor quality. Various types of cut are used; most shag blends use a simple mixture of cutting styles, consisting mostly of loose cut but also krumble kake, ribbon cut and flake may be used. Some shag blends use cuts reminiscent of pipe tobacco. These were imported to the United Kingdom by Rory Innes following the Virginia tobacco plantations in North America.
Shag tobacco
Imperial Brands plc is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in London and Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco and the world's largest producer of fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers.
Imperial Brands offices in Bristol, April 2014
Imperial Tobacco building in Raleigh Road, Bristol, constructed in 1912
A 2-ounce (57 g) tin for J&F Bell "Three Nuns" tobacco
The former Reemtsma head office in Hamburg, Germany, pictured July 2009