Capstan was originally launched by W.D. & H.O. Wills in 1894, and was one of the most popular brands of cigarettes in the early twentieth century. W. D. & H.O. Wills spent £4,000 (equivalent to £477,509.50 in 2018) promoting the Capstan cigarettes in 1900, and these sums were in addition to the usual fees for advertising, including exhibition cards and newspaper advertisements. It was W.D. & H.O. Will's response to Player's Medium cigarettes. In 1973, the UK government published a table of the tar and nicotine content of cigarettes available on the UK market, and Capstan Full Strength contained, by a margin of 0.21 mg/cigarette, the highest nicotine content (3.39 mg/cigarette) of all brands and the second highest tar content. Since 2004, cigarettes sold in the UK have been capped at 10mg of tar and 1mg of nicotine per cigarette.
Various promotional posters were made for Capstan cigarettes, including one to encourage female factory workers during World War II to smoke Capstan to relax at the end of a work day. One of the most famous slogans at the time was "Time for a Capstan". Another popular slogan after the end of WWII was "Have a Capstan". Some celebrities advertised this brand, such as the English actress Evelyn Laye and the British star David Niven.
The song "Saturday's Kids" from The Jam's 1979 album Setting Sons contains the lyrics "Their mums and dads smoke Capstan non-filters
Today Capstan exists in Sweden only as a pipe brand.
