Player’s is one of the oldest cigarette brands still sold in Canada, and one of the most confusing to shop for. The names on the packs today are not the names most people remember, the prices have gone somewhere absurd, and there was a national recall a few years back that a lot of smokers never heard about.
Here is the whole picture: who makes it, every type currently sold, what a carton actually costs in 2026, and what you can smoke instead for a quarter of the price. If you want the wider view first, our cigarette brands and prices list covers every brand on the Canadian market.
Who makes Player’s cigarettes
Player’s is made and distributed in Canada by Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited, which is the Canadian arm of British American Tobacco. Imperial also owns du Maurier, Matinee and Belmont, so if you smoke any of those you are buying from the same company.
The brand itself is older than the Canadian operation. It started as John Player & Sons in Nottingham, England, in the 1870s, and the Navy Cut sailor on the old packs was the brand’s trademark for close to a century. Imperial Tobacco brought it to Canada, where it became one of the two or three best selling cigarettes in the country through the 1970s and 1980s.
Player’s cigarette types
There are three main Player’s varieties on the Canadian market, and each one comes in regular size and king size, in packs of 20 and packs of 25.
| Current name | Called this before 2007 | Name in Quebec | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player’s Original | Player’s Filter | Player’s Original | Full flavour, the strongest of the three |
| Player’s Rich | Player’s Light | Player’s Riche | Middle of the range |
| Player’s Smooth | Player’s Extra Light | Player’s Velouté | The lightest one |
Where those three sit against every other brand on the market is laid out in our Canadian cigarettes strength chart.
You will also see Player’s cigarette tubes sold separately for people who roll their own. Those are the empty filter tubes, not cigarettes.
Older packs turn up in collections and on resale sites with names that no longer exist on shelves, including Player’s Navy Cut, Player’s Special Blend and Player’s Plain. Those are discontinued. If someone is selling you a fresh pack labelled Player’s Light in 2026, something is wrong with it, and our guide on how to spot fake cigarettes in Canada is worth reading first.
What Player’s Light is called now
Player’s Light is now sold as Player’s Rich. Player’s Extra Light is now Player’s Smooth.
This trips people up constantly, because the intuitive guess is that Light became Smooth. It did not. Smooth is the lighter of the two.
The reason for the change had nothing to do with the tobacco. In November 2006 the Competition Bureau reached agreements with Canada’s three biggest cigarette manufacturers, Imperial Tobacco Canada, Rothmans Benson & Hedges and JTI-Macdonald, to stop putting the words “light” and “mild” on packaging. The words implied a safer product, which was not true. Removal started at the end of 2006 and was finished by 31 July 2007, and it affected 79 cigarette brands plus 18 fine cut tobaccos.
Nothing inside the pack changed. The companies swapped in replacement words like smooth, rich and bold, along with numbers and pack colours, and carried on. Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada published a history of Player’s Lights specifically if you want the long version.
Plain packaging in 2019 then stripped the colours and logos too, which is why every pack in the store now looks identical. We covered that in why all Canadian cigarette packs look the same.
What Player’s costs in Canada right now
This is the part that makes people go looking for alternatives.
| What you buy | Price | Cigarettes | Cost per cigarette |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player’s Original, pack of 25 | $28.98 | 25 | $1.16 |
| Player’s Original, carton of 25s | $231.82 | 200 | $1.16 |
| Most cartons at Canada Smokes | $49.99 | 200 | $0.25 |
Those Player’s figures are the September 2026 shelf prices at a Canadian retailer, not an estimate. A carton of Player’s runs $231.82. The same 200 cigarettes from us is $49.99. That is a difference of $181.83 on a single carton, and if you go through a carton a week it is roughly $9,455 a year.
Almost all of that gap is tax rather than tobacco. Federal excise plus provincial tobacco tax plus HST stacks up to the large majority of the shelf price on a legal retail pack, which is the whole reason the price is what it is. There is more on how that breaks down in our Canadian cigarette tax guide and in why Canadian cigarettes are so expensive.
The 2022 Player’s recall
In July 2022, Health Canada published a recall covering Player’s, Player’s Smooth and Player’s Original in regular size, in both 20s and 25s, in packs and in cartons. The reason listed was a fire hazard.
The recall was distributed nationally, in Quebec and in Ontario, Alberta, BC, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Northwest Territories. Affected packs were identified by traceability codes printed on the bottom of the pack and carton, and by UPC on the side. Imperial Tobacco Canada was named as the distributor, and buyers were told to stop using the product and return it for a replacement.
What to smoke instead of Player’s
We do not sell Player’s. What we sell is the same style of cigarette, Canadian Virginia blend, made to the same strength tiers, at a quarter of the price. Here is the honest match for each one.
| If you smoke | Closest match here | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Player’s Original | Canadian Full Flavour or Canadian Classics Original | $49.99 |
| Player’s Original, want it richer | Canadian Premium Original | $54.99 |
| Player’s Rich | Canadian Lights or Canadian Classic Silver | $49.99 |
| Player’s Smooth | Canadian Ultra Lights or Nexus Ultra Light | $49.99 |
| You roll your own | Bagged Rollies Full Flavour | $28.99 |
If you are coming off Player’s Original, start with Canadian Full Flavour. It is the closest thing we carry on both strength and burn. People who found Player’s a bit harsh usually land on Canadian Classics Original instead.
You can browse the whole range in full flavour and lights, or read the top 10 best cigarettes in Canada if you would rather see them ranked. For the lightest end specifically, there is the 10 lightest cigarettes in Canada.
Common questions
Are Player’s cigarettes still made?
Yes. Imperial Tobacco Canada still produces Player’s Original, Player’s Rich and Player’s Smooth, in regular and king size. What has been discontinued are the older names like Navy Cut and Special Blend.
How many types of Player’s cigarettes are there?
Three current varieties, each in two sizes and two pack counts. Original, Rich and Smooth, in regular or king size, in 20s or 25s.
How much is a carton of Player’s cigarettes?
Around $231.82 for a carton of 25s at Canadian retail as of September 2026, which works out to $1.16 a cigarette. Prices vary a little by province because provincial tobacco tax rates differ.
What is the difference between Player’s Rich and Player’s Smooth?
Rich is the stronger of the two and used to be sold as Player’s Light. Smooth is lighter and used to be Player’s Extra Light. Neither name describes a real difference in tar or nicotine delivery, which was the point of banning “light” in the first place.
Is John Player the same as Player’s?
Same origin. The company was John Player & Sons of Nottingham, and the brand is sold as John Player Special or John Player Gold Leaf in other countries. In Canada it is just Player’s.
Are Player’s menthol available in Canada?
No. Menthol cigarettes were banned across Canada in 2017, so no brand sells them legally, Player’s included. We go through what that ban covers in are menthol cigarettes banned in Canada.
Why is Player’s so much more expensive than what you sell?
Tax structure, mostly. Retail brands carry the full federal and provincial tobacco tax load on top of manufacturer and retailer margin. Our pricing is explained in how to buy cheap smokes online in Canada.
The short version
Player’s is Imperial Tobacco Canada’s oldest big brand, sold today as Original, Rich and Smooth. Rich is the old Light, Smooth is the old Extra Light, and the names changed in 2007 because the words “light” and “mild” were pulled off Canadian packaging. It costs about $231 a carton. If you want the same style of smoke without that number, start with Canadian Full Flavour at $49.99 and go from there.
