This strange tobacco product enjoyed a brief notoriety before it was hurriedly withdrawn in 1928. The Brothers Wilberforce and Hector Hills were pharmacists in Whitechapel, London, from 1913 until 1928.
Sometime in 1926 they acquired a huge quantity of tobacco leaf which had been languishing in a warehouse in Bristol, having been condemned as unfit for cigarette manufacture.
Ever keen to further their business, they set about developing a means by which this tobacco leaf could be used. They tried blending it with a variety of broad leafed plants including nettles, rhubarb, and even cabbage. It was only by chance they discovered their formula for success. Cannabis ruderalis was both plentiful and cheap, and when mixed with their tobacco, the strong smell of its burning more than disguised the pungent odour of rank tobacco fumes.
Unfortunately the consumption of this cigarette rendered the smoker incapable of speech or movement, and their product was found instrumental in a number of fatal accidents on the roads and railways. The brothers went bankrupt after being sued by several insurance companies, and their remaining stock was destroyed. However the rumour persists that H.M. Prisons maintained a stock which was issued to prisoners awaiting imminent execution.
This historic artifact came into the possession of the Cabinet of Curiosities and is now offered for your entertainment and edification. Hills Hempbine Cigarettes was created by Bernard Pearson in his Somerset studios. Mixed media in a wooden frame measuring 250 x 200mm