Originally it was sold as a light variant of the
Salem brand in 1995 which was made by the
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Japan Tobacco acquired the overseas division of RJR and made the Pianissimo brand independent in June 2004. Since May 1, 2005, Japan Tobacco handles stocks. Since then, other variants like Petil and Franc were added and other Japan Tobacco Menthol brands were made into Pianissimo. It is a cigarette specifically aimed at women, similar to Virginia S made by
Altria, The word
Pianissimo refers to the
musical dynamics and volumes of sounds or notes. The word
pêche is a
French term meaning peach, referring to the peach taste of the cigarettes. Produced and sold almost exclusively in Japan, the cigarettes are sold as 20 cigarettes per pack, 10 packs per carton, and 200 cigarettes per carton. In December 2011, JTI announced they had changed 7 Pianissimo variants. The same thing happened to 9 variants in mid-2016. ==Products==