ACCRINGTON man David Pratt hates smoking after giving up the ‘dirty habit’ - but that has not stopped him from amassing a huge collection of vintage cigarette packets.

The collection of 1940s and 1950s brightly decorated packs was put together when the 75-year-old was an avid smoker.

Now he is about to unveil the packets for the first time as the industry faces the prospect of selling cigarettes in plain white cartons.

He said his packets show how times have changed, with sporty and military logos, and no health warnings featured on the designs.

Mr Pratt, who quit 30 years ago after starting smoking at the age of 12, said: “When I quit, it was because they were getting expensive, but once I did I found so many other benefits. I felt so much better and I could smell things that I hadn’t even realised had a smell - like privet hedges!”

The packets’ varied and colourful brands include The Airman, the Greys and Army Club to appeal to former servicemen after the Second World War.

One design, Lambert and Butler’s ‘Waverley’ cigaretes features a portrait of author Sir Walter Scott in honour of the Waverley Novels to give a literary image.

Long forgotten brands include an exotic design on Pascha’s Turkish cigarettes and the Marcovitch brand; highly expensive oval shaped cigarettes featuring a man on the packet wearing a top hat.

Mr Pratt said: “It is quite amazing the different types of marketing gimmicks they were allowed to have on the packets back then.

“To have sporty and military themes seems quite strange today. But in those days you got free cigarettes when you were doing your National Service.”

The collection of cigarette packets is on display at Blackburn Library on Friday April 27 between 1.30pm and 4pm