What are the famous "Herzegovina Flor" cigarettes and why they are so named

Smoking is definitely harmful. This bad habit prevents both her adherent and those around him. Nevertheless, many people suffer from an uncontrollable craving for the absorption of tobacco smoke, which is difficult to get rid of. Some attempt to quit smoking, and later on, based on the experience gained, they say, like Mark Twain, that this is not difficult, and they themselves have done this many times.

The tobacco industry is an integral part of the food industry and the agro-industrial complex of many countries. Manufacturers usually value brand names known to consumers for many decades. One of them, Herzegovina Flor, was born in tsarist Russia, experienced revolutions, two world wars, the epochs of Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, three more general secretaries, the disintegration of the USSR and exists to this day. Its history is closely connected with the history of the whole country.

Gabay Factory

This story could become an illustration of the theory of the enormous opportunities that capitalist entrepreneurship gives. After the wars with Turkey, Russia was enriched by a new ethnos, namely the Karaite people, whose representatives traditionally engaged in the sale of tobacco. The Crimean Samuel Gabay, having secured the financial support of the Kharkov merchant Abraham Kapon, created the enterprise in the second half of the 19th century in Moscow. At the usual mediation this energetic person did not stop, and invested profits in the development of his offspring. The cigarettes at that time in Russia were only becoming fashionable, and in 1883 Gabay began to manufacture them. For successful competition, some kind of commercial "chip" was required, and the owner of the "Tobacco Factory S. Gabay" found it. He began to import scented raw materials from the exotic Indonesian island of Java. The products really differed in the subtle scent, and it went. By the beginning of the new century Samuel Gabay was the owner of two production buildings, he changed the trade mark, calling it in honor of his most popular cigarettes, "Java". It seemed that commercial success was achieved, you can rest on your laurels.

But the capitalist system requires constant development, and at the beginning of the second decade of the twentieth century, a new product appeared in the range of "Java" - cigarettes "Herzegovina Flor".

Sweet Tobacco

As in the case of "Java", Samuel Gabay made a sure marketing move. He named a new brand of cigarettes in honor of the origin of tobacco, which he stuffed his products. But in this case, the brand corresponded not only to the geographical location of the raw plantations. In the Balkans, namely Herzegovina, a special aromatic variety with a rich bouquet grew (if one can speak of it in general with suffocating smoke). In fact, the trademark corresponded to the botanical name Herzegovina Flor (Herzegovina Flor), and today the seeds of this tobacco are represented in the profile market. Everyone can buy them and try to grow such a self-assembly on their dacha section. It should, however, take into account the climate and soil, otherwise everything would be very simple. In Russia, proper conditions exist only in the Krasnodar Territory, where Virginia varieties are also willingly growing.

New Times

In 1917, events occurred, after which marketing research for a long time lost all meaning. However, in place of severe military communism, in the end, some easing came in the form of the New Economic Policy. In the twenties even the need arose for advertising, and the great proletarian poet, and, in combination, the author of sonorous slogans, Vladimir Mayakovsky even devoted a couple of his brilliant words to the cigarettes of Herzegovina Flor, rhyming with the name TM, the motto "will give the odds." In the sense that far from them all the rest. It is possible that he himself smoked this brand.

About cigarettes in general

In the years of laziness, which is so rich in the history of our country in the XX century, tobacco products in their majority became scarce. The relative exception was makhorka, which was part of the soldier's ration. The cigarettes "Belomorkanal" were considered a class lower than the "Troika" or "Herzegovina Flor", the tobacco was simpler, and the bundle was much more modest, but even this unimpressed production of the Soviet food industry was not available to everyone during the war. There was a difference in the quality of cigarettes produced in accordance with GOSTs at many factories in the USSR. For example, the Leningrad "Belomor" was considered the best in the country, in Odessa the famous "Salve" was made with a cotton filter in the mouthpiece (also an old-style brand). In the first postwar years, some types of tobacco products were considered elite goods, they were even sold in Torgsinakh.

After the Victory, equipment for the production of oval cigarettes without a filter was exported from Germany for repair, some of which are produced today (Polet, Nord, Sever, Priboy, Prima, Ukraine Vatra, Priluki " and etc.). They are supposed to smoke through the mouthpiece, but it is possible and so, only often have to spit the tobacco crumb. But most of the high-ranking party workers preferred, in imitation of the leader, the cigarettes "Herzegovina Flor". Cigarettes massively seized the Soviet tobacco market later, when they were equipped with a filter.

That Stalin was smoking

With a light hand of Soviet filmmakers, the picture took root in the mass consciousness: JV Stalin opens a pack of Herzegovina Flor cigarettes, pulls out one, crushes the sleeve, and pours out his pipe with spilled tobacco. Perhaps a couple of times he did, but, most likely, infrequently. The fact is that the tube needs special tobacco, a large cut, otherwise it will either burn very quickly, or it will soon die out. The Soviet leader had the opportunity to smoke tobacco of any sort (for example, "Prince Albert" or "Edgeworth"), and there was no need to invent anything for him. He smoked cigarettes and, in the most usual way, the chronicle brought to the contemporaries these historical moments. It should be noted that there were almost no special workshops producing products for the Kremlin, it was another matter that purchases were made by a special department of government protection. But the fact that Herzegovina Flor was Stalin's favorite cigarettes is indeed true.

Herzegovina today

Such a famous (mainly thanks to the films about Stalin) a brand of cigarettes could not just sink into oblivion. Produced at the "Morshansk Tobacco Factory" modern products are characterized by very good quality, although in terms of recipes have little in common with the prototype. Balkan tobacco is not supplied for them, other varieties are used, which are pleasant for smokers, but the aroma, according to the connoisseurs, is not the same. Under this brand were produced and regular cigarettes with a filter, but this innovation somehow did not stick.