The chronicle of Eger Tobacco Factory
The chosen company
was Symphonia’s. At that time the Sopianae brand, made in Pécs, had been on the market three years and was enjoying growing popularity. Helikon, with its low nicotine content, had slotted itself into a niche in the market that was just opening up at that time, but which was set to grow and which Helikon was set to hang on to. Philip Morris had been a presence in Europe since 1957. It had first got in on the act in Switzerland and then in England with its Marlboro brand. From I960 Marlboro began to be produced under licence in West Germany. In 1962 a new licence agreement was entered into in Italy, with another one in Austria following a year later. In that same year, 1963, Philip Morris chose reliable, peaceful Switzerland as the site for a major acquisition, buying the Fabriques de Tabac Réunies SA, better known to the tobacco industry as FTR. By 1965 the French SEITA was producing Mariboros, and in 1969 a licence agreement was signed in the standard-bearer of the developing Socialist nations, Yugoslavia. In 1972 Marlboro became the world’s best-selling cigarette, and in 1973 Philip Morris’ turnover reached 2 billion dollars, rising to 3 billion in 1975, and further still to 4 billion in 1977. By this time Philip Morris cigarettes were also being made under licence in Spain, Greece, the GDR and the USSR. In 1978 Philip Morris signed a licence agreement with the Hungarian Tobacco Industry Companies Trust and the Monimpex Foreign Trade Company. The factory selected for the manufacture of Marlboro cigarettes in Hungary was Eger. Preparations for the great event went ahead so smoothly that, although the contract had been signed in February, the first mention of it in the factory’s newssheet only came in August, after production had already started. The cigarettes were 85 mm long with a 20 mm acetate filter, produced in soft packs with foil and cellophane wrapping. Material used for the manufacture was supplied by Philip Morris, arriving in the form of cut tobacco with a low leaf stem content and which burned well. The production count for the first year was 48 million units. And this was just the beginning of the new age of Helikon and Marlboro.
