The chronicle of Eger Tobacco Factory
The cigar factory
THE CIGAR FACTORY Tobacco was introduced to Europe by Spanish monks returning from America around 1558. While the Lisbon Ambassador to the French, a certain Jean Nicot, gave tobacco powder as a remedy for headaches to Catherine Medici, the Spanish and Portuguese sailors roaming the ports of Europe spread the joys of smoking in Europe. For many years tobacco was imported to Hungary, and was first grown in the 1660s. Initially tobacco was smoked in pipes, and snuff boxes were also popular. The first cigar factory was built in Spain in 1752, and only a century later in Hungary, in 1846: the first Royal Cigar Factory at Temesvár (Timsoara). In 1847, a year after the first cigar factory was opened, a seemingly insignificant event occurred: a certain Mr Philip Morris, importer of tobaccos and quality cigars, opened a small shop in Bond Street, London. Smoking cigars was a fashion brought on by the development of modern civilized society, as well as many other changes, in the 19th century. In Hungary the la2y csárdás was replaced by the waltz, hearty wines were rivalled by light ales, and the smoking instrument of self-indulgent gentlemen, the pipe, was rapidly taken over by the elegant cigar. As the millennial anniversary of the arrival of the Magyars in the Carpathian Basin drew near, everywhere Hungarian gentlemen wrapped themselves in cosy cigar smoke at the races, in casinos, coffee houses, post offices, the salt excise office, the customs and excise offices, on the promenade, the capital and the country, and even the offices of Staud and Son.
