FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE?

INTRODUCTION

Society’s attitude toward tobacco has fluctuated wildly between “love and hate” for nearly 500 years.  Leaders have often shaped their country’s perception of tobacco. No country reflects this more than Russia, where government rules led to strange behavior. 

Such long histories of tobacco use lead me to believe that the demand for nicotine will continue for some years (decades?) to come.

TSARS COULDN’T DECIDE

In Russia, the debate over tobacco goes back to the 16^th century reign of Ivan the Terrible (1547-84). In 1553, an English ship, caught in a storm, anchored off the Russian coast. It carried, among other goods, tobacco. The Russians tried it and loved it. They all began chewing, sniffing, and smoking. They even made a drink by soaking the tobacco leaves. Only the Russians would have thought of that! It literally knocked them off their feet.

Yet by 1600, bans on tobacco appeared. Russians now believed that smoking was ungodly; smoke was associated with evil spirits. In 1634, Moscow burned down – supposedly due to an ember that fell from somebody’s pipe. Tsar Alexis (1629-76), no fan of tobacco anyway, banned its use. Smoking could be punished by exile to Siberia, having one’s nostrils torn open, and having one’s lips cut off. But Russians continued to smoke. 

With Peter the Great (1682-1721), everything changed again. The young tsar, never without a pipe in his mouth, began to teach Russians to smoke persistently and purposefully. Like so many later politicians, he even managed to make it profitable. He sold the Russian tobacco monopoly rights to the English (for seven years) for a huge amount of money.  The money funded the army, the navy, and employing foreign experts. He personally actively enforced pipe smoking among the Russian nobility.

Ordinary citizens, unlike the nobility, chewed and sniffed tobacco more often than smoking it. By the mid-18th century, snuff boxes, from simple to ornate, became part of Russian life. Empress Catherine II, The Great (1762-92) loved sniffing tobacco. She always took it out of her snuffbox with her left hand because her right hand was for being kissed and signing decrees. During her rule, the first Russian tobacco growers were given the right to tax-free trade - both for imports and inside the country. Tobacco use became even more widespread. By 1800, people smoked everywhere: at home, in restaurants, at clubs, and in tobacco shops.

Doctors prescribed smoking to improve vision, clarify memory, and calm the nerves! But at the same time, patches and pills appeared in Russia for those who wished to quit smoking. They were advertised in newspapers and magazines, often on the same page as ads for new cigarettes and tobaccos. A journalist in 1840 said: “Not only secular dandies smoke tobacco, but also the ladies! Oh, the horror! Ladies smoking tobacco!”

Then, Tsar Nicholas I (1825-55), who did not smoke, banned it in streets, squares, and public places.

His son, Alexander II (1855-81), a heavy smoker, again allowed the sale of tobacco, cigarettes, and cigars. Cigarettes became a lifestyle choice for Russian schoolboys, officers, officials, and the newly emancipated women. The last three Russian monarchs were smokers: Alexander II, his son Alexander III, and grandson Nicholas II (1894-1917).  

After the Communist Revolution and World War I, factories produced only a third of the 1913 tobacco volume. With limited supply, the homeless and disabled war veterans traded in cigarettes. Business was profitable because everyone liked to smoke. In 1931, Commissar Anastas Mikoyan said, “Workers and peasants ask: ‘Won’t you at least give us a little something to smoke?’ They want to smoke because without it, life is hard. We need tobacco.”

In the 1930s, tobacco production increased, and the first cigarettes appeared. In 1937, a new cigarette was named to honor Communist leader Josef Stalin (1924-53), a pipe smoker. Again, the tobacco industry flourished with a smoker in power.

At the start of World War II, tobacco supplies decreased, and demand grew. Low-quality cigarettes began to appear. People called such cigarettes “Eye Gouges,” or “Death to the Fascists”. Soviets smoked everywhere: at work and at home, in cafes and restaurants. Writers, artists, movie stars, and even cartoon characters smoked. The head of state, Leonid Brezhnev (1964-82) smoked, although he did not advertise it. When doctors limited Brezhnev’s smoking, he got a cigarette case with a timer that opened no more than once every 45 minutes.

The Soviets’ adopted measures to restrict smoking in 1980. Their law banned the sale of cigarettes to children under 16, introduced smoking rooms in institutions, and mandated that packages contain the phrase “The Ministry of Health warns: Smoking is dangerous to your health.”

In the 1980s, the country had a cigarette shortage. To buy smokes, people stood in lines for hours. Markets began selling cigarette butts. Again, speculation flourished: Russians bought Marlboros or Kents at exorbitant prices - at railway stations or in the restrooms of hotels where foreigners were staying.

By the early 1990s, global tobacco giants had bought many Russian tobacco factories, eliminating the shortage. Russians could freely buy the world’s leading cigarette brands. most of them produced in Russia under license.

On June 1, 2014, a law banned smoking in all public places including trains, hotels, cafes, and playgrounds. The ban polarized opinion, with the country divided on whether it represents progress or an assault on the individual rights. Today, with the Ukraine war, tobacco companies are grappling with appropriate action on their presence in Russia – whether to stay or leave.  [LINK] for detail on Tsars and tobacco.

MORE BIZARRE RUSSIAN BANS

While searching for information on governments and tobacco, I also found these Russian bans. The rules are antiquated, but entertaining.

Ivan the Terrible (1547-84) forbade Killing and Eating Cows because food was scarce, and it was considered madness to kill cows that could produce milk – or, even better, more cows. Ivan once ordered three non-Russian workers to be burned alive, because they killed and ate a calf. Until the 19th century, Russian peasants had meat only on big celebrations, usually meat from older cows.

According to the Council Code of 1649, “Cards and Dice” were declared a criminal offense, on par with theft. It could lead to corporal punishment, mutilation, or human branding. In the 17th century, tsars were pious – at least publicly. Tsar Alexis of Russia (1629-76) loved foreign games like chess, checkers, and dice, but banned them for his people.

Watermelon and Apples (Any rounded fruit) were forbidden on September 11. Russian Orthodox believers ate no ball-shaped fruits on that holy day, observing the beheading of Saint John the Baptist. Nobody would eat any round or ball-shaped fruits or vegetables – because they apparently resembled St. John’s head, in a way! Also forbidden that day - using knives, swords, sickles, and other cutting equipment. Bread was broken with hands, not cut.

Beards - Peter the Great (1682-1721) thought that to make it easier for foreigners to do business with Russians, the local folk must stop looking so alien with their beards and weird-looking clothes!

In 1705, Peter issued a law that said: everybody must shave their beards, except peasant serfs. And those who wanted to keep their beard, after 1715, were to pay an enormous fee – from 50 rubles a year (in those days, 5 rubles could buy you 200 pounds of salt; 120 rubles was a year’s salary of a junior naval officer). Violators of the law faced hard labor. The beard tax was revoked only in 1772, because by then, the fashion had changed, and Russian merchants and citizens had by and large stopped wearing beards. Beards were for peasants and priests.

Paul I (1796-1801) ascended the throne after his mother, Catherine II. He worried that after the French Revolution, upheavals against his rule could also start in Russia. He was a friend of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, so he was fear-stricken when he learned of their execution. Paul banned French-style rounded hats, wigs, long moustaches, waistcoats, thick neckties. He even banned some words! Instead of the revolutionary sounding “citizen”), the word “resident”) was to be used. In the place of “fatherland”, the word “state” was to be spoken and written. After Paul’s assassination, all these bans were lifted by Nicholas I (1825-1855).

Under Alexander II (1855-81), Bear walking – traveling with trained bears who performed tricks – was hugely popular in Tsarist Russia. But in 1867, the Committee of Ministers of the Russian Empire issued a law that put an end to bear walking. The law cited: 1) cruelty to animals; 2) encouragement of vagrancy and 3) lewd behavior in bear trainers. After bear walking became an offense, the practice slowly deteriorated.

[LINK] for detail on bizarre Russian bans.