The Story of Circassian Tobacco

This article explores the story of Circassian tobacco by connecting local developments in Circassia with global markets in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since the 17th century, European travellers described production, usage, and trade of Circassian tobacco. The 1807 Constitution of Kabarda (Eastern Circassia) prohibited tobacco for religious reasons; while the Russian conquest, in 1864 ended tobacco growing traditions and culture in Western Circassia. But the Russian settlers inherited the indigenous tobacco culture after they occupied the villages and houses left by the deported Circassians and brought it to a new level. Circassians produced a special brand of tobacco for export, known as Ozereg. Circassian tobacco successfully competed with Virginian tobacco from the year 1700 onwards, after the czar relaxed the ban on Russian trade with the Caucasus. In 1723, Russia started producing a new kind of Circassian tobacco known as cherkassky tabak in Ukraine. The Circassian tobacco competed with the Chinese tobacco in Western Siberia and with Californian tobacco in Alaska. Circassian tobacco became an exchange currency among the Native Siberians and Native Americans. This kind of Circassian tobacco became known as extremely bad for health thanks to the saltpeter added to it in order to preserve it. In the United States, tobacco manufacturer Pierre Lorillard introduced a new tobacco brand which he claimed was real Circassian tobacco, exploiting the exotic image of Circassian females