Nicholas II's Favorite Things

[Annie]

Cigarettes at court DID include Benson & Hedges, French Sobrannies (not sure of spelling!), Java cloves, etc.  I have personally seen one of Nicholas II's Benson & Hedges cigarettes, crested with a double-eagle-trust me-they did exist!

Greg King

Thanks!   Are there any pictures of them?

[Mike]

Cigarettes at court DID include Benson & Hedges, French Sobrannies (not sure of spelling!), Java cloves, etc.  

Very probably, although I've never met a reference to Nicolas II smoking these brands, while his papirosy are repeatedly mentioned by memoirists.

Gallaher, the current owner of both the Benson & Hedges and Sobranie brands, is aggressively marketing them in Russia (especially a high-end Sobranie Black Russian), but never refers to any former supplies to the imperial court. On the other hand, such Sobranie afficionados as George Herbert Wells, Romain Rollan and Maxim Gorky are mentioned. It is hard to imagine how could Gallaher miss such a marketing opportunity as adding Nicolas II or at least a couple of GDs to this list - had they really smoked English cigarettes.

[pushkina]

Papirosy had dominated the Russian and then Soviet tobacco market until a relatively recent time, and are still popular.

mike,  i know the yiddish song papirosn.  can you imagine the tsar singing that?

[Greg_King]

Very probably, although I've never met a reference to Nicolas II smoking these brands, while his papirosy are repeatedly mentioned by memoirists.

Gallaher, the current owner of both the Benson & Hedges and Sobranie brands, is aggressively marketing them in Russia (especially a high-end Sobranie Black Russian), but never refers to any former supplies to the imperial court. On the other hand, such Sobranie afficionados as George Herbert Wells, Romain Rollan and Maxim Gorky are mentioned. It is hard to imagine how could Gallaher miss such a marketing opportunity as adding Nicolas II or at least a couple of GDs to this list - had they really smoked English cigarettes.

I should add that I don't know that Nicholas smoked these particular brands, but they were always placed in little crystal and gilt holders at place settings at tables for luncheons and dinners, and offered in larger quantities (along with cigars) at balls and receptions-I've seen the lists of some of the quantities ordered from court lists in the Russian State Archives in Petersburg.  I do know that Nicholas was smoking Benson & Hedges immediately after the abdication-I am not sure if this was out of necessity when under house arrest at Tsarskoye Selo; he gave a B & H cigarette that he had taken a few drags off of to a member of the suite as a token gift to remember him by-this is the one I saw-encased in a glass holder along with the note from the original recipient (it's in private hands).

Greg King

[Greg_King]

In reference to the Emperor's pipes-this became an issue (naturally) in the Anna Anderson case-she recognized some emigre with a pipe like those of the Emperor and thought he had stolen it apparently; this is discussed in Peter's book.  I cannot recall where the issue is discussed at greater length-but it is, along with photographs of the Emperor's pipes-in either Gilliard's "Fausse Anastasie," or Hariett von Rathlief-Keilmann's "Anastasia," or in Gleb Botkin's "The Woman Who Rose Again."  I have all three here, but I don't kow that I could find them without some serious searching.

Incidentally, as we mentioned in "The Fate of the Romanovs," Rudolf Lacher, who as an Austro-Hungarian prisoner-of-war had served in the Verkh-Isetsk Detachment that Yurovsky brought into the Ipatiev House (and who most probably was one of the executioners) had one of the Emperor's smoking pipes with him when he was first interviewed in relation to the AA case-he claimed to have stolen it from the family's possessions, but I think it's likely, given that he was most probably one of the assassins, that he pilfered it from Nicholas's body as it lay in the cellar.  I have no idea what his family did with it after his death in the 1970s-he also had several other Imperial items he had stolen.

Greg King

[pushkina]

does anyone have pictures of these pipes?

[jackie3]

This is interesting. Does anyone know what kind of cigarettes (or whatever) Nicholas sent to his daughters from the Front (which is mentioned in some letters). I always imagined they were of the cheap kind that many soldiers smoked but now I'm not so sure. Obviously Nicholas didn't pinch pennies when it came to his smokes.

[rskkiya]

Pushkina

I would also be interested in seeing the pipes as I have heard that they were made of amber (yummyumm)!

Earlier the question was raised about Alixandra's  smoking habits ...yes she did smoke (she often mentioned it in her letters to N.) -she seemed to prefer black cigarettes or cloves but I am not aware of the brand.

It facinated me that the whole family seemed to have been encouraged to smoke... then again at that time many people thought that it was good for ones lungs...

R.

[Mike]

mike,  i know the yiddish song papirosn.  can you imagine the tsar singing that?

No I can't. He would probably say that the product and the word shouldn't be blamed for the use they made of it.

The word papirosy was used across the Russian empire and entered Russian, Polish, Yiddish and other languages. In Polish it simply means cigarettes.

[Robert_Hall]

I rather doubt that Nicholas II would be much of an endorsement for smoking.  Considering that he is hardly an example of health and long life. The smoking industry today does not really seek endorsement anymore does it?
Cheers,
Robert

[pushkina]

no, but even for folks like me (asthmatic, persnickety about smells) sometimes, a memory like mine of my mother and her elegant, silver and onyx long holder, coolly blowing dragon smoke from her slightly flared nostrils, bonelessly elegant, makes one want to light up and suck down an unfiltered gitane!

i want to see one of those pipes!

[Robert_Hall]

I do not have them handy at the moment, but I think they are shown in some of the Faberge books.

[pushkina]

alas, i have none.  i don't even know of a library here in sydney that might.

any idea which faberge books  might be useful?

[AGRBear]

This afternoon one of my grandchildren sent me an article about Nicholas II's Irish Setters because she knows I'm interested in the Romanovs, and, too, we have a "hunting" Irish Setter, our second, the first lived to be 17 years old.

Anyone know more about these dogs, please, let me know because I'm interested.

Also, I'm curious to know if Nicholas II had a favorite horse as a child then as an adult which he rode and does anyone know their names?

I know there are threads about Alexandra's, Olga's, Tatiana's, Anastasia and Alexei's pets but none about Nicholas II.

Did he have a favorite dog as a child....?

Love photographs.

Here is the article:
>>The Montebello line of Irish Setters is thought by some to have originated from Florence Nagle Kennel (Sulhampstead) bloodlines.  The kennel was owned and operated by a wealthy Norwegian.  During the occupation of Norway by the Germans in World War II,  this individual was friendly with the Germans, and did some work for them.  When the Germans left Norway, some accounts say they took some of the Montebello setters back to Germany with them.  Others say that no original Montebello dogs entered Germany, and the pedigree records indicate this is factual.  After the war, Russian invaders found these dogs and took them to Russia, where they were crossed with dogs from the kennels of Czar Nikolaus.   Nikolaus at one time had 40 to 60 Irish Setters in his kennel.  In the late 1960s, two dogs from these crosses were imported to Finland, where they were crossed with other Irish Setters from the original  Montebello line, now located in Finland.  One of these was the well known Irish setter Viking.  The fate of other Russian Irish Setters is not known.  Some Russian bloodlines were exported through the Czech Republic.  The breeding program in Russia was known to be outstanding, and it is fortunate that some of those dogs were exported.  The fate of much of the program is, unfortunately, unknown. Much of the Scandinavian working Irish Setter blood today is a product of Montebello.  The bloodline is carefully regarded, and only very selective crossbreeding from outside lines is introduced.  Most of what is considered comes from Jack Nash's Moanruad Kennel offspring.  Montebello setters have been imported into the United States<<

AGRBear

PS  Started a thread which lists the royal pet mentioned on various threads to make them easier to find at:
http://hydrogen.pallasweb.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=family;action=display;num=1112378316

PSS  Sorry Robert Hall, I didn't see your Imperial Pets thread under Servants, Friends,  Etc. until today [3 April 2005]:

http://hydrogen.pallasweb.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=friends;action=display;num=1100183178;start=

[AGRBear]

The thread with the Alexei was a good idea so let me start one for Nicholas.