Author Topic: The Tsar's Cigarettes  (Read 3154 times)

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Offline TheLionandTheEagle

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The Tsar's Cigarettes
« on: August 12, 2019, 05:43:37 PM »
What did the Tsar smoke?  I've heard he had Benson and Hedges that were specially stamped with a double eagle.  Were these typical British cigarettes of the period or were they the Russian papirosa kind with the hollow mouthpiece?

Offline JamesAPrattIII

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Re: The Tsar's Cigarettes
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2019, 03:11:12 PM »
LDR has him smoking Benson and Hedges with the Imperial Crest. It also has Nicholas smoking Turkish cigarettes pre WW I. Post abdication General Voiekov sent him cigarettes at Tobolsk.. I would say in his final months he only had crude Russian tobacco or Makhorka to smoke. This has a real bad smell to it and I would say the house of Special Purpose stank badly of it. I have read that during WW II some German units put men on night outpost duty who were non smokers since they could probably smell the Russians before they saw or heard them. During the Soviet war in Afghanestan there may have been occations where the smell of this tobacco gave the Soviets positions away to the Afghans.

Offline TheLionandTheEagle

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Re: The Tsar's Cigarettes
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2019, 04:12:21 AM »
Thank you so much!