Tolstoi and T206
 

Curious as to how a Russian cigarette company ended up containing T206's. Were Tolstoi sold in the U.S.? Would appreciate any info.

Tolstoi wasn't actually Russian. There would have been some feature that made them "Russian", possibly the mouthpiece. I'm not quite up on my 1910 era cigarette terminology.

Similarly, Turkish trophies weren't actually Turkish. I think in that case it was the sort of mixture of tobacco that made it fit a certain marketing niche.

Steve B

The Romanovs were big baseball fans.

I just read this within the past few weeks & I think it was from another board member, maybe Scott Reader? But Tolstoi, is just another American Tobacco Company brand. I think, if memory is correct it was a blend of lighter and darker tobacco leaves. If I can recall where I read it, I'll try to post the article. I think I found it on T206 Resource.com, but not sure.

We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom. :D:D:D

This might help a bit...and the one with the stamp on back is dated 1909....

http://luckeycards.com/tolstoipacks2x.jpg

Smokers
 

Smokers at that time were fascinated by exotic brands about faraway lands. So American Tobacco Company kept creating cigarette brands to make smokers feel like they were world travelers going to places like India, Russia, Turkey, or Egypt.

Thanks for the nugget of knowledge. I've been wondering about that for a while but never looked into it.

I believe at that time, ATC was facing fierce competition from Turkish tobacco companies. That is the only reason they brought back cigarette premiums after a decades long absence. Perhaps Tolstoi was created around that time to counter the competition from Turkey?