A little history lesson about the history of rolling papers.
This may seem long, but there is no other way to tell this story. Click the tabs above to learn more about the history of rolling papers, which in turn influenced the creation of RAW®. Our hope is the next time you light one up, you’ll think of the history and enjoy each puff a little bit more than before.
Alcoy is an area of Spain where hundreds of years ago the first paper mills in Europe were established. The Serpis river crosses the municipal boundary of Alcoi.
Experts believe the tobacco plant, as we know it today, began growing in the Americas at about 6000 BC. It is believed that Native Americans began using tobacco in various ways (including smoking) a few thousand years later. As time went on, tobacco and tobacco usage became very common in the Americas. There is a drawing of smoking by the ancient Mayans from about 1400 years ago. In it, a Mayan is shown smoking a roll of tobacco leaves tied with a string.
Tobacco was first discovered by Europeans via Christopher Columbus. Columbus received dried tobacco leaves as gifts when he landed in what is now the Caribbean. Two of his crew are credited with first observing smoking when they were exploring what is now Cuba. The natives taught them how to smoke, and one of the crew members, Rodrigo de Jerez, took the habit home to Europe. In fact, his neighbors were so frightened by seeing smoke coming out of his nose and mouth that they notified the local Inquisition. Jerez was jailed for 7 years (and you thought smokers had it tough nowadays)! By the time Jerez was finally released, smoking had become all the rage in Spain.
The birth of the modern, rolled cigarette happened in 1614 in Seville, Spain. King Philip III required all tobacco grown in the Spanish New World to be shipped to a central location in Seville to control pricing and prevent oversupply. Because of this, Seville became the world center for the production of cigars. Street beggars would pick up the remainders of used cigars, take them apart and re-roll them in newspaper. Because of the scarcity of tobacco and their desire to enjoy every drop, the street beggars began holding the smoke in their lungs (inhaling). This took hold and made its way through the working class until the practice became common. Thus the modern, hand-rolled cigarette was born.
Of course, burning newspaper had its own problems, especially with the then toxic-based inks. Spanish merchants began offering plain, unprinted paper for this purpose. One small factory in Alcoy that was making specialized packing papers offered the first paper designed specifically for cigarette rolling. This paper was later improved and an additional factory in Alcoy opened to compete. Over time additional cigarette paper factories opened near Barcelona, France, the UK and eventually there were many factories across Europe. In the Alcoy region, there is still one rolling paper factory left, which can actually connect its roots back to the first rolling paper factories. This Alcoy factory produces many popular artisan papers to date. Brands such as RAW®, Elements®, Juicy Jay’s® & DLX® are made using processes that date back to the origin of this factory. Some of the craftsmen at this factory have been making papers for generations!
In Spain, the size that was developed based on consumer preference was approximately 78mm long by 44mm high. At first, this was the size that dominated the entire European market. However, King James I and his later successors enacted heavy tobacco taxes. This led the British market to move to a smaller size that held about 25% less tobacco. This new small size was about 70mm long by 38mm high. As the British Empire grew, so did the proliferation of this smaller British sized rolling paper. In fact, to this date in most of the commonwealth countries, the #1 selling size is this small 70mm paper. This paper became known as “Standard Size” or “Single Wide.” The original Spanish 78mm paper became known as “Spanish Size,” except the British referred to it as One and a Quarter, in reference to how it holds about 25% more tobacco than a British Standard Sized paper.
Flash forward about 100 years and the industrial revolution allowed the mass production of machine-made cigarettes. At first, most cigarettes were either 70mm or 78mm long without a filter. However in the 1950s filtered cigarettes began to take over. Consumers were concerned that by purchasing a filtered cigarette they were getting less tobacco as the filter took up some of the cigarette’s space that used to be filled with tobacco. Thus large tobacco companies responded to this by increasing the length of cigarettes to accommodate the filter. Cigarette size increased from 70mm or 78mm to a new 84mm size. This new size became known as “King Size,” named after the King of England who was seen publicly smoking this new cigarette. Over the next several decades the shorter cigarettes saw their market share shrink dramatically until they were all but replaced by the new 84mm “King Size.” However, rolling paper factories missed the opportunity to change their sizes to suit this new consumer preference and continued producing the legacy sizes of generations past. It wasn’t until 2009 when HBI finally produced 84mm cigarette rolling papers with their launch of DLX® brand 84’s as they are called.
Now we’d like to address so-called “King Size rolling papers,” which are actually misnamed. These date back to 1984 when Rizla® launched its 100mm rolling papers catered towards women who preferred the 100mm cigarette size. People first referred to this as “Queen Size.” Another firm tried to outdo Rizla® and launched a 110mm paper, and named it “King Size.” However, this is a misnomer. King Size cigarettes are all 84mm long. A 110mm paper is actually a longer “Queen Size” and is much longer than the preferred 84mm standard King Size. The aforementioned “King Size” rolling papers were typically 110mm long and 52mm high. However, the newer format of this “King Size” is 110mm long and 44mm high (sometimes called King Size, sometimes called King Size Slim). This has become one of the most popular sizes in Europe and is growing while the older King Size is decreasing. The difference is the 8mm in paper height. The 44mm height is the original “Spanish Sized” or 1 ¼ sized height and seems to be the preferred height by most smokers for all rolling papers (regardless of length).
The origins of the cigarette rolling paper booklet can be traced back to a priest, Father Jaime Villanueva Estingo (Jativa, Spain, Alcoy Region 1765). Before Father Villanueva’s invention, tobacco smokers laboriously and wastefully cut sections of large sheets of paper to roll their cigarettes. He devised a more convenient method of peeling small sheets from pocket-size booklet dispensers and brought his idea to Alcoy, where the first rolling paper booklets ever were produced. People still pay homage to Father Villanueva in Alcoy to this very day.
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