Expanding Tobacco Industry:
International Markets
• Between the second half of the nineteenth century and
1914, the export of tobacco leaves became one of the
most lucrative branches of commerce in the Ottoman
lands.
• Major cigarette producers in Egypt, Europe and the
United States began to depend on high quality tobacco
imports from the Balkan and Anatolian provinces of the
Empire for use in their cigarette blends.
• The leading tobacco processing center in the Empire
was Kavala. By the beginning of the twentieth century,
however, the number of tobacco workers were 15,000.
AMOUNT (million kilograms)
45
43
41
38.4
39
37
35
33
31.7
31
29
AMOUNT (million kilograms)
27
26.2
25
24.1
23.5
24.7
23.8
23
21
23.2
21.5
20.6
19.1
19
15.9
17
15
17.9
18.8
13.3 13.6
13
11.5
11
11.7
9
8.9
10.4
7
1913
1911
1910
1909
1908
1907
1906
1905
1904
1903
1902
1901
1900
1897
1895
1894
1890
1889
1885
1880
5
Expanding Tobacco Industry: Domestic
Markets
• Tobacco was widely consumed in the Ottoman Empire.
• In the period between 1880 and 1914, the major player
in domestic markets was the foreign-owned Régie
Company. The company began its operations in April
1884 and proceeded to establish new factories in
major production and transportation centers.
• The company’s largest factory, located in the Cibali
district of Istanbul, opened its doors in 1884. The Cibali
Factory employed about 1,500 workers in 1894 and
more than 2,200 workers in 1912.
Production Processes
• Sorting-baling
• Blending
• Cutting Tobacco Leaves
• Rolling Cigarettes
• Packing Cigarettes
Tobacco Sorters in Kavala
Cigarette Rollers in the Cibali Factory
Mechanized Cigarette Production
Cigarette Rollers in the Cibali Factory
Gender Relations
• Kavala: Women workers occupied lower positions
in the work hierarchy. While their male coworkers sorted out high quality tobacco leaves,
they dealt with the lower quality ones. Moreover,
male workers monopolized the craft of tobacco
baling and the position of foreman.
• To protect their privileged-monopolized position
in the work hierarchy and high wages, tobacco
balers were well organized across ethnic and
religious lines.