"Belomorkanal" - cigarettes hailing from the USSR

"Belomorkanal" (cigarettes), a photo of which before you, is known to all people who lived during the period of the Soviet Union's existence. Contemporaries are also familiar with this tobacco product, but several from the other side. As soon as they call cigarettes of this brand - Belomor, Belomor Camel, Bel Amur Chanel ... They were smoked by every second Soviet smoker, it was the most famous Soviet tobacco brand, which was everywhere: on the shelves of shops, in jokes, in Movies ... This is the most recognizable brand in the history of tobacco production in the Soviet era. Appearing in the distant thirties, "Belomor" continues to be produced in our days - both as cigarettes and as souvenirs.

History of creation

In the early thirties, Joseph Stalin abolished private business and gave rise to the era of industrialization. This transition was painful for the people and was accompanied by exile and executions. In order for Soviet citizens to work more effectively, propaganda was set at the highest level in the country. The era of large buildings was displayed in everything. They were made films, written books, composed poems, songs, and even named these great projects, they called cigarettes.

One of the biggest projects was the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal (BBK). To implement this, construction required a lot of financial investments, but Stalin, in order to cut costs, used prisoners as free labor . It was not necessary to pay these people, and the number never decreased. According to reliable facts, it is known that a huge number of people died on the construction of the White Sea Canal (according to various sources, from 60 to 180 thousand).

Although this powerful project took many human lives, the Soviet people perceived it as a triumph of the USSR, confirming the status of the Great Country. The new brand "Belomorkanal" (cigarettes) had a stunning success. Tobacco products with such a legendary name have become almost a symbol of labor heroism and great construction. The release of "Belomor" was just in time, strong and cheap cigarettes fell to the heart of the whole population, they were smoked as intellectuals and simple workers.

Description

The design of the pack was the key to recognizing the brand. In its creation, the artists of the Uritsky tobacco factory participated. Some people are sure that the picture on the pack has never changed, but it's not. From the very beginning, it displayed a part of the European map with the allocated fat band Belomorkanal and thin lines of foreign channels. Later, the image on the pack changed, leaving Soviet Russia and adding to the channel mentioned a water "road" named after Moscow and the Volga-Don. The dimensions of the modern pack are 82 x 83 x 23 mm.

In the production of cigarettes, a sleeve is first produced, then tobacco is packed into it. The density of packing is very high, because of this, tobacco is not spilled at all. There is an opinion that the diameter of the cigarette "Belomorkanal" (7.62 mm) was designed so that if necessary, it would be possible to produce cartridges on the same machines. Far-sightedness has not harmed anyone yet, Soviet tobacco "cartridges" of other brands also produced with the same diameter.

"Belomorkanal" (cigarettes): composition

Innovation in the tobacco industry was not intended for weak intellectuals, but for hardy and strong workers, although, as already mentioned, they were smoked both. "Belomorkanal" - cigarettes are very strong, made of pure tobacco without admixture of flavorings. Each unit contains 30-35 mg of resin and 1.5-1.8 mg of nicotine.

"Belomorkanal" cigarettes: production

The composition was invented by the master Ionidi. In certain proportions, he mixed Moldovan and Azerbaijani tobacco varieties. Release "Belomorkanal" (cigarettes) began in 1937 in Leningrad, the factory named after Uritsky.

Nowadays, their manufacture continues at the former Uritsky factory (Petro LLC). A well-known brand does not have a specific owner, so anyone can produce such cigarettes. For example, in 2011, the factory "Donskoy Tabak" released "Belomorkanal" in a gift-wrapped beautiful metal box.

Traditionally, the production of cigarettes requires manual labor, for this reason in our modern times such manufacture is considered unprofitable.

"Belomorkanal": price and quality

In Soviet times, the real proletarians of all the narcotic vices could only drink inexpensive spirits and smoke cheap and strong cigarettes. Appeared in the sale of cheap and strong "Belomor" immediately found a simple people of great popularity. This is not surprising, the price for such a pleasure was scanty when compared with other tobacco products.

Later "Belomorkanal" became associated with all the famous expression: "Smoke of the Fatherland, which is sweet and pleasant." And this despite the fact that these are cigarettes of the fifth class. They also took pride in the fact that, at a scanty cost, the pack "kept" not 20, as usual, but 25 whole, full of strong tobacco, paper sleeves. "Belomor" is the strongest cigarettes, which means that they are unrivaled for their health.

Brand in the modern world

No matter how much they praise the "Belomorkanal" (cigarettes), in the modern world of fierce competition and the diversity of tobacco products, both domestic and foreign, it has lost its popularity. But at the same time, tobacco products from the USSR are in demand among tourists as a souvenir of the Soviet era. Our tourists often take them with them on trips to Europe.

According to statistics, only 4% of the marketed whites are used for smoking. The remaining 96% are bought because of a cigarette case, in which it is very convenient to change the contents.

A well-known brand has been tried many times by manufacturers of filter cigarettes and vodka producers. These attempts failed to succeed, the real "Belomorkanal" remained just cigarettes.