History of Rolling papers

The History of Rizla +

Nobody knows for certain how cigarette-paper has come into existence.

But, there are a few stories on this which I would like to share with you .

For instance, a soldier in the wars of Napoleon had lost his pipe to smoke. It is

said that he rolled his tobacco in everything he could lay his hand on, for

example in dried leafage and in pages torn out of books.

Another story tells us that a gunner of the army in Egypt, during the siege of

Akkra in 1832, came to the idea to roll his tobacco in paper which was

normally used to pack up bullets.

Consequently, he invented the first rolled cigarette, which was a real cigarette.

You should also know that in the 18th century the company L.LACROIX FILS,

which was founded in Angoulème in France, produced different sorts of papers.

"Citoyen"  LACROIX used a new french technology to make very fine papers.

On the 18th  April of the year 1799, he took out a patent for this new

technique. LACROIX  wouldn't have thought for a second that his invention of

fine cigarette-paper  would  be further developed to the thousands of good

quality rolling papers  which exist nowadays.

Léonide LACROIX

As the years passed by, smoking became more and more popular by the people.

Inventive Frenchmen produced cigarette-paper that was immediatly ready for

use.

At the end of the 19th century, the first booklets of rolling paper appeared on

the market.

They were still without glue and they weren't yet folded together.

Out of these "premature" experiments, the modern cigarette-papers were born,

and soon their production grew higher and higher, which led to their increasing

perfection.

Where does the name RIZLA + come from?

The name stems from two sources. The first half of the word, "RIZ", 

refers to the production process of the papers. 

During this process, the texture of the raw material looks like rice 

(in French: "riz"). The second half of the word, "LA +", refers to the family

name of the above mentionned LACROIX ("croix" means "cross", 

hence the "+"). 

By the end of the 19th century, during the French-Prussian war (1870-1871),

the soldiers started to roll cigarettes manually. And although Queen Victoria

disapproved of it, the habit became more and more established.

During the 19th century, the firm LACROIX became the biggest producer of

rolling papers in the world. 

Until 1978, the different ventures of LACROIX produced their papers

independently and distibuted them in France, England, Belgium and Norway.

From then on, they were all united under the central management of

LACROIX- BELGIUM.

In 1980 LA CROIX acquired several units for production, distribution and

marketing in the United States of America.

Nowadays, the partnership LACROIX covers more than 30 countries and its

annual production of cigarette-paper is sufficient to manufacture a cigarette

that can be winded 25 times around the earth.

And although RIZLA + has recently been bought by the IMPERIAL TOBACCO 

GROUP, it still remains the most sold rolling paper in the world.

The History of Rolling Time

1532    The first knowing sale of paper was dealt with PIERRE LACROIX

            in exchange for Périgord Champagne.

1583    The fondation of the family LACROIX was in Angoulème.

1660    The family LACROIX started the production of Paper.

1712    FRANçois Lacroix started the commerce of paper in La Couronne.

1736    FRANçois Lacroix bought his first papermill.

1764    JEAN LACROIX was be out of employment for 18 persons and

            possessed more than 12 mills in the region of Angoulème.

1795    The beginning of the Napoleon war, because of shortage of traditional 

            pipes of stones, the soldiers used sheets of papers of books for rolling

            their tobacco.

1799    18 April: the french revolution has plenty of paper.The family 

            LACROIX got the licence from the registrar of Napoleon for the 

            production of fine paper.

            FILIGRAIN LACROIX paper was used to make rolling your own

            tobacco public.

1850    During the Krim war, the soldiers had the custom to roll cigarettes as

            on cheap alternative for cigars, afther the war everyone took the

            custom of the soldiers.

1860    The cigarette-paper bean perfection.

1863    Booklets of 100 leaves where sold by LACROIX.

1865    Indish riz paper took place of the standard blotting paper.

1866    The new name of the product, chosen by the family LACROIX

            is "RIZ LA+".

1867    The first booklet of Rizla was produced and the mark RIZ LA+

            was put down.

1881    the first booklet of Rizla rolled from the production machine.

1891    LEONIDE LACROIX completed the construction of his castle

            nearby the Rizla factorie in Mazères.

1900    Rizla paper became popular in Europe and the States.

1929    The first rolling machine was produced.

1937    First factorie in the UK was established in Wembley.

1946    The factorie in France was burnt complet, and so most valor 

            information like drawnings, proofs and documents were lost.

1948    Rizla take over the "General paper and box manufacturing" in 

            Treforest ( south west Wales ).

1954    RIZ LA+ became Rizla+.

1958    The paper factorie in Wilrijk ( Belgium ) was established.

1977    Rizla introduced the King Size paper in there assortiment.

1978    The family LACROIX was sold out by the factorie manager of Rizla

            Belgium sire PAINBLANC.

1994    20 may UBS a syndicate of bances was sold out PAINBLANC

            and was acquired a majority of participation.

1996    Rizla started the production of a new assortiment

            RIZLA ORGINAL ( the first 15 years )

1997    28 january Rizla was became a part of Imperial Tobacco Group PLC.

Information by Caers Paul

PAPELERAS REUNIDAS S.A. founded 1/1/1935

Information by Marco Sonaglia 2001

History of e-z wider

Tired of sticking two narrow papers together to roll a smoke, the two ad guys set out to make their own paper. What appeared to be an easy project turned out to be an international adventure. At first, everyone laughed at their idea. "What's wrong with the papers we sell?" they asked. The guys retorted, "They're too narrow!" This went on and on until, after a long journey through Europe, they found a company willing to make these 'silly American papers'.

Not really so silly, because people loved them and bought a lot of e-z wider. Since the birth of e-z wider Double Wide, e-z wider added e-z wider One and a Half, One and a Quarter, Lights and Ultra Lights. It didn't take long for the Europeans to want to buy the company that owned e-z wider. So in 1981, the world's largest maker of cigarette rolling paper purchased e-z wider.

The partnership has proven to be a great asset to e-z wider. The people who make e-z wider take great care to deliver a quality product that consumers enjoy and return to buy again and again. e-z wider is also supported by a strong group of people who live to develop new papers and products for great rolling. For example, consumers told us that they wanted a better one and a quarter size paper that was like the e-z wider clean burning paper, only slow burning. So our Belgian colleagues went to work developing such a paper, and voila! e-z wider Slow Burning was born.

Today, e-z wider Slow Burning is made in the same Belgian factory that developed it. That ensures a consistently high quality product every time you buy e-z wider Slow Burning. You can't miss e-z wider Slow Burning either, because it has a bright orange pack with the e-z wider logo on the front.

e-z wider comes in a variety of sizes for every consumer. While e-z wider Double Wide is still the most popular, the medium width brands, e-z wider Lights and Ultra Lights are growing, along with e-z wider One and a Quarter and One and a Half. e-z wider has a total of seven different sizes that satisfy any roll-your-own need.

Information by e-z wider.

 2001/04

PauRolHom ©

Webmaster Caers Paul   '98

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Last Update : donderdag 22 november 2007 11:45:12