History of Cigarette Rolling Papers

Nobody knows for certain how or when cigarette rolling papers first came into existence, but it is likely to have started with the invention of paper making itself. 

Since the introduction of tobacco into Europe by one of Christopher Columbus’s fellow explorers, smokers have been looking for a cheap way of smoking tobacco. 

The skill required to make the perfect cigar made them too expensive for most ordinary people. Pipes were not popular with people until the introduction of clay pipes, but these proved to be very fragile. 19th century industrialisation, made mass produced cigarettes affordable until the world-wide introduction of tobacco taxes.

Ordinary smokers, therefore, had plenty of incentives to find an alternative way of smoking tobacco.

A French citizen, Pierre Lacroix, first realised the commercial potential of rolling paper when, in about 1532, he was offered a bottle of Perigord Champagne in exchange for some paper that he had  produced, wanted not for writing on, but for holding tobacco for smoking.

Even then the production of rolling paper didn’t take off until 1660, when the Lacroix family started the serious production of cigarette rolling paper.

It was not until 1795, however that commercial production really took off and this was thanks to Emperor Napoleon. He was quick to realise that his soldiers, in the habit of smoking tobacco in cheap clay pipes, became very restless when the rigours of battle caused those pipes to break. His officers put in a  substantial order for cigarette rolling papers to the Lacroix factory, thus confirming the commercial value of large scale paper production.

1799 saw the first production of ‘fine’ weight papers, again by the Lacroix family.

In 1838 another Frenchman, named Jean Bardou introduced a booklet of rolling papers made of thin rice paper.  These became very popular, even to this day, with his trade mark, the Initials JB separated by a diamond, being spoken of as JOB.

In about 1850, during the Crimean War, British troops used paper in which to roll tobacco, a custom taken up by the British people who read about this first media-covered war.

In 1863 LACROIX sold the first booklets of 100 papers, followed in 1865 by the introduction of  rice paper.  This, incidentally, prompted the  Lacroix family to change the name of the company to Rizla (Riz being French for rice). Later to become Rizla+ (la+ representing the name Lacroix (the cross).

Another important invention in the history of cigarette rolling papers was that introduced by the Braunstein brothers in about 1894. They invented a process of interleaving  (zig zaging) papers within a booklet, thus assuring the availability of the next paper in the booklet after a paper had been removed, and introducing the Zig Zag company and its products to the world of roll your own cigarettes.

1977 Rizla introduced a variety of  King Size papers, for example Rizla Blue King Size Cigarette Rolling Papers and Rizla Blue King Size Slim Cigarette Rolling Papers.

In more recent times, smokers have had an increasing choice of smoking products to enhance their experience. These include:

Bull Brand Green Cigarette Rolling Papers, of medium weight with corners cut to make rolling process easier.

Bull Brand Liquorice Cigarette Rolling Papers, providing a  liquorice flavour to the smoking experience.

Rizla Silver Cigarette Rolling Papers, an ultra fine paper, enhancing the tobacco smoking experience.

All major brands now produce King Size and Liquorice varieties.

Juicy Jays are a brand that provides flavoured paper, such as Juicy Jays King Size Flavoured Cigarette Rolling Papers.

Rips, are a rolling paper on a roll and come in a variety of flavours - Rips Flavoured Cigarette Rolling Papers come in 9 flavours including Cherry, Banana and Chocolate.

Also available are Rips papers in 5m or 7m lengths and Ultra fine, light weight and medium weight. Examples are:  Rips Regular Red Cigarette  Rolling Papers (7m and of medium weight), and Rips Green Slim Size Cigarette Rolling Papers (5m, and of light weight).