Java (cigarette)

In 1856, the Karaite merchant Samuel Gabay, who moved to Moscow from Kharkov in the mid-19th century, founded a tobacco factory in Moscow, which was then called the S. Gabay Tobacco Factory Partnership. The production of the factory was popular, and the business developed successfully.

In 1912, the factory established the production of cigarettes from tobacco, brought from the Indonesian island of Java. The product was called Java. After the October Revolution, the factory became state property, but it continued to work constantly. It did not stop during the Russian Civil War. In 1920, the factory produced cigarettes of the highest and first grades, as well as other types of tobacco products.

In 1922, in honor of popular cigarettes, the factory was officially named Java. By this time, Java acquired the status of a socially significant symbol, and, apparently, lost its essence in the form of foreign raw materials for production. With these cigarettes, smokers were associated with a new time, a revolutionary spirit.

From 1927 to 1928, Mosselprom issued a total of 8 billion cigarettes, of which nearly a third accounted for Java.

The fighting on the Eastern Front during World War II once again showed that the Java factory is not just a producer of cigarettes for the state, but a national treasure. Despite the daily air raids in the first months of the German invasion, the factory did not stop working. In September 1941, most of the facilities were evacuated to Cheboksary and Saratov.

The end of World War II was a new stage in the development of the enterprise, despite the fact that much had to be restored. The German trophy machines for cutting tobacco were brought to Moscow at the Java factory. In 1947, the country saw the first cigarettes with a filter in the history of Russia's tobacco industry.

In the Soviet Union, the 100 mm long variant Java 100 was also produced.

By the 1960s, state investments in the development and installation of new production lines, as well as the training program for factory workers, produced a logical result: the Java factory became one of the leading tobacco enterprises in the country. In 1965, Java became the first Soviet cigarette with a filter of international standard King Size.[5]

The popularity of Java products prompted other factories to produce similar cigarettes with the same brand name. However, the most popular was still the original "Java" brand.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the factory Java was privatized. In 1994, a controlling stake was acquired by British American Tobacco. In 1997, keeping the classic brand, the company launched a full-scale and a new one – Java Gold.[6][7]