makhorka

English

Etymology

From Russian махо́рка (maxórka). The Russian term took its name from the Dutch city of Amersfoort, known for its tobacco industry.

Noun

a pack of smoking makhorka

makhorka (usually uncountable, plural makhorkas)

  1. (chiefly Russia) A coarse, strong type of tobacco (Nicotiana rustica), especially grown in Russia and Ukraine.
    • 1938, Seema Rynin Allan, Comrades and citizens, page 113:
      Carefully refolding the paper, he put it away and rolled himself a cigarette of powerful makhorka in the strip of newspaper.
    • 1949, Naum Jasny, The Socialized Agriculture of the U. S. S. R., page 585:
      More than three-quarters of the Soviet tobacco output consists of makhorka (Nicotiana rustica), a low-grade variety used in other European countries only as an insecticide because of its high nicotine content.
    • 2003, David Victor Rosenstein, The Reason to Love This Country, page 36:
      We were starving for tobacco—makhorka, actually, which, according to soldiers, helped survive cold, hunger and everyday toil. They gave us one pack of makhorka a month.

Synonyms

Translations

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