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The Egyptian cigarette industry, during the period between the 1880s and the end of the First World War, was a major export industry that influenced global fashion. It was notable as a rare example of the global periphery setting trends in the global center in a period when the predominant direction of cultural influence was the reverse, and also as one of the earliest producers of globally traded manufactured finished goods outside the West. Rise The development of a major cigarette industry in Egypt in the late nineteenth century was unexpected, given that Egypt generally exported raw materials and imported manufactured goods, that Egyptian-grown tobacco was always of poor quality, and that the cultivation of tobacco in Egypt was anyhow banned in 1890 (a measure intended to facilitate the collection of taxes on tobacco). One reason for the development of the industry was the imposition of a state tobacco monopoly in the Ottoman Empire, a measure designed to increase Ottoman government revenue. This resulted in the movement of many Ottoman tobacco merchants, usually ethnic Greeks, to Egypt, a country which was culturally similar to the Ottoman Empire but outside the tobacco monopoly as a result of its occupation by Great Britain. The founder of the industry was Nestor Gianaclis,([1]) a Greek who arrived in Egypt in 1864 and in 1871 established a factory in the Khairy Pasha palace in Cairo which, after Gianaclis moved to larger premises in 1907, became the home first of Cairo University and then of the American University in Cairo. Gianaclis and other Greek industrialists such as Ioannis Kyriazis of Kyriazi frères successfully produced and exported cigarettes using imported Turkish tobacco to meet the growing world demand for cigarettes in the closing decades of the nineteenth century. Imitation Egyptian cigarettes made by Gianaclis and others became so popular in Europe and the United States that they inspired a large number of what were in effect locally-produced counterfeits. Among these was the American Camel brand, established in 1913, which used on its packet three Egyptian motifs: the camel, the pyramids, and a palm tree. Arthur Conan Doyle paid a causal tribute to the popularity of Egyptian cigarettes in his 1904 story "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez", where a character interviewed by Sherlock Holmes in a murder investiagation is described as "ceselessly smoking Egyptian cigarettes". Decline Tastes in Europe and the United States shifted away from Turkish tobacco and Egyptian cigarettes towards Virginia tobacco during and after the First World War. What remained of the Greek-run tobacco industry in Egypt was nationalized after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Egyptian-made cigarettes were thereafter sold only domestically, and became known for their poor quality (and low price). Of all the many foreign imitations of Egyptian cigarettes, only Camel survived the remainder of the twentieth century.***** Kyriazi (also incorrectly spelled ‘Kiriazi’) Freres was a cigarette manufacturing company established in 1873 in Egypt (some sources cite the year 1885). The company was founded by Ioannis Kyriazis, together with his brothers Efstathios and Epaminondas, although his other two brothers, George and Dimitris also played an active role in the company. History Ioannis’ father was Kyriazis Hadji-Kyriazis (b.1817) from Kissos, in Mt Pelion in Thessaly (Greece). He was a tobacco and overcoat merchant, married to Keratso Alexopulou (first wife) and Maria (b1820, second wife) [1]. Ioannis went into the tobacco business in Smyrna, but was forced out of Greece by the imposition of the Turkish tobacco monopoly [2]. He founded a company for the importation of tobacco and a cigarette factory in Muski Street in Cairo in Egypt, which later became known as Kyriazi Freres. The company was formally established in 1873, as advertised on all their products. In 1897 the brothers constructed a purpose-built factory in the Cairo district of Tewfikieh and they employed over 500 workers to manufacture hand-made cigarettes. The company expanded due to a successful advertising campaign and their brands became known across Europe and the Middle East. They had an outlet at 20 Cheapside, London, as well as agents in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. By 1901, Kyriazi Freres were exporting over 103 million cigarettes a year [3]. Some years later the sons of Ioannis (Damianos Kyriazis, and Costadinos b.1891-d.1962) opened custom-built factories in Amsterdam, Holland (1922) and in Hamburg, Germany (1925).[4]. Their most well known brands were Aris, Astra, Conqueror Extra, Egyptica, Emir, Ferik, Finas, Ideal, Imperatore, Neptune, Special, and Zenith. These brands were awarded several quality awards in exhibitions and trade fairs. Advertisement and Society Advertisement campaigns by the firm played a part in the re-structuring of the Middle Eastern (particularly the Egyptian) social classes. This was because their campaigns were aimed at equating Western high social status with their brands, and using local up-and-coming gentlemen to endorse their products. Advertisers used the cigarette as a social status symbol. The advertisers wanted to reach a select small group of people, unlike today’s mass marketing techniques. In this particular case the aim was to reach the effendis (upward moving local professionals) and used a snob effect to persuade them that buying Kyriazi Freres cigarettes places them in the same class as their affluent Western counterparts. The advertisers portrayed the local smoker in chic surroundings, dressed elegantly and smoking the particular brand, associating wealth with increased cigarette consumption, and fame or celebrity status with smoking their brand≥ [5]. The success of the advertisers was also obvious in Europe, using an opposite effect. They used the brand’s glamorous Oriental mystique, persuading young Western smokers who wanted to boast connections with the exotic Middle East, to buy their brand. The Factory Their original factory was located in a purpose-built building in the European quarter of Cairo, and specifically, in the Souk El Tewfikia. This area was a mix of residential, commercial and diplomatic establishments. The red and beige building and its garden occupied 3000 square meters (32,200 square feet). The Kyriazi Freres factory was, and still is a famous landmark building. The Cairo Times write that "...the place is just as lively today as it was during Kyriazi Pasha's days" [6]. Kyriazis Freres products and memorabilia are now highly decorated and valued by today’s collectors. It was ironic that one of the brothers’ son (namely the son of George, Neoclis Kyriazis) became a medical doctor who, through his lectures on hygiene, warned the public about the health risks of tobacco smoke[7]. ebay4816 ( 4816a)