"Apollo-Soyuz" was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

brand of

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...

s which were manufactured by the ''"Java Tobacco Factory"'' in Moscow, Soviet Union, and

Philip Morris USA Philip Morris USA is an American tobacco company. They are a division of the American tobacco corporation Altria Group. It has been the leading cigarette manufacturer in the U.S. since the late 20th century. Its major brands include Marlboro, Vi ...

in the United States. Today it is owned and manufactured by the Krasnodar Tobacco Factory, a Russian subsidiary of

Altria Altria Group, Inc. (previously known as Philip Morris Companies, Inc. until 2003) is an American corporation and one of the world's largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes, and medical products in the treatment of illnesses ca ...

History

To honor the joint Soviet-American flight of the Soyuz-Apollo, a series of postage stamps and envelopes with the stamp first day covers, postcards, photo albums, as well as cigarettes under the name ''"Apollo-Soyuz"'' with the famous

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

tobacco from the American company Philip Morris were issued to be made. The brand was introduced for the occasion of the joint Soviet-American

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo spacecraft docked wit ...

mission in July 1975.«Кто лучше держит марку»
// Журнал «Деньги» № 36 (289) от 13.09.2000 The cigarettes went on sale in the Soviet Union on July 15, 1975, the day the

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Soviet Union, Union of Soviet Socialist Republi ...

was launched, and later in the United States. The cigarettes were manufactured for 5 years, during this time the Moscow factory released an order of 500 million cigarettes, although it was difficult to actually acquire a pack due to a trade deficit in the USSR. In the astronauts city Leninsk (nowadays called

Baikonur Baikonur ( ; ) is a city in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered by the Russian Federation as an enclave until 2050. It was constructed to serve the Baikonur Cosmodrome with adminis ...

) the cigarettes could be bought freely at 1.5 Rbls. 50 kop. per pack (at the time this was considered quite expensive). In other cities of the USSR, the cigarettes were instantly bought and resold by

speculators In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable in a brief amount of time. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline i ...

. The cigarettes were popular in the Soviet Union, a total of 3 billion were exported there. In the United States however, the brand found little appeal, mainly because the brand was expensive. Manufacturing of the brand was discontinued in 1980 upon expiry of the term of the license agreement between Philip Morris and Glavtabak.

Resumption of production

Cigarette manufacturing resumed in 1995 by the Krasnodar Tobacco Factory, owned by Philip Morris. In 1996 the factory was arranged in a full technological cycle of production, and since then the cigarettes are manufactured there. On July 17, 1998 the production of a new cigarette called ''"Apollo Alliance Special"'', which were more expensive than the original, was started. On April 1 of 2000, production began of the ''"Apollo Alliance Special Lights Bookstore"'' cigarettes (retail price per pack 9-10

roubles The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are su ...

), who were claimed to be a low-

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...

and

nicotine Nicotine is a natural product, naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreational drug use, recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As ...

cigarettes (8 mg tar and 0.6 mg nicotine per cigarette).

Packaging

The cigarette pack features a blue circle with a rendering of the docked Apollo-Soyuz spacecraft inside it, and bears English writing in blue and Russian in red. On one side it says: ''"Apollo Soyuz commemorative brand,"'' and on the other ''"Soyuz Apollo"''. On one edge of the pack are the words, ''"Developed by Philip Morris Inc. U.S.A. and Glavtabak, U.S.S.R. in commemoration of U.S./Soviet space cooperation"'' in English and Russian, along with the English words, ''"Made in U.S.S.R., Tava Factory, Moscow."'' Glavtabak was the Soviet State Tobacco Agency. The other edge displays the U.S. Surgeon General's warning that cigarettes are dangerous to your health.

Markets

Apollo-Soyuz was originally only sold in the Soviet Union and the United States. Since its re-introduction it is sold in Russia.

In popular culture

Video games

Apollo-Soyuz cigarettes appeared in the game

Escape from Tarkov ''Escape from Tarkov'' is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game in development by Battlestate Games for Microsoft Windows. The game is set in the fictional Norvinsk region in northwestern Russia, where a war is taking place b ...

where the brand is called ''"Apollon Soyuz"''.

References

{{Soviet Union–United States relations, state=collapsed Philip Morris brands Russian cigarette brands Soviet brands Apollo–Soyuz Test Project Soviet Union–United States relations Tobacco in Russia