Filter 57 is a
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
n brand of cigarettes, owned and manufactured by ''"Tobačna Ljubljana'', a division of
Imperial Tobacco
Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mor ...
. In the
Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, the cigarettes are known as ''"57"'' and are manufactured by the
Iranian Tobacco Company
The Iranian Tobacco Company (ITC) was established in Iran in 1928 to achieve improvement and progress in the global tobacco industry.
This company is one of the most important and largest tobacco production companies in Iran.
Currently, the CEO ...
.
History
The brand was created in 1957 in the
Socialist Republic of Slovenia
The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...
and also became the first
filtered
Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a ''filter medium'' that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filter m ...
cigarette in
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
. The difference from other brands at the time, such as Drina, Jadran, Drava and so on, was that these cigarettes were packed upside down, which made them a really popular smoke amongst the Slovenian working class. The reason for this, was that during work time, the hands of these workers were often dirty, and thus when they would grab a cigarette by the filter, it would get dirty too. However, if the filter laid at the bottom, the paper would get dirty when grabbed, but that wouldn't a problem because it would get burned up anyway, allowing the worker to place the filter in the mouth cleanly.
In fact, this is an urban myth. According to the Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia, a technical error was the true reason why "57" cigarettes were packed upside down.
This brand got an almost
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
-like following in
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
Slovenia. After the
breakup of Yugoslavia
The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
, the cigarette is still largely popular in modern-day
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
, but the manufacturing operations of the ''"Tobačna Ljubljana'' were ended.
The brand had a 57% market share in the Yugoslavian cigarette market and represented almost 80% of the total production in 1962.
Packaging
The pack features primarily green and white colours, along with a
dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
-like feature. Folk imagination provided an interesting interpretation of the visual image of the Filter 57 box, which says that in the contours of the dragon's head we can recognize a cup of coffee and in its hull an outline of Slovenia. The dragon-shaped arrow in the form of an arrow points to number 57, which means that the whole of Slovenia at the tea bath 57. The opening verse of Prešeren's Waterfall appeared later on the edge of the box. Filter 57 was considered to be a product of
Ljubljana with the symbols of Ljubljana.
See also
*
Tobacco smoking
*
Drina (cigarette)
Drina is a Bosnian brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the Sarajevo Tobacco Factory. The brand is named after the Drina river, which forms a part of the international border between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Hist ...
*
Elita (cigarette)
Elita is a Latvian brand of cigarettes that was produced between 1967 and 2009 by the Latvian company ''"Rīgas Tabakas Fabrika"'' and later by British American Tobacco. According to the data submitted by the Latvian State Revenue Service, Elit ...
*
Jadran (cigarette)
Jadran is a Croatian brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the Adris grupa (formerly known as ''Tvornica Duhana Rovinj''), a division of British American Tobacco. Jadran means '' The Adriatic'' in South Slavic languages.
Hi ...
*
Laika (cigarette)
Laika (''russian: Лайка'') was a Soviet brand of cigarettes, which was manufactured by various Soviet tobacco companies, but most notably the ''"Tabachnaya Fabrika Dukat Moscow"'' and the ''"Tabachnaya Fabrika No.1 Leningrad"''. The brand wa ...
*
Lovćen (cigarette)
Lovćen is a Montenegrin brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the ''Duvanski Kombinat Podgorica'' in Cetinjski Put, Podgorica, Montenegro (formerly called the ''Duvanski Kombinat Titograd''). The brand is named after the Lov� ...
*
Morava (cigarette) Morava was a Serbian brand of cigarettes which was owned and manufactured by Philip Morris Operations.
History
Morava was founded in the Socialist Republic of Serbia and named after the river Morava, by which the majority of cigarettes were deliv ...
*
Partner (cigarette)
Partner was a Macedonian brand of cigarettes that was owned and manufactured by ''Makedonija Tabak''.
History
The brand was founded after the end of World War II and was manufactured by the company "Makedonija Tabak", in the Socialist Republic ...
*
Smart (cigarette)
Smart (alternative name: ''Smart Export'') is an Austrian brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by ''Austria Tabak GmbH'' (''Austria Tobacco Company'').
History
''Smart'' was created on September 7, 1959, as a filter cigarette ...
*
Time (cigarette)
Time ( he, טיים) is an Israeli brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Dubek.
History
The Time brand, first launched in 1965, is the most popular cigarette brand in Israel. It is an American blend cigarette, available in t ...
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Sobranie
*
Jin Ling
Jin Ling is a Russian brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the Kaliningrad-based manufacturer Baltic Tobacco Company (russian: link=yes, Балтийская табачная фабрика, BTC). Other places where this br ...
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LD (cigarette)
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Walter Wolf (cigarette)
Walter Wolf is a Croatian brand of cigarettes. It is currently owned and manufactured by the .
History
The brand was introduced in the 1990s during the Yugoslav Wars. It was introduced in the market with the movement of refugees to Central Eur ...
References
Imperial Brands brands
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