The tobacconist's shop

As tobacco was considered to be a medicinal remedy when it was first introduced into Europe, it was initially sold in pharmacies. It was administered in very different forms as medicine. It was made into oils, salves and syrups, the leaves were applied topically or it was grated and snuffed, whereby it was always the desiccating effect of tobacco that was emphasised. The notion of balance between the humours of the body made tobacco, which was believed to relieve "all tough, thick phlegmatic fluxes and humours", a very important medicinal remedy. Even as late as the end of the 18th century tobacco enemas were administered to revive the drowned.

It was only gradually that the properties of tobacco as a pleasurable stimulant were discovered. Johann Joachim von Rusdorff, envoy of the Electorate of the Palatinate, described his first encounter with smoking in 1627 thus: "I cannot help but take a few words to criticise this astonishing fashion introduced into this Europe of ours from America a few years ago which one may call a drunken spree of fog [and] which surpasses all passion for drink, old or new. Namely, dissolute people are wont to drink and quaff the smoke from a plant which they call Nicotina or tobacco with incredible appetite and unquenchable zeal" ¹.

It was not until around 1630, when tobacco began to become widespread as a stimulant and smoking a socially accepted habit, that special tobacco stores developed. In these "Tabagien", as these shops were called in German-speaking countries, tobacco could be consumed as well as purchased. The novel herb was smoked in clay pipes modelled on the smoking devices of the Amerindians, clay pipes which had a hollowed-out bulge at one end. The first pipes produced in England were made of light-coloured clay and had a short stem and a small bowl set at an obtuse angle to the stem.

Soon there were tobacco shops wherever people smoked. In Austria, however, a special form of tobacconist's evolved, an institution known as the 'Trafik', the name deriving from the Arabic 'tafriq', meaning 'to distribute'. The 'Trafikant' or proprietor of this kind of shop appears for the first time in a handwritten document from Joseph II addressed to his chancellor, Count Kolowrat, in 1784. Here the tobacco shop is already cited as a means of providing a living for war veterans and soldiers' widows. Johann Hofer, the son of Andreas Hofer, the Tyrolese freedom-fighter executed by Napoleon, was for example given a tobacco shop in reward for his father's heroic valour.

The sign for these tobacco shops was an Oriental smoking a chibouque: this was either painted on the shutters or on a sign above the entrance, or in the form of a wooden figure. The chibouque is a special kind of clay pipe developed by the Turks. The name actually means rod or pipe and was transferred to this type of pipe, the stem of which could be up to five metres in length. The bowl of this pipe was made of fired clay and had a flattened base so that they could rest on the ground, since the chibouque was smoked while sitting or reclining on the ground, as depicted on tobacco shop signs until late into the 19th century.

The first of these shops were small wooden huts in which the tobacco was sold loose by weight. "Beim Tabakkrama kommen d’Leut z’samma" ("Folk get together at the tobacconist's") ², as one of the most well-known ballads from Old Vienna has it, describing the most important role of the shop besides the selling of tobacco as a local meeting place and hub for all the latest rumour and gossip. The tobacco shop owned by Valerie in ödön von Horvath's Tales from the Vienna Woods has entered the annals of literature as a centre of communication. As the play demonstrates, the main element of the tobacconist's shop was the proprietress: if she was getting on a bit some young man or other might let her keep him, while if she was young and pretty she became the sought-after object of seduction. The more elegant and well-appointed the tobacconist's, the more beautiful was its proprietress.
"Now you've grown too old to seduce tobacco shop proprietresses" Joseph Trotta is told on his return from the front in Joseph Roth's The Capuchin Crypt. ³

The tobacconist's shop was connected to the fair sex in another respect: Archduke Otto, the father of Emperor Karl I, used to pay off the objects of his extra-marital liaisons with the gift of tobacconist's shops.

The tobacconist's occurs frequently in the work of Joseph Roth, for example in The Bust of the Emperor, where it symbolises the unity of the monarchy: "When one crisscrossed the heart of this diverse fatherland, everywhere one passed the wooden doors of the imperial and royal tobacconist's shops painted with yellow and black diagonal stripes..." ⁴

The figure of the beautiful young tobacco shop proprietress crops up again in the UFA film Die kleine Trafik (The Little Tobacco Shop), starring Willi Fritsch, Lizzi Holzschuh, Käthe von Nagy, Gustav Waldau, Adele Sandrock and Hans Moser.

¹ J.J.Rusdorff, Metamorphosis Europae, 1627
² Schlögl, Friedrich. Wienerisches - Kleine Culturbilder aus dem Volksleben der alten Kaiserstadt an der Donau. Vol 3. Vienna 1883
³ Roth, Josef. Die Kapuzinergruft. Vienna 1938
⁴ Roth, Josef. Die Büste des Kaisers. Vienna 1934

This painting depicts the counting-house of a Dutch tobacco importer who has just received a delivery of tobacco from the Dutch colonies. In the background an employee is opening one of the barrels in which tobacco was transported up until into the 19th century. Standing on the cupboard are two Delft tobacco jars which served to store smaller amounts of tobacco.

These Delft tobacco jars, which would have contained samples of the loose tobacco on sale, have the typical painted blue decoration which often included the name of the particular type of tobacco, as in this example with 'Tabac Royal'. The covers are of brass or copper.

This jar has a bulbous shape tapering sharply towards the base. The name of the brand of tobacco – Martenike – is surrounded by ornamental motifs in blue.

As tobacco was regarded as a medicinal remedy in Europe for a long time after its discovery, it was initially sold in pharmacies. It was not until around 1630, when smoking had become widespread that specialised tobacconist's shops developed. The frontispiece of this book shows the interior of a 'Tabagie', as the first tobacconist's were known and in which the tobacco was also consumed. Rather like in a coffee house the customers are sitting at small tables and smoking their pipes together.

An Oriental smoking a chibouque had been the sign for a tobacco shop since the 17th century. In Austria the figure was either painted on a board or carved as a wooden sculpture.

This smoking Oriental painted against an atmospheric landscape at dusk is an unusually high-quality example of a tobacconist's sign.

This volume contains statutory rules and regulations governing the sale of tobacco.

This wooden head of a smoking Oriental, who holds the mouthpiece of the tube of a narghileh between his lips instead of a chibouque, was also the advertising sign of a tobacconist's shop.

This design is a variation on the motif of a smoking Oriental with the addition of a slave handing him a light.

These wooden shutters from a Viennese tobacconist's shop depict the typical motif of an Oriental smoking a chibouque together with the range of tobaccos available at a turn-of-the-century tobacconist's.

The imperial double eagle also served as a sign for a tobacconist's in Austria.

This tobacconist's sign displays the double eagle as well as a number of tobacco jars and a pipe.

This sheet metal sign displays another variant on the motif of the smoking Oriental, this time depicting him in a tobacco shop. In addition to tobacco jars a hank of tobacco can be seen from which pieces were cut as required for customers.

This tobacconist's sign consists of a cast iron double eagle mounted on a wooden panel.

This simple tobacconist's sign reveals the name of the proprietor: Michael Gapp. Also depicted is the set of scales with which the loose tobacco on sale was weighed.

This simple sheet metal sign dates form the inter-war years.

Here Franz Alt depicts the busy comings and goings at a tobacconist's in the centre of Vienna which served as a meeting place where one could hear all the latest gossip.

This richly-illustrated catalogue displays the assortment of products sold by the Austrian Tobacco Monopoly at the beginning of the 20th century. Franz von Zülow was only one of many renowned artists who designed packaging, posters and catalogues for the Austrian Tobacco Monopoly in the 1920s and 1930s.

Due to the scarcity of tobacco during the Second World War ration cards for cigarettes had to be introduced- These could be obtained by men over the age of 18 and women over the age of 25. Up until 1943 the daily ration was six cigarettes for men and three cigarettes for women. From 1943 the ration was reduced to three cigarettes and one could no longer choose a particular brand.