Muratti (cigarette brand)

Muratti

An old Italian pack of Muratti Ambassador cigarettes with a small text warning that says "Gravely harms your health"
Product type	Cigarette
Owner	Philip Morris International British American Tobacco (Germany only)
Produced by	Philip Morris International British American Tobacco (Germany only)
Country	United Kingdom/German Empire
Introduced	1821 (1821)
Markets	See Markets
Previous owners	"U.K. Tobacco Company", "Godfrey Phillips"

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Muratti is a brand of cigarettes,^[1] currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris International.^[2] There are many different Muratti variants introduced over the years, and they were also sold as Ambassador, Ariston, Cabinet, Gentry, Iplic, Peer and Regent.^[3]

History

Ad for Muratti cigarettes in a German magazine (1902)

The company was founded in Constantinople by Greek tobacco trader Basil Mouratoglou, in 1821. He moved the company to Western Europe in the 1880s, after the Ottoman Empire monopolized the tobacco industry—in 1885 the company was established in Berlin/Germany, and in 1887 in London/Great Britain.

Until 1939, the German army administration seized the entire production site in Köpenicker Straße. Muratti had to move to commander road number 20. Three years later, however, the Nazis completely shut down the factory, and at the end of the war, all the tobacco in the city was consumed. The Berliners were lining up for a pack of "Sondermischung", and on the black market a stick of American cigarettes costed 1,000 Reichsmarks.^[4]

The English company ended up under Philip Morris International. The German brand was bought by Martin Brinkmann in 1960, and now belongs to British American Tobacco.^[5]

Muratti cigarettes are sold in three varieties, Rosso, Chiaro and Zaffiro, all packaged in pichular packaging and featuring a slim profile.

In November 1991, cigarettes which were "too strong" for the Italian market were to be banned in the coming months, and all cigarette brands were to be lowered in tar and nicotine. A Muratti Ariston Filter cigarette contained 14 mg of tar at the time.^[6]

In December 1991, the distribution of the brands Marlboro, Merit and Muratti were suspended in Italy for one month due to problems with counterfeit cigarettes.^[7]

In February 1992, a third tax in 14 months was put on cigarettes in Italy, increasing the price of cigarettes by 50 or 100 Lira. A pack of Muratti Ambassador costed 3550 Lira at the time.^[8]

In January 2016, cigarette prices in Italy went up by 20 cents, and a pack of Muratti Amabassador Blu went from €5,20 to €5,40.^[9]

Advertisement

Various poster, billboard and magazine advertisements have been made to promote Muratti, both before and after World War II. The ones made after the war were especially promoting the "Charcoal multifilter" it had.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]}

A film ad was also made in 1935.^[19]

A special set of cigarette cards were made for the 1936 Summer Olympics. They were given when you bought a pack of Muratti cigarettes.^[20]

In the 1980s, Philip Morris made a few posters and even a TV spot, and teamed up with the watch manufacturer Quartz to produce a watch called "Muratti Time".^{[21][22][23][24]}

In 1985, Muratti sponsored a concert of Paolo Conte in Bologna.^[25]

Sport sponsorship

Markets

Muratti (that includes all the other, older variants) was or still is sold in the following countries: United States, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and India.^{[28][3][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]}

See also

• Cigarette
• Tobacco smoking

References