Nuri Demirag, one of the first tycoons of the young Turkish Republic, built his fortune on the cigarette paper trade. In 1919, Nuri Bey resigned from his civil service post and launched his first business venture with capital of 56 Ottoman gold liras. While Ataturk was rallying the independence movement in the provinces, Nuri Bey whipped up the patriotic spirit in Istanbul by hanging a sign outside his shop which read "Turkish Victory Cigarette Paper". The packages of his cigarette paper bore the same brand name, with a design of star, crescent and sun motifs. Roused by this message of hope, consumers in Anatolia flocked to buy the new brand of cigarette paper, and by the time the War of Independence, led by Ataturk, ended in victory in 1923, Muhurdarzade Nuri Bey's modest investment had multiplied to the grand total of 84,000 lira.

As the Ottomans adopted the cigarette, shops and street barrows selling cigarette papers began to open in Tahtakale, still today the centre of Istanbul's stationery and paper trade. Connoisseurs had always prided themselves on being able to distinguish tobacco by its colour, smell and cut, but when it came to choosing cigarette paper the wrapper was all they had to go by. The producers made full use of this opportunity to attract customers, and the graphic art of the period created a new genre of designs which rivalled stamps and postcards in colour and diversity – today they are collector’s pieces, humble, everyday things of beauty.

Ottoman Rolling Tobacco papers