• Hellenic Republic • Prefecture of Drama

Today absolute silence reigns over the imposing forms of the tobacco stores. One can still make out the fine smell of the famous eastern tobaccos. Though, and if you listen hard enough you can still hear the voices of the human beehive of tobacco workers from behind the closed windows and the sealed iron doors. From the middle of the 19th century approximately excellent soil conditions and a perfect climate for the cultivation of tobacco favoured the development of exceptional varieties of this product in the semi-mountainous villages of the area but also in sections of the lowlands. The varieties "Basmades" and "Basi Bali" with their fine leaves and intoxicating aroma attracted the interest of foreign tobacco monopolies and their suppliers in the east, and Greek, Ottoman and Jewish merchants, around 1860.
Excellent climatic conditions in the prefecture favoured the cultivation of tobacco and gave rise to famous varieties of eastern tobacco.

Excellent climatic conditions in the prefecture favoured the cultivation of tobacco and gave rise to famous varieties of eastern tobacco.

The product of the Muslim and Christian cultivators underwent a first treatment in the local tobacco workshops which with the increase in demand soon became multi-storey buildings during the first decades of the 20th century, particularly around the waters of Agia Barbara in the city - due to the necessary moisture - but also in tobacco producing villages in the countryside. After sorting and packaging in the spring and summer the tobacco was sent via the harbour at Kavala destined for the markets of the Austro-hungarian Empire, France and the United States. During the inter-war years large amounts of tobacco were exported to Germany in particular.
The modern history of the area is closely linked with tobacco. The restraint of the Christian population into tobacco producing towns, economic progress and the development of such towns in centres for the Macedonian struggle, the dramatic increase in population in the period leading up to liberation, the revitalization of the market and the quick incorporation of thousands of Greek refugees in 1922 would not perhaps have even been feasible if tobacco had not existed.
Tobacco is sown in March. From June to September there is a successive snapping off of the leaves. This is followed by threading the leaves together and hanging them to dry. In January the tobacco is made into bundles. These procedures require the work of the entire family.

Tobacco is sown in March. From June to September there is a successive snapping off of the leaves. This is followed by threading the leaves together and hanging them to dry. In January the tobacco is made into bundles. These procedures require the work of the entire family.

During the "Golden Age" of tobacco for the area between 1925-1928 and 1934-1939 at least 13,000 families in Drama were involved in the cultivation of more than one million square metres of tobacco, producing for many years to come what were the largest quantities of tobacco in Greece and bringing in valuable foreign currency to the country. Apart from the farmers, thousands of local and foreign tobacco workers, men, women and children contributed to economic development working under exceptionally difficult conditions in the tobacco factories. They underwent some difficult struggles with large-scale strikes in 1914 and in the period between the two World Wars, ensuring the petiton of the first collective labour agreement in Greece. Nevertheless, the exclusive cultivation of tobacco on the land and the dependence on international demand to move the product led to the brink of economic disaster in the productive and working world of Drama during the world economic crisis of 1929. Following the Second World War tobacco continued to monopolize productive activity but was severely affected by reductions in demand from foreign markets and by the fact that young farmers abandoned this particular form of cultivation.