The Resilience of Hand-Rolled Cigarettes: Marketing Imported Tobacco in East Africa, 1880–1939

This study outlines rival cigarette marketing strategies as a vehicle to explain the resilience of hand-rolled cigarettes in early colonial East Africa. British American Tobacco (BAT) seemingly held every advantage: deep finances, imperial political connections, and cutting-edge technology. BAT pursued a direct marketing strategy, promoting young British salesmen deemed appropriate for rural Africa. The competition, long-established import–export houses such as the Hamburg-Zanzibar firm of William O’Swald & Co., put surprisingly little effort into advertising. Instead, O’Swald quietly continued to work within regional wholesale networks, distributing a variety of shag tobacco and cigarette papers to shop and kiosk vendors, and, up until the mid-1930s, this ‘archaic’ approach appealed to many smokers. Early colonial consumer tastes were mediated through their experience in their community, in the marketplace, and at work, and they were not so easily influenced by modern marketing campaigns. Hand-rolling provided continuity with precolonial tobacco consumption, enabling consumers to find or mix blends that matched their local preference. Moreover, street corner kiosks offered inexpensive, single, hand-rolled sticks, together with small quantities of other daily needs. Most importantly, young migrant workers modelled hand-rolled cigarette smoking, making it a badge of working-class identity.