| Introduction:
In
the late nineteen fifties, the Egyptian chamber of tobacco and cigarettes
industry, of which I was general manager, carried an intensive lobby with
the Egyptian ministry of finance to protect the local tobacco industries
by prohibiting the import of foreign tobacco products, particularly American
cigarettes.
Dr.
`Abdel Mone`em al-Qaisouni, the then Minister of finances, agreed to
our request and obtained a presidential decree forbidding the import of
foreign products and imposing harsh punishments on those involved in smuggling,
selling and, yes, using those products. Fifty years earlier, Globalization
was not yet fashionable and most countries, including Egypt, did
their utmost to protect their local industries.
The
story:
In
the winter of 1960/1961, Syria was the northern province of the
United Arab Republic and we, at the chamber of tobacco, managed to
establish with the Syrian tobacco monopoly a kind of common market which
we hoped could be the prelude of a common market between all the countries
members of the league of Arab states (the Arabs are still waiting and praying
for their useless league to establish that common market).
A
few weeks after our agreement with our Syrian brothers, Egypt decided
to hold a Cairo international exhibition on the exhibition ground
of Gezira. The board of directors of the chamber, after consultation
with the Syrians, decided to build a large pavilion in which samples of
Egyptian and Syrian (tobacco) products would be beautifully displayed.
It was left to me to implement that decision.
A
couple of days before the inauguration of the exhibition, we were advised
by the cabinet of Dr. Hasan `Abbas Zaki, the then Minister of Commerce
that late President Nasser would himself attend the inauguration.
Because
of the importance of the event, we decided that all members of the board
led by the late Joseph Matossian, its chairman (he was also chairman
of the eastern tobacco company), Dr. Mohammad Ali Rif`at, its vice-chairman
(he was also director of Coutarelli brothers and general secretary of the
Afro-Asian organization for economic cooperation) and “al `Abd lillah”
(myself) would form a committee to welcome president Nasser and show him
around.
On
the day of the inauguration ceremony, Nasser arrived with members
of the free officers group . We received him at the entrance of the
pavilion, we shook hands with the utmost respect (he even hugged old Mr.
Matossian)
and we took him around briefing him about each of our products on display.
At
the end of his tour, we offered him one of our cigarettes (a Belmont if
i remember well), we also offered cigarettes and cigars to all the dignitaries
in his company. They all obliged but Nasser himself, a chain
smoker, declined to accept our cigarettes, put his hand in his pocket and
got out a pack of (illegally smuggled) Kent cigarette. I lit
his cigarette with my lighter while all the assistance were looking with
a kind of surprise. He felt a little uncomfortable with the situation,
apologized to us claiming that he was used to the Kent and any change of
brand would make him cough. He then added, looking at Matossian
and myself, that if we could come up with a cigarette similar to the Kent
he
would be our first and best client. We all smiled and Matossian
told Nasser “his wishes were orders.The next morning, at Matossian‘s
request, I went to “Kasr el Nil street” by the “Salon Vert”,
where all kind of smuggled cigarettes were openly on display on the pavement,
and I bought three cartons of “Kent” which I took to my chairman,
at his office in the eastern tobacco cy, he called over his chemists and
tobacco experts (“kharamangya”) and ordered them to carefully
analyze the Kent cigarettes and come up with a very similar blend.
A few weeks after, a blend was ready and we held a meeting to choose a
name for that new cigarette. After some deliberation our choice fell
on the name of “Cleopatra”.
We
felt that it would be very appropriate to choose an Egyptian historic name
particularly when the giant movie company Metro Golden Mayer was
in the process of shooting in Rome the film of Cleopatra, with ElizabethTaylor
and Richard Burton, and all the papers wrote that it would be the
most expensive film ever produced by Hollywood and they gossiped
about the eloping of those actors. Such propaganda for the movie
would also be very helpful in launching our new brand.The Eastern (El-Sharqia)
Company
artists then designed a pack very similar to the “Kent” and, I was
advised that the product was ready to hit the market. We felt that,
since this cigarette was manufactured at the request of Nasser,
he should be the first person to have them. We had four “Cleopatra”
cartons
wrapped with golden paper and silver ribbons, prepared a lovely letter,
signed by Matossian, which we stuck to the parcel, and we drove,
the chairman and myself, to the “Kubbeh” palace, which was then
the presidency offices, where we were received by Mr. `Abdel Meguid
Farid, the then general secretary of the presidency, who thanked us
on behalf of the president.A few months after these events, my wife and
myself were invited to attend the wedding of the daughter of colonel general
(“Fariq Awal”) Rashad Hassan, Nasser‘s aide de camp, to the
then captain aviator (“Qaed serb”) Nabil Hussein Kamel. we
were good friends of the two families and we were seated during the dinner
party, that which took place at the Heliopolis palace hotel (that
hotel is now the presidency offices), not far from the main table.
There was a long delay in serving dinner and rumors were circulating that
Nasser
was
expected to attend.
He
came in with his entourage of bodyguards and he sat between the married
couple. He was sitting about five meters away from my wife and myself
and we both had a good view of him. I was very anxious to see what
cigarette brand he was going to smoke!! As usual, the first thing
he did after hugging the couple and sitting down, was to put his hand in
his pocket and to get his pack of cigarettes in front of him on the dining
table. I looked with horrified eyes at his pack. it was not
a “Cleopatra”! It was not a “Kent”! It was an L&M!!!Oh
well, he did not smoke the brand, but the Cleopatra was, and still
is, a great financial success.
© Kamal Katba
2003
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