Six Johanns and a Mark

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			Six Johanns and a Mark Throughout the more than 230 years of its history, the Von Eicken Company has been in the hands of one family, whose name it bears. Not only have its factories and business connections been passed down from father to son, but so have its experience, technology and unsullied reputation (which remains such to this day). The Von Eicken Company has managed to survive three wars and withstand all the political storms sweeping through Germany, and all the while it has continued to delight smokers with its fine tobacco. It has so happened that the fortunes of the company have been not so much due to historical circumstance, as despite them. And the whole history of the Von Eicken Company is testimony to the fact that when things go against you, it’s not only possible to stay afloat, but to reach the very pinnacle of your field. 18th Century: Peaceful Trade Very likely it was only the first few years of the Von Eicken Company that were cloudless. The founder of the company, Johann Wilhelm von Eicken, was born in 1749 in the small town of Mettmann near Düsseldorf. As a young man, he showed himself to be highly enterprising, and his business sense became clear when at the age of twenty he married his cousin, Elizabeth, who was five years his senior. His uncle, a well-to-do trader named Hermann von Eicken, was extremely pleased that he’d managed to get his daughter – who was well passed her prime – finally married off, and he took his nephew-cum-son-in-law under his wing, providing him with enough money to open a business. Three months after the marriage in 1770, Johann Wilhelm founded the company that would bear his name in the town of Mülheim (while letting his uncle-cum-father-in-law believe that the company was named Von Eicken in his honour). It didn’t take long for the young merchant to get a good trade in coal going with the neighbouring German states. And, thanks to his talents, a few years later he was appointed manager of the estate of his sovereign, the Duchess of Hessen, Maria Louise Albertina. In this way, he added considerably to the company’s turnover. Now, the Von Eicken Company was able to trade in a big way in colonial goods. But, at the same time, a large part of the company’s business came from its involvement in the sale of tobacco and in processing mixtures suitable for smoking and snuff. The company’s main markets were in Amsterdam, Paris, Rotterdam, Antwerp, London, Marseilles and Bergen. Getting into the Dutch and British markets was particularly difficult, because these countries imported tobacco directly from their colonies. But no one was actually involved in processing tobacco. So Von Eicken began to import ground tobacco and quality tobacco mixtures into these countries. Despite their high prices, these products were able to compete successfully with the unprocessed products from the colonies. The business went well, but in 1804 Johann Wilhelm von Eicken died at the age of 55. 19th Century: The Napoleonic Wars After the death of the founding father, the once flourishing company – now in the hands of Gerhardt, Johann’s eldest son – fell on hard times. Napoleon’s forces swept through Germany and the Von Eicken Company was subjected to the calamities of war. The factory buildings and the shops were destroyed and plundered, and trade with England, Holland and France that had bought the greater part of the company’s products was cut. But Gerhardt not only survived the troubles, he even managed to expand his business by going back to the company’s original trade and investing a considerable amount of money in the coal-mining industry. Coal saved the company. Gerhardt died in 1824, and his three sons became co-owners of the company. But its turnover was not sufficient to provide for all three families, and so Hermann Heinrich, the middle son, had to set off abroad to earn his living. His share of the inheritance helped him set up a successful company in Buenos Aires, and he began importing steel, machinery and other industrial goods to Argentina. The two sons that remained in Germany, Johann Wilhelm and Karl August, decided to share the business: Johann ran the tobacco side, while Karl took over the coalmining. But Johann’s business did not go well and, after his death in 1861, his wife, Sophie, and his eldest son, also Johann Wilhelm, had great difficulty in keeping the company afloat. When his uncle, living in far-off Buenos Aires, sent him an invitation to come out there, Johann set off across the ocean, after handing the company to his younger brother, Karl Heinrich. To learn all the ins and outs of processing tobacco, Karl spent four years as an ordinary worker in his own factory, and then in 1866 at the age of twenty, he took charge of the whole Von Eicken Company. Despite his youthful age, he not only made a good job of running the company, but succeeded in getting the family business out of its crisis. It was Karl who took the fateful decision to stop working with colonial goods and concentrate on the tobacco business. It was exactly the right thing to do: by 1877 sales were ten times greater than they had been in 1866. The old factory could no longer cope, and a new building was put up on Wilhelmstrasse. More and more quality feedstock was required for the increasing production, and Von Eicken obtained huge shipments from South America, but also made use of home-grown German tobacco as well as tobacco brought in from neighbouring Poland. But the enormous tax rises and increased customs duties introduced in 1879 dealt a heavy blow to the Von Eicken’s business. It was reduced to about a third of its size, and it was to take till the beginning of the next century to get it back to the 1877 level. But Karl refused to give in and opened a branch of the company in Hamburg, which he took personal charge of. At first, the branch did not do much to increase profits, but ultimately it became so successful as to be made the head office. 20th century: The First World War In 1903, a member of the next generation of the Von Eickens – also bearing the traditional family name of Johann Wilhelm – became head of the company. At the time, the company factories were producing not only tobacco for smoking, but also chewing tobacco and snuff. It was decided to expand the range and start producing mixtures of ground Anglo-American tobacco so as to compete with the foreign manufacturers. The company continued its successful development and opened offices in practically all the towns throughout Germany – the Von Eickens had become one of the major players on the tobacco market in that country. And the company owners – both father and son – were certain that they had sufficient reserves to survive any of the upheavals that fate might throw at them. But they had no idea that very shortly a war was to begin that Germany would lose. When the First World War began, there was an immediate demand for tobacco and tobacco products, but it was not long before supplies were completely exhausted. Johann Wilhelm Jr. went to the front as a lieutenant, while his 67-year-old father continued to struggle with the trials and tribulations that war had brought on the company. The factory was on half-shifts due to the lack of feedstock, but the worst was still to come. When the war ended in defeat, the government cancelled all debts, and the Von Eickens lost several million, while the impossible taxes on tobacco products left not a trace of the company’s former well-being. But despite all this, in 1921 Von Eicken purchased a number of blocks of flats that stood in the vicinity of the main office in Hamburg and a printing house. This purchase was virtually forced upon him, because the German mark was losing its value at such an incredible rate that money had to be invested in something tangible. Inflation was so rapid that by the time a client paid his bill, the money had been devalued by half. Usually, about a cubic metre of paper money was delivered to a bank each day, but by the time it had been transferred to its accounts, the money had lost half its value. Furthermore, feedstock had to be bought for foreign currency, but could only be sold for German marks. On November 20, 1923 one American dollar was worth 4,200,000,000,000 marks – this was the lowest point to which a unit of German currency fell. To survive, Von Eicken had to take state credits, but they didn’t do much to help, and in 1928 the Mühlheim factory closed. Immense efforts had to be made to stay afloat and not fall behind the huge concerns that were selling goods at dumping prices and making enormous discounts to contend with the fall in business. The state was quite happy with the idea of the tobacco monopoly that was forming at the time, and so it took no steps. In a bid to increase sales, Von Eicken bought two companies in 1926, Barsdorf Gebr. Nachf. and Lotzbeck Gebroeder A.G. The latter proved to be a promising acquisition, and the Von Eickens managed to turn an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. In 1930, the government passed the most stringent tobacco law in the history of Germany, and many companies were ruined in the space of a single year. Von Eicken survived, but at the cost of incredible effort and thanks to enormous credits. In fourteen years the company managed to pay off the debts it had incurred over that period, but just as it seemed that the effects of the First World War had been finally overcome, the Second World War loomed large on the horizon. 20th Century: The Second World War In 1943, the company’s head office in Hamburg was destroyed in bombing along with the block of flats and printing house that belonged to Von Eicken. The factory had virtually ceased to produce any tobacco, and its owners were forced to use their equipment for grinding herbs and plants of various kinds, including heather, cherry leaves, black currents and coltsfoot for tea and medicines. This work was taken on not only to keep the factory running, but because it made it possible to buy coal, which was in very short supply. Coal was absolutely necessary for the steam-engine boiler, which generated electricity and thus supported the Von Eickens’ most valuable piece of equipment, their generator. But in the early part of 1945, the Nazis demanded that the factory be handed over for making X-Ray equipment. During these hard times, the company was run by the fifth Johann Wilhelm. On January 1, 1945 together with his father and friends, he celebrated the company’s 175th Anniversary. The invitation card included a message to the effect that every guest should bring 50 grams of meat, 10 grams of fat and 25 grams of anything else that was edible. But the anniversary celebrations were interrupted by the air-raid siren, which went off just as dessert was being served. When the Second World War ended on May 9, 1945, the Von Eicken Company gradually began to return to the production of tobacco and tobacco mixtures. Feedstock was extremely meagre, but the company got some from Friedrich Rothmann, for which it had to make hard journeys on a lorry to Burgsteinfuhrt. It also made use of home-grown tobacco and tobacco that was grown elsewhere in Germany. The first major supplies of feedstock for tobacco production did not start until 1948, and then they were auctioned, which meant that a small company – which Von Eicken was at the time – could not afford to pay the prices asked. So it was not until 1949, that Von Eiken could produce good tobacco. Then, under the previously well-known brand of Lotzbeck Medium Navy Cut, the company put a quality pipe tobacco on the market made from the imported varieties that German smokers had so long waited for. The silver tins with light blue and red lettering were simply swept off the shelves of the shops, and the first batch was bought up in a matter of days. After a while, they began selling a second variety under the name of Sweet Crop, which had also been well known before the war. And finally, after several months, the high-quality tobacco known as Von Eicken’s Mischung (Von Eicken’s Blend) went on sale in the shops. 20th Century: The Quality War Time passed. Tobacco was no longer in short supply, West Germany began its post-war economic boom, and the demand for expensive, quality products rose. Von Eicken’s tobacco and tobacco blends were in great demand by those who valued quality pipe tobacco – and not only in Germany, but abroad as well. The company moved over from the broad consumer market to the premium segment, as it preferred not to get involved in stiff competition with the tobacco giants. In 1951, Von Eicken renewed its cooperation agreement with Alfred Dunhill Ltd., which had been signed back in 1926. Johann Von Eicken had been a close friend of Alfred Dunhill, and their friendship developed into a business relationship with Von Eicken importing Dunhill products to Germany. Now that all the sanctions on importing tobacco products from abroad had been abolished, the Von Eicken Company began not only to import Dunhill tobacco products, but produce some of them under license. But when Rothmans bought the Dunhill cigar business, Von Eicken lost the contract. But after a short while, the company began importing the excellent Mag Baren tobacco from Denmark and cigarillos from the Hudson Factory in Holland. In 1970, the sixth Johann Wilhelm Von Eicken took control of the company. Production volumes rose. Now the factory began working in two shifts, but made so much noise that it disturbed residents in the neighbouring houses. As a result, the factory had to be moved to a less fussy neighbourhood, and the choice fell upon Lübeck, where the Von Eicken head office remains to this day. Today, the Lübeck factory is the company’s main manufacturing site, where all the tobacco mixtures for which it is famous are made. The technology for producing pipe tobacco has remained practically unchanged. Feedstock, consisting of tobacco leaves, is imported from Brazil, the United States and Africa, and it includes a wide selection of varieties such as Virginia, Latakia, Burley and many others. At first, the leaves are softened with hot steam, then aromatized in special cylinders, and finally crushed on special machines. The resultant mixture is dried and treated to the appropriate levels of temperature and humidity. In the early 1980s, the company tried to get into the American and British markets with the aid of a subsidiary company, Charles Fairmorn, but this was not successful and in 1988 their representative office had to be closed. The unification of Germany opened new opportunities, but also created new problems. In 1992, the government proposed that the Von Eicken Company take the Dingelstaedt/Eichsfeld cigar factory under its patronage. Their cooperation was very successful, and as a result the Von Eicken Company bought the factory. Now, thirty million cigars are produced there, as well as all the packaging for Von Eicken. Even so, in 1995 Von Eicken stood on the verge of bankruptcy. It seemed that the 225-year history of the company was at an end – but things turned out contrary to expectations and it didn’t happen. The company sold some machinery to Africa and underwent a harsh restructuring which involved moving into smaller premises and temporarily suspending the production of cigarettes. These cutbacks were not in vain: thanks to new contracts (which were the consequences of a well-planned marketing strategy), the company was able to resume normal work at the cigarette factory in 1998, and start actively exporting their products. Today, the Von Eicken Company has trade representations in 90 countries. 21st Century: What Next? The Von Eicken Company currently owns three enterprises: a factory in Berlin, a plant in Lübeck and a third factory in Dingelstaedt. The first two process the feedstock and produce pipe tobacco and the filler for the cigars that are made at the Dingelstaedt factory. Von Eicken’s most successful cigar brands are Don Antonio, de Robles and Charles Fairmorn. Today Von Eicken, the third largest family company in Germany, is involved chiefly with deluxe products. They’ve been successful in the American market too with their very popular Springwater cigarettes, while in the Middle East and Africa their Tradition and Ashford brands made from Virginia tobacco are extremely popular. Fifty percent of Von Eicken’s products are exported. Mark Von Eicken, who represents the family’s eighth generation, is already preparing to take the company helm. Like many of his forebears, Mark is an inveterate yachtsman, who has no fear of the coming storms of the anti-tobacco bans, of the pounding waves of competition, and of the shoals, reefs and underwater rocks of the tobacco business. For good luck, he still has the old scales that once belonged to the founder of the company – a material link with the past, when the enterprising Johann Wilhelm von Eicken married his cousin and with money provided by his father-in-law opened his own company. Could he have guessed what that company would become in 230 years! by ALEXEI PASTUSHENKO FOUR OF VON EICKEN’S BEST TOBACCO MIXTURES Calume Coarse ground, sun-dried Virginia tobacco mixed with black Cavendish – a slightly contrasting combination. The strips of dark, pressed tobacco burn long and evenly. Springwater The blend is made from Virginia tobacco, which has been sun-dried and coarse-cut, and shiny black Cavendish in small flakes. It has an exotic aroma with a hint of Manila fruits. Private Club A mixture of Burley and Virginia Golden Leaf, which are grown in the United States. All the tobacco leaves are carefully selected by hand and fermented twice. The blend is flavoured with Canadian honey and sugar cane from the Caribbean islands, which give it a spicy aroma. Manitou The blend consists of hand-picked Virginia tobacco of the purest kind from different parts of the State of Virginia.