Even in the 21st century, Sima had heard of the British-American Tobacco Company, which was an absolute giant trust enterprise in the tobacco manufacturing industry, even in the 21st century. Although the country imposed high taxes on imported cigarettes, a large number of smuggled cigarettes still entered China through various channels, and the most common brand of these smuggled cigarettes in the Chinese market was "555" cigarettes under the British-American Tobacco Company, as well as the relatively common "KENT" cigarette brand, which was also a brand of the British-American Tobacco Company.

  In the face of high tariffs on imported cigarettes and strict crackdowns on smuggled cigarettes, British-American Tobacco Company's cigarettes still occupy a place in the domestic market. It is even more understandable that they dominate half of the Chinese market at a time when cigarette factories can be set up freely in every city in China and cigarette advertisements are everywhere. Moreover, with over 100 brands under its umbrella, there is a wide range of choices for smokers of all income levels, from high-end Virginia cigarettes that cost over 50 cents per pack to affordable White Spot cigarettes that cost only 4 cents per pack.

  Simma remembers seeing some data before, in the early days of the country, the industry with the highest domestic profit margin was the tobacco industry. Later on, every year, the industry that submitted the highest profits was also the tobacco industry. Even in later generations, local tobacco monopoly companies became one of the fattest units because they held the tobacco monopoly rights. Simma personally envied friends who worked at tobacco companies and received bonuses equivalent to their annual salary every year.

  In later generations, even in the entire country, including the military industry that was originally strictly controlled by the state, private capital was allowed to enter, and all industries in society implemented a fully open market economy policy. However, there were only two industries where the state maintained its monopoly on operation and sales rights, and even enacted laws specifically for these two industries to strengthen their monopolistic position. These two industries are salt and tobacco. Both are high-profit industries. Although I am not familiar with the tobacco industry, I have had some contact with private salt sellers in the past, and I clearly know that the ex-factory price of salt is only a few yuan, while the market price set by the salt company is 1.5 yuan per 500 grams, which is tens of times higher. Under such huge profits, the government will definitely implement a monopoly on operation and sales. Although I am not familiar with tobacco, I can also see the profits of this industry from the profits of the salt industry. Otherwise, the government would not enact laws to protect its operation and sales rights.

  "A profit of ten million yuan per year!"

  Simas entire person was stunned by such a huge number, although this era imposed high taxes on tobacco factories, but the profit from tobacco sales was not as large as in later generations, most of which were obtained by the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau.

  This profit, as mentioned by Sidom, is far from comparable to the manufacture of machinery such as spinning machines, yarn machines, and flour machines. Even a large domestic tobacco company like Nanyang Brothers has an annual profit of around 10 million silver dollars.

  Simar once calculated the future profits of his own factory. If he didn't import machines from the future to make a profit, and relied solely on his own factory to manufacture machinery such as spinning machines and flour mills, he could at most only earn tens of millions in a year.

  It's that profit is already surprisingly high "Plum Blossom" watch, only a few million yuan in profit per year, although the movement of this watch is customized from future factories, if you're willing to bring over 100,000 watches, it's no problem.

  But this watch is a typical luxury item, with a minimum price of hundreds of yuan for one watch, it is destined that whether at home or abroad, only a small portion of people with higher incomes can afford to buy it. Being able to sell tens of thousands in a year is already quite good.

  Moreover, watches are a one-time consumption product for most people, while cigarettes are consumable goods. Moreover, the market for cigarettes is large, demand is high, and profit margins are not much higher than those of watches.

  The more he compared the two, the more Sima realized that cigarettes seemed to be the most profitable and least noticeable product at present. Cigarettes were not as eye-catching as luxury goods like watches with precise structures, and their technical requirements were also very simple. In later generations, many domestic counterfeit cigarettes were produced by ordinary farmers who relied on a few machines to produce large quantities of fake cigarettes.

  As early as the 24th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, the national import volume of foreign cigarettes had reached 6.874 million taels (customs silver), and by the 31st year of Guangxu, the total value of national imports of foreign cigarettes had surged to 63.487 million taels (customs silver), an increase of 9.23 times in just 7 years. After the Republic, the import volume of foreign cigarettes had already exceeded tens of millions of taels. And its final profit

  While a large quantity of finished cigarettes were imported into China, more were produced by foreign companies setting up factories in China. American tobacco companies believed that the sun-cured tobacco grown in China at the time was not suitable for making rolled cigarettes due to its color and aroma.

  The tobacco leaf materials used are all imported from Turkey and the United States. Among them, high-quality imported tobacco leaves are used to produce Jin Feng, Virginia, and Tianxiang 3 brands of cigarettes, which are specifically supplied to foreign residents and businessmen. Medium and low-grade imported tobacco leaves and stems are used to make Lanxing brand cigarettes, with Chinese people as the sales target.

  The tobacco raw materials used by these foreign-funded cigarette manufacturers are roughly mixed with 70% imported tobacco and 30% domestic tobacco. The imported tobacco is mainly produced in the United States, Turkey and India.

  American tobacco is mainly produced in North Carolina and Virginia, with large leaves and thick stems, which can be made into silk after removing the stem, and are widely used in the production of various grades of cigarettes. Turkish tobacco is mainly produced in the Malva region, with medium-sized leaves that do not need to be removed from the stem to make silk, and have a rich aroma, often used for high-grade cigarette production. Imported tobacco is usually packaged in wooden barrels, each weighing 1000 pounds (453.5 kg).

  At the same time as importing cigarettes, the British-American Tobacco Company in China also imported a large quantity of discarded American cigarette butts as low-grade rolling stock materials to maximize profits, reaching tens of millions of pounds per year.

  The country imported 487,500 piculs of tobacco leaves in a year, worth 14.55 million taels of customs silver. From the import of tobacco raw materials alone, it can be calculated that the annual profit obtained by the domestic cigarette industry is probably an astronomical figure that is hard to imagine.

  Enormous profits would make businessmen willing to risk being hanged, if doing a business that doesn't require risking being hanged can also bring enormous profits, then probably not many people would refuse this business. The huge profits brought by cigarette production really made Sima find it hard to give up.

  The profit of cigarettes is undoubtedly very large, but opening a cigarette factory in China at present may not be a good idea. Due to the poor quality of domestic tobacco leaves, they are not suitable for making cigarettes. If you want to make cigarettes, you must use imported tobacco blended with local tobacco, just like foreign merchants do. The sources of imported tobacco are: (1) direct importation; (2) purchasing from British and American tobacco companies in China; and (3) ordering from foreign tobacco firms (companies).

  There were 17 foreign tobacco companies that imported and sold foreign cigarettes in this era. Among them, the American Tobacco Company located at No. 1 Waitan was the largest, followed by Mei Sheng, Zhongmei, Meidi, Jinsu, Huashi and other tobacco companies or shops, which mainly dealt with American tobacco.

  In the early days of cigarette production, procuring imported tobacco through these three methods was not a problem. However, the source was controlled by others, and historically, Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company had to shut down its entire factory for nearly a month due to its inability to procure imported tobacco.

  Until General Manager Jian Zhaonan personally went to the Americas, organized Sino-American Tobacco Company, and purchased American tobacco leaves. The Nanyang Tobacco Company needed about 15,000 barrels of American tobacco leaves every year, which were directly purchased by purchasing staff sent by the company to major markets. Only then was the worry in the back resolved.

  To solve this problem, unless you plant 21st-century tobacco varieties in your own mouth, although the north can't grow good tobacco, the quality and aroma of these tobaccos should meet the requirements for cigarette production.

  In the 21st century, the northern cigarette factories used local tobacco at most mixed with a small amount of Yunnan and Guizhou tobacco. If not possible, they could also mix in imported tobacco leaves to change the flavor, but it's impossible to use 70% imported tobacco leaves.

  Although the 21st century relies on the "Tobacco Monopoly Law" and the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau to severely crack down on counterfeit cigarette production, it still cannot stop the counterfeit cigarette industry. The reason is that its high profits are so enticing, although every year many people who manufacture and sell counterfeit cigarettes are caught, yet every year there are still many people entering this market.

  The necessary equipment for making fake cigarettes is a small cigarette rolling machine, which obviously cannot be purchased through regular channels. However, once there is a market for any commodity, suppliers will naturally emerge. Thanks to the relatively developed private manufacturing industry in China in the 21st century, various types of cigarette machines can be purchased through underground channels.

  In the past, cigarette machines and other tobacco equipment were mostly purchased through acquaintances and relationships. Now, however, there are even professional websites selling these devices online. The website that Sima is looking at right now is one such example.

  Staring blankly at a website introducing various mechanical equipment needed for cigarette manufacturing. Looking at the contact information of the sellers next to the photos of these cigarette-making devices, Sima even had an illusion that this website might be a trap. How could someone be so bold as to sell such machinery openly?

  However, at least on the family website, Sima received a systematic introduction to the mechanical knowledge of making cigarettes. Although it was still not very clear, at least it was much better than being completely confused before, and at least knew what mechanical equipment he needed.

  "Sorry to keep you waiting, boss. I told you not to worry, it's absolutely no problem. See? Shall we talk here or go upstairs to the room?"

  In a hotel in the city, a man approaching forty years old found table number four of the Scorpio constellation and said with a smile. The middle-aged man looked around and said.

  "Let's talk about it here! Speak softly so no one will notice us."

  Although he thought it would be better to be cautious, Sima refused the request of the middle-aged man who looked a bit untrustworthy to go upstairs to his room to talk.

  "Alright! Boss, I've brought all the technical documents as per your requirements. Please take a look first. I guarantee that our machine prices are absolutely the cheapest and of course, the quality is also the best. You can rest assured."