Tobacco Taras Bulba - bad and good smoke

In 1969, 50 grams of Taras Bulba tobacco cost 1.50 Czechoslovak korunas (Kčs). 1 kg of bread at that time was bought for 2.60 Kčs, and the average wage was around 1950 Kčs. Taras Bulba was considered low quality, but because it was cheap even for that time, we smoked it from the pipe of my great-grandfather. The problem was that the odor of this tobacco repelled not only insects but also girls, which forced us to switch to better (and more expensive) smoking material.

After 57 years, I lit up Taras Bulba again, and although it was decades old, it didn't seem that terrible to me. I wondered why and found out that the tobacco for 1.50 Kčs that we smoked as students met standard 569540 valid until 1969 and contained a lot of stems. The Taras Bulba I stuffed in 2026 comes from the 70s, was produced according to industry standard 569544, cost 2.20 Kčs, and had almost no stems in it. Under the name Taras Bulba, two qualitatively different tobaccos were apparently sold over time. 😉