Information about Rizla

RizLa+ (known commonly as "Rizla") is a brand of papers in which tobacco is rolled to form cigarettes.

Rizla rolling papers are available in a range of thicknesses and sizes, indicated by the colour of the packaging. Rizla is the world's number one selling brand of rolling papers and is available in over 120 countries worldwide.

Rizla history

The myth of creation

The Rizla tradition has a humble beginning that started in 1532, when a Frenchman named Pierre de Lacroix began making paper. As the legend goes, one rainy day in the French city of Angoulême, Pierre de Lacroix was inspired to begin the production of rolling papers when he traded a rolling paper for a bottle of fine champagne and realized their potential market.

The company breaks out

In 1660, the Lacroix family began serious production of rolling papers, having found them to be highly profitable. Despite the early success, it was not until nearly 76 years later in 1736 that the family acquired their own paper-mill, purchased by Francois Lacroix, who founded the Lacroix Rolling Paper company the same year.

However, it was not until 1796 that the Lacroix brand got its first major production deal, during the Napoleonic wars, when Napoleon himself granted the company a licence to produce fine rolling papers for his soldiers who until then had been forced to roll cigarettes using paper torn from the pages of various books.

In 1860, Pierre Lacroix perfected the formula for the Lacroix brand of rolling papers. In 1865, another change was made to the formula - the tissue previously used in the papers was replaced with paper made from rice. It is this change to rice paper that caused the name "RizLa+" to finally emerge: a combination of the French word Riz (meaning rice) with "La" and a cross, representing the Lacroix family name, which literally means "The Cross". The Lacroix family changed the brand name in 1866.

The RizLa+ company was so successful, that by 1891 the Lacroix family had amassed enough wealth to construct a castle-like manor, which they dubbed Chateau Leonide Lacroix. The Lacroix family were selling their product throughout Europe and the United States by 1900.

The Rizla brand in the 20th century and beyond

RizLa produced some of the first flavoured papers in 1906, with the release of menthol and strawberry. The first Rizla Blue fine-weight rolling papers were produced in 1910, with thinner paper and a more pronounced tobacco flavour. RizLa also released one of the first rolling machines. The basic design of their original rolling machine is still used to this day.

In 1942, the RizLa brand revolutionized the world of rolling papers when the Lacroix brothers acquired a patent for applying gum to the edge of rolling papers. This new feature solidified Rizla's position as a leader in the rolling paper industry, placing them at the top of the market.

During 1944, Riz La changed its name yet again to the name "Rizla+", which is still in use today.

In 1948, Rizla acquired the General Paper and Box Manufacturing Company, located in South Wales, dramatically improving their production capabilities. The same year, Rizla released the Rizla Green cut-corners, medium-weight rolling paper.

Sometime in 1977, thirty-three years after the brand name change, Rizla released the first of their King Size rolling papers.

In 1978 Fernand Painblanc took control of Rizla, bringing the tradition of Lacroix family ownership to an end.

The licorice-flavoured paper was released in 1981. In 1986, Rizla began rapid growth and large-scale advertising. One successful advertising campaign in 1986 was a popular series of calendars and posters. A café franchise, which was featured at various concerts in the UK in 1996, was also extremely popular. In 1997 they produced a limited edition King Size Rizla+ Purple medium-weight, extra width, king size rolling paper, in celebration of the Phoenix music festival.

In 1997 Rizla was sold to Imperial Tobacco.

1998, Rizla continued their string of expansion and large-scale advertising, going so far as to release their own line of clothing, sold at their cafés. In 2002 Rizla closed a deal with Suzuki and became one of their top motor-bike racing sponsors, forming the Rizla-Suzuki racing team. The Caterham Superlight R500 sports is available with Rizla markings following its launch in collaboration with Rizla-Suzuki.

Rizla added a new paper to its line up in 2003, with the introduction of the Rizla Silver, Ultra-Thin, King Size rolling paper. In 2003 the UK Advertising Standards Agency upheld a complaint that Rizla had alluded to their products' association with cannabis in a print advertisement that bore the caption "twist and burn". The association being that 'twist' alludes to twisting the paper on the end of a joint to stop the tobacco and marijuana mix falling out, and 'burn' the process of lighting and smoking a joint.

In 2004, two more types or Rizla papers were released; one, the Rizla Red, Medium Weight, Slim paper is exclusive to the United Kingdom. The other variety released in 2004 was the Rizla Silver (regular size) Ultra-Thin rolling paper.

In September 2005 Imperial Tobacco announced the closure of Rizla's Treforest factory at Pontypridd near Cardiff in South Wales with a loss of 134 jobs. After the closure of the factory, Rizla production is now concentrated at Wilrijk, Belgium.

As of 2006, Rizla also sponsors the Suzuki GSV-R MotoGP bike, ridden by John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen.

Rizla types

Rizla+ rolling papers come in a variety of sizes, colours and types.

Regular size papers

Regular size papers are 70 mm long.

Green Regular

According to Rizla, this is the most popular rolling paper in the UK, Green Regular is a medium weight, cut-cornered paper.

Red Regular

Red Regular is a medium weight paper, its corners are not cut.

The cardboard packaging for Red Rizla+ is glued and for Green Rizla it is folded under, as of 2007.

Blue Regular

Blue Regulars are a fine-weight paper, with uncut corners. They are of thinner weight than the Green and Red Rizla varieties.

Silver Regular

Silver Regular is an Ultra Fine-Weight Paper and is extremely thin. According to Rizla, the Silver Regular paper is 20 micrometres thin as opposed to the thickness of a human hair, which is 50-100 micrometres thick and has a weight per unit area of 12.5 g/m². A normal thick paper is 16-21 g/m².

Orange Regular (Liquorice)

Orange Regular is a liquorice flavored paper.

White Regular

White Regular is a heavier weight paper, perhaps 25 g/m², but is also perforated, allowing a greater degree of air flow.

King Size papers

Rizla King Size papers are 1 dm in length and significantly wider than the regular size. King Size papers come in two varieties, King Size and King Size Slim, which aren't as wide as the normal King Size papers, but are slightly longer than the standard King Size papers.

King Size Dark Blue

King Size Regular Papers of the same thickness as King Size Blue Slims except that they don't have any glue.

Other rolling related products

Rizla also provides filter tubes in a variety of sizes, rolling machines and even rolling boxes.

External links

• http://www.rizla.co.uk/
• http://www.rizla.com/
• http://www.ash.org.uk/html/press/031121.html
• http://www.rizla-suzuki.co.uk/
• http://www.rollingpapers.net/RizlaBlue/Rizblue.htm Collector's site for Rizla Rolling papers