Tobacco cultivation in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace is a traditional occupation and dates to the late 16th c. It started from the French, in the area between Xanthi and Drama.

The entire recent history of the place and of Greeks is closely linked to tobacco. The retention of the Christian population in the tobacco producing towns, the economic progress, the increase of the population, the integration of the Greek refugees of 1922 and many more are due to tobacco. Its cultivation is a pillar of the economy, a developmental "tool" and a driving force for the whole region.

Nowadays, it mainly concerns the "basmas" variety, one of the finest tobacco varieties. Its cultivation and processing is connected with both the social structure and the evolution of the area and follows 3 stages: tobacco bed, field, and dryer. Its processing and packaging takes place in tobacco factories. Some of the tobacco warehouses, also called tobacco shops as they were not only used for storage but also for tobacco processing, are scattered in all the big cities.

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