CLUB ROLLING PAPER ~ A BRIEF HISTORY 

 

  There seems to be no end to the faulty information concerning CLUB brand rolling paper. EBay sellers, rolling paper retail outlets, and other sources regurgitate, or fabricate more stories about this venerable brand than any other paper on the market. Here is a brief synopsis of the company, taken from the book Triste in fumo, by Edigio and Grisancich. Hopefully a few facts will clear the air, and set the record straight. 

  CLUB was introduced to the public in 1893 by Saul Davide Modiano, in Trieste. At the time, Trieste was under Austrian control, and remained so until the fall of the Habsburg Empire at the end of WWI in 1919. The original source of paper for Saul's brands came from the nearby Smith & Meynier mill in what is now Croatia. The premium quality of paper made by Smith & Meynier for Modiano quickly put the young company on the map as a serious contender in this competitive industry. However, the political volatility of this region resulted in the factory being burned to the ground, inspiring Modiano to find a more stable source of quality paper for his brands. Fortunately, a mill just outside Bologna was found to be producing the finest paper in all of Europe--Carta del Maglio. Saul Modiano's son Ettore, became a majority stock holder in this mill, and made significant improvements as overseer of production. During Ettore's tenure, from the 1920's through the 1950's, CLUB reached legendary status, becoming one of the most sought after brands of cigarette paper on the Continent. The 1960's saw the popularity of cannabis grow in the USA, and CLUB was soon being imported here, finding a faithful, and growing fan base in North America.
  RIZLA+, a major producer of cigarette paper based in France, purchased the Modiano company in 1988. RIZLA+ continued production of CLUB booklets from their factories located in France, Belgium and Great Britain, until 2008, when Carta del Maglio--the source of the paper used in these booklets for over eighty years--closed it's doors. CLUB  has not been produced since 2008, and RIZLA+ recently let their rights to the name expire. As of now, H.B.I., a rolling paper distribution company owned by Josh Kesselman ( of RAW rolling papers) acquired the rights to the name "CLUB Rolling Paper." This does not mean there is any substantive truth to rumours CLUB will be returning to the marketplace any time soon.

  Any controversy over which country--Italy, France, Belgium, or Great Britian, produced the finest CLUB paper is patently absurd. All the paper used in CLUB booklets made in these countries came from the same source, the Carta del Maglio mill in Italy. (In other words, a booklet marked, "Made In Belgium","Made In France", or "Made In Gt. Britain", only identifies where the booklet was assembled, not where the paper contained in the booklet was manufactured.) It could be argued that the final years of the mill didn't produce the finest example of their paper, and as a result, the RIZLA+ years weren't as high in quality as the original SD Modiano company. Whether or not this is true, there is little controversy that Carta del Maglio was responsible for producing some of the finest cigarette paper ever made. If quality control slipped during their final twenty years of manufacturing, they were still producing material unmatched by the competition.

THE MOST INNOVATIVE BRAND IN ROLLING PAPER HISTORY?

  CLUB was a landmark brand from it's inception. It reached the weight of 10 grams of fibre per square meter over a hundred years before any other brand successfully reached that weight. It was the first booklet marketed in an interleaved fashion, and the first to include a notice leaf indicating the pack was running low.

  CLUB advertised their paper as being ash-free as it burned. This is evidence that no additives were used in manufacturing the product, only flax and hemp fibre. Unprinted newspaper will also burn without leaving any ash. While newsprint is made from wood cellulose instead of vegetal fibre, the lack of additives provides the same result during incineration.

  CLUB is referred to as "Rice" paper, which is a blend of flax and hemp fibre. There is no paper made from rice, despite the marketing claims of numerous paper companies. Rice is not compatible for making paper. Even the legendary Japanese rice paper is made from mulberry tree fibre. The term "rice paper" resulted from the look of flax/hemp pulp, which was reminicent of cooked rice. The recipe for rice paper originated from the efforts of Jean Abadie, who developed it in 1825, and revolutionized the industry. Carta del Maglio refined that recipe even further, as the quality of CLUB paper will testify. CLUB was most often sold in a non-gummed format. The lack of gum-line means less interference in smoking flavor. Tearing an edge from the paper exposes individual fibres which bind to themselves when dampened, avoiding the need for glue.

  A common misconception concerning CLUB relates to the term carré when used to describe CLUB booklets. It is French, and means “square”. In the case of CLUB papers, it refers to the shape of the original booklet. Rectangular booklets are not square, and consequently, not carré.

PATENT ECHU means Patent Expired in French. This refers to the interleaved paper system Saul Modiano named DISTRIBUTEUR PERMANENT. This is another French phrase meaning Continuously Available. Why French? Though Modiano was an Italian company, and made a product first produced in Spain, France was where cigarette paper advanced to the levels we recognize today.

France was also the first, and largest exporter of rolling paper around the world, which established French as the de facto language of rolling paper. This explains why French terminology is used by the paper industry the world over.

  It should be noted that OCB released their "ULTIMATE" brand in 2015, and it is the first paper on the market to reach CLUB's weight of 10 g/m2. OCB ULTIMATE is made in France, at Republic Group's mega factory in Perpignan. Along with OCB, this factory also produces ZIG-ZAG, SWAN, and JOB, among other major brands currently owned by Republic. It would be reasonable to expect these brands will also release an ultra-light, 10g/m2 version at some point in the future, though only time will tell.