The Snuff Tobacco Reference

The Pöschl Tobacco Concern

Alois Pöschl (1873-1966) and business partner Max Ebenherr together founded a schmalzler snuff tobacco manufacturing operation in Bavaria on 1902-12-24, though Ebenherr would exit the partnership at an unclear date soon after.1 2

Alois Pöschl junior and Wilhelm Pöschl, sons of Alois Pöschl, both joined their fathers’ tobacco firm in 1935, and shortly after the Second World War Alois Pöschl junior would assume the general management of the company. The said war having adversely affected not just the Pöschl concern but wider Germany, the Pöschl brothers felt the need to diversify the firms’ manufacturing output for the sake of survival, and accordingly in 1949 began to produce smoking tobaccos.2 3

The 1960s saw the launch of the Exclusiv and the Ozona ranges of tobacco products,3 5 though the company was to find its greatest snuff success in its Gletscherprise brand which was launched in 19716 and became an international bestseller of massive proportions.1

In 1979, Ernst Pöschl, son of Wilhelm Pöschl, and Robert Engels (d. 2009), son-in-law of Alois Pöschl junior, took over the management of the company, and the two were largely be responsible for the internationalisation of the firm.4

Pöschl founded a series of subsidiary companies beginning in the 1990s, including Tobacco Trading International Czechoslovakia spol. s.r.o (1991); Tobacco Trading International Hungary Kft. (1993); Tobacco Trading International Limited (1993); Tobacco Trading International Poland Sp. z o.o. (1994); Tobacco Trading International Romania SRL (1999); Tobacco Trading International Bulgaria (2001); Poeschl Tobacco France (2002); Poeschl Tobacco Asia Ltd.; Pöschl Tobacco Switzerland AG; Tobacco Trading International Slovakia spol. s.r.o.; and others.

In 1994, Pöschl launched its Red Bull line of tobaccos,7 and 1995 saw Pöschl move into a new headquarters and production facility.2 An effort to crack the American market was began circa 19988 and continued into the millenium.9

The fourth generation of the Pöschl family, Patrick Engels, son of Robert Engels, and Katharina Pöschl, daughter of Ernst Pöschl, entered into the firm in 2006 and 2012 respectively.4

Citations

  1. Tobacco Reporter. Success in Bavaria. Joe Sokohl. Volume 117; Number 9; Issue 1990-09; Page 32. 1990. Digitised version
  2. KnasterKOPF. Die Firma Pöschl Tabak: Unternehmer mit Geschichtssinn. Ralf Kluttig-Altmann. Volume 20; Pages 132–137. 2009.
  3. World Tobacco. Alois Pöschl. Number 75; Issue 1981-12; Page 109. 1981. Digitised version
  4. Poeschl-tobacco.com. Unternehmensgeschichte. Pöschl Tabak GmbH & Co. Kg. Archived 2022-12-16
  5. Trade mark 765,488. Deutsches Patentamt. 1962. Digital record
  6. Pöschl Unternehmensgruppe. Pöschl Tabak GmbH & Co. Kg. Page 2. 2022. Digital version
  7. Poeschl-tobacco.com. Pöschl Tobacco Group. Pöschl Tabak GmbH & Co. Kg. Archived 2022-12-16
  8. Tobacconist. Moving West. Phil Bowling. Volume 9; Number 2; Issue 1998-04-09; Pages 35–42. 1998. Digitised version
  9. Tobacco Outlet Business. All the Right Snuff. Volume 12; Number 5; Issue 2009-09/10; Pages 58–62. 2009. Digital version