First of all, fire had to be mastered. Then mankind was ready to discover that inhaling the smoke of certain plants had a particular effect, casting a different light over the world.

From the native Americans who gave us tobacco to the pious saddhus of India who sacramentally puff on ganja, smoke is holly.

It connects mankind to the divine element, inviting the gods to descend among mortals, it inspires human beings. "Before answering a question, one ought to light a pipe" commented Einstein.

Having now become an industrial product, tobacco has lost all sacredness. Condemned as harmful and addictive, cigarettes have fallen into disrepute, whereas cigars and a whole new range of smoking paraphernalia, are gaining popularity. All in all, smoke has retained its mystery.

The Smoking Museum presents a practice as ancient as mankind ; it also provides a vantage point for the observation of changing behaviors.

The museum

For the first time, a free and permanent exhibit, set in a welcoming Parisian venue, gathers objects commonly used by smokers in different places or times, live plants and works of art revolving around smoking, a practice common to every continent.

A sieve to extract resin from hemp mingles with tobaccco plants hanging from a drying rack. Sinsemilla buds mix with an ornate copper pipe once used in China for smoking opium.

A couple of fragile 17th century clay pipes can be seen behind glass, next to period engravings showing the remains of identical ones scattered between the feet of early tobacco smokers. A snuffbox spills out snuff a hundred years old ; blond and slender Virginia tobacco contrasts with short dark leaves from Santo Domingo.

The gallery

In the gallery dedicated to temporary exhibits, the works of artists from different times and places transmit their vision : from Mayan gods' cigars to peace pipes, from early Dutch smoking dens to oriental hookas, smoke writes History.

Caricatures de fumeurs
du XVIIe siècle à nos jours
(from 10.01.2006 to 31.07.2008)

Next exhibition / sale:

Orientalisme et fumées
des 1001 nuits
au renouveau du narguilé
(from 22.08.2008 to 31.12.2009)

• Other exhibitions
• See the rooms of the museum

The library

Guide-books, essays, novels, specialized magazines (from Cigar Aficionado to France Tabac), present extremely diverse points of view, in different languages:

rare books on the stormy history of tobacco or hemp, works of contemporary literature, collectibles, mix with DVDs or videos showing the fabrication of traditional briar pipes, the cultivation of tobacco or the hand-rolling of cigars.

Portraits

As works of arts or photos testify, smoking has sometimes been considered holly, sometimes evil, or simply a synonym of good life:

original engravings, portraits of smoking celebrities, comic strips, posters by Mucha or other celebrated artists, ancient postcards, reflect the changing image of tobacco and smokers in different times or cultures.

The bookstore

On line or at the Museum, the bookstore offers a wide range of works on the subject,

mostly in French but also in English, German, Spanish etc; from how-to books on the cultivation of tobacco to proven methods to quit smoking, from essays, poetry, novels, and the most thought-provoking pieces of writing to cartoons...

• instructions : the abc of cigars
• instructions : the abc of pipes
• instructions : the abc of narguilés

The gift shop

A unique array of smoking accessories can be found in the
gift shop, from the most traditional or ethnic to the most high-tech :

humidors for keeping cigars, pipes carved out of briar, stone or clay, highly colored blown-glass by modern artists, water pipes, vaporisators, oriental hookas, videos, DVDs, souvenirs etc. as well as smoking devices of a revolutionary shape, designed to trap tar or to reduce passive smoke...
Also available on line, posters, postcards and T-shirts from Le musée du Fumeur.

In short, presents for every taste, from the most rustic to the most avant-garde.

The non profit organization

The non-profit organization The Smoking Museum (Le musée du Fumeur) is dedicated to providing information on smoking and plants used for smoking.

It manages the exhibits, organizes conferences and cultural gatherings, distributes free information & prevention.

Address

Le musée du Fumeur
(The Smoking Museum)
7 rue Pache
75011 Paris, France
Métro Voltaire, exit Roquette)

Tél. +33 (0)1 46 59 05 51
Tél. +33 (0)1 43 71 95 51
Fax +33 (0)1 43 73 24 35

• Open daily (but Monday)
from 2 pm to 7 pm
• Entrance : 4 euros / 3 euros
• Free access to the gift-shop
and bookstore

• Closed December 25th,
January 1st and May 1st
• Closed first week of January
and from July 30th till August 20th

• Map : inside the museum (pdf)

• Museum's flyer (pdf)

• Contact

© Le musée du Fumeur, Paris.
(Journal Officiel 06/10/2001 n°1522)