The company was founded in Constantinople by Greek tobacco trader Basil Mouratoglou, in 1821. He moved the company to Western Europe in the 1880s, after the Ottoman Empire monopolized the tobacco industry--in 1885 the company was established in Germany, and in 1887 in London.

The English company ended up under Philip Morris International. The German brand was bought by Martin Brinkmann in 1960, and now belongs to British American Tobacco.[1]