Bastos is a Spanish brand of cigarettes currently owned and manufactured by Imperial Tobacco.[1] It used to be owned by Altadis until it was taken over by Imperial Tobacco in 2008.[2]
History
Bastos was founded in the 1830s by the Spanish pioneer and businessman Juan Bastos (1817–1889). He was moved with his parents from his birthplace in Málaga to Oran in French Algeria the day after the French conquered the place. They were among the first Spaniards to live in Algeria at that time.
Not long after, Juan opened a tobacco shop, just as it existed back in Spain, with the intent of providing the soldiers there with snuff. His first tobacco company was called "Cigars and Cigarettes J. Bastos", which was founded in 1838 as one of the first "industrial" establishments of the new colony.
After he died on 1 September 1889, his widow Francisca and his four children transformed the Tobacco Factory Juan Bastos into a partnership. Just before the start of the First World War