THE STORY BEHIND MAC BAREN
Jørgen Halberg stranded in the USA...
Like many other young people, Jørgen Halberg (24) wanted to go out and see the world. In 1938 he left his hometown - Svendborg, Denmark - and travelled to the USA to take up an offer of a job at the World Exhibition in New York. However, when the exhibition was over and he wanted to return home, he found it impossible to cross the Atlantic as the Second World War had broken out.
Therefore, Jørgen had to stay in the USA, and found a job working with raw tobacco at various factories. What started as nothing more than a job developed over the years, and when the war came to an end he returned to Denmark with a particularly good idea. Jørgen's idea was to develop a new kind of pipe tobacco, which he was sure would soon take over the market from the inferior types of tobacco available in Denmark at that time.
In the 1950s, Jørgen launched his new products under the name of Mac Baren. One of the products - ‘Golden Blend' - had previously been tested on the Copenhagen market. This made Mac Baren one of the first companies in the country to use the modern concept of test sales as a part of its marketing strategy. The idea was a resounding success and pipe-smokers were thrilled with the new tobacco.
Shortly afterwards, Mac Baren Mixture was launched, but the new brand did not really catch on until 1958. Just five years after that, Mixture became the bestselling pipe tobacco in Denmark - and Mac Baren has held onto that position ever since!
Mac Baren is also at least partly responsible for the fact that Denmark has the highest number of pipe-smokers per head of population in the world.
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Four generations.
The Danish tobacco dynasty is proud of its roots that stretch back over more than 150 years. Hans Nissen Halberg was a ship's captain, running cargoes of chewing tobacco, snuff and tobacco for the smokers of long-stemmed pipes.
His son, Harald Halberg, did not have the stomach for life at sea, so he had to remain ashore with all the other landlubbers.
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In 1887, Harald set himself up as a tobacco manufacturer in Svendborg, buying up ‘S. Bønnelycke's Factories', which had been established back in 1826.
Harald had two sons, Otto and Einar Halberg, who carried on the family business under the name of Harald Halberg Tobacco Factories - and it was Einar Harald Halberg's son, Jørgen Halberg, who was ‘lucky' enough to end up stranded in the USA, where he invented the popular and always fashionable Mac Baren Mixture.
Today, the fourth generation, Henrik Halberg, is director of the Mac Baren Tobacco Company of Svendborg, Denmark. He, too, is far from averse to a plug or two of Mac Baren Mixture.
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Harald Halberg
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Copyright © 2012 by TECON GmbH
with friendly support of Mac Baren Tobacco Company
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