Musee du Fumeur or Smoking Museum in Paris
The Musee du Fumeur is a unique museum in Paris dedicated to smoking and contains a varied collection of smoking objects such as pipes and snuff boxes, some of which date back to the 17th century, along with photographs, caricatures, portraits and more.
About the Musee du Fumeur Museum
The Smoking Museum is a private museum in Paris that was founded by Michka Seeliger-Chatelain and Tigrane Hadengue back in 2001 and is dedicated to providing information about smoking and its history along with the plants used for smoking.
Many centuries ago mankind discovered that the smoke from certain plants had particular effects, casting a completely different aspect all over the world, from the Native Americans who gave us tobacco through to the Pious Saddhus of India who puffed on ganja, with smoke being considered to be holy.
Over the years, with tobacco becoming an industrial product, the ideals of smoking have completely changed and are not considered holy or healthy any longer, and in fact, cigarette smoking has become classed as bad for you, but cigars and other smoking paraphernalia have become more popular.
Therefore, the Musee du Fumeur presents the ancient practice of smoking through different objects that have been gathered from all over the world, which have been utilised over different periods of time, along with practical information and even live tobacco plants, through to drying and extraction equipment.
You will be able to discover a sieve used for extracting resin from hemp, through to an ornate copper pipe once used in China for smoking opium, along with fragile 17th century clay pipes displayed behind glass, which are located next to engravings depicting these early pipes scattered at the feet of smokers.
There are different types of tobacco on display and a snuff box with snuff dating back around 100 years through to peace pipes, oriental hookas and hand rolled cigars, along with portraits of smoking celebrities, old postcards, posters, caricatures and cartoon strips that also depict the smoking culture in different places and times around the world.
In addition to this, there is a library with many different guide books, specialised magazines, even rare books on the history of tobacco and hemp, novels, DVDs on cultivation of tobacco or hand rolling cigars and much more, for those of you that want to discover more about this ancient, originally holy past time.
You will find that there is a gallery where temporary exhibits are displayed along with works from different artists, times and numerous places providing a visual look at aspects such as peace pipes, early Dutch smoking dens or cigars of the Mayan Gods.
The Musee du Fumeur also has a book shop, with most titles in French but some in different languages such as English, German and Spanish that range from how to cultivate tobacco through to how to stop smoking, plus there are different novels through to poetry or cartoons available.
There is also a gift shop with a very unique array of different smoking accessories from the traditional to the ethnic including items such as vaporisers, oriental hookas, humidors for keeping cigars, pipes, revolutionary products designed to trap tar or even reduce passive smoking along with post cards, DVDs and much more.
The Musee du Fumeur also has a Vape shop, and many different brands of e-cigarettes, vaporizers and e-liquid brands on offer as well, for those of you that prefer an alternative or trying to give up cigarettes.
Visiting the Musee du Fumeur Museum in Paris
You will find the Smoking Museum located in the 11th Arrondissement of Paris close to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery and it is open on a Monday through to a Saturday from 12 noon through to 7:30pm, yet is closed on a Sunday and on all National French Holidays such as 1st May, 8th May, etc.
When visiting the museum, you can access the gift shop and book store completely free of charge, but entry into the Musee du Fumeur, which is accessed via the shop, is a cost of €2 per person as of 2018.
As for getting to this unique museum in Paris via public transport, the nearest Metro Station is called the Voltaire - Leon Blum stop serving line 9 by the Place Leon Blum or a little further walk in the opposite direction to the east is the Philippe Auguste stop serving line 2.
Alternatively, the bus lines 46, 56, 61 and 69 along with the Noctilien Night Bus Service via N16 and N34 will also get you within walking distance of the Musee du Fumeur and many other tourist attractions.
