No more Philip Morris tour
I have been on vacation in Virginia for the past week and I was really excited to go see the tour of the Philip Morris Manufacturing Facility (ie, the place they make most of their cigarrettes) in Richmond. We drove all the way down there only to find out that they no longer do the tour.
I can’t say I’m suprised - the tour was full of paraphanelia glorifying tobacco and they took a lot of heat for doing tours through their “factory of death.”
Note that I’m not a smoker - the tour was just amazing because you literally saw 100’s of millions of cigarrettes being produced - I was interested in seeing the manufacturing process now that I’m an adult (though even as a kid it was by far the most interesting field trip we ever went on).
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This reminds me of when my wife and I (who don’t drink) toured the Coors plant in Colorado. I was blown away with how much “cool, crisp, and refreshing” they had worked into the tour. It was pretty amusing actually. You could tell that a lot of people were just there for the free beer at the end of the tour.
Still, it was fascinating to see the giant brewing vats and super-fast conveyer belts. If you love to see stuff being manufactured (my wife and I try to include a few factory tours in with every vaction), then I recommend a book called “Watch in Made in the USA”. It lists a bunch of places that give tours for each state. It’s rather incomplete, but there are still a lot of entries. Fun stuff.
Comment by Jordan Gunderson — April 25, 2006 @ 10:10 am
Jordan,
Thanks for the heads-up on the book - I will definitely get a copy - the Philips-Morris factory is the only mass-production facility I have been to in the US (I have been to a few in Taiwan) and I would love to see more factories in action.
Preston
Comment by admin — April 25, 2006 @ 4:48 pm
Jordan,
I am in Virginia on vacation now, and I have been very excited to go to the Phillip Morris plant myself. When I googled ‘phillip morris tours’, your blog came up. Maybe RJ Reynolds will be willing to satisfy my curiosity… Better luck next time.
Daphne
Comment by Daphne Petitjean — April 14, 2007 @ 4:04 pm
Daphne,
Sorry to hear about your disappointment - if RJ Reynolds does a tour be sure to let me know so I can write about it. I would love to find another tobacco company willing to let me take a peek…
Comment by Preston — April 15, 2007 @ 2:58 pm