Gauloises cigarettes are manufactured by Altadis, a French and Spanish tobacco company. The Altadis Company has facilities located in Spain and France. This cigarette is known as a French cigarette, even though its production is not limited to that country. This brand of cigarettes was first created in the year 1910. In the year 1925, a marketing plan went into effect to change the look of the packaging. The box was changed to the color blue, with a helmet and this design is still used to this day. Smoking was very popular among soldiers during both World Wars, and the Gauloises was one of the brands that were favored by the troops. The Gauloises cigarette was produced as a non-filtered cigarette until the 1950’s, when filters were added due to consumer demand. The cigarette is made from a blend of strong Turkish and Syrian tobacco. The older, stronger non-filtered version is called Black. When the company decided to add filters, it added the new brand called Blondes. Gauloises are most popular with people living in Europe and have a growing popularity there, despite the fact that they are in no way considered to be an extremely inexpensive brand. This cigarette offers Blondes, which are the regular strength variety, Blondes Lights and Blondes Ultra Lights.