Oct 15, 2026 · 38 min · 9 segments
In the years before the French Revolution, the king allowed a massive cartel to put French markets in a chokehold. Foods like coffee and sugar were flooding in from the far reaches of European…
[instrumental music] When Louis hit rock bottom, he left France and went east across the mountains.
There, just over the border, a new gang of friends offered Louis a chance to get back some of what he had lost: business, respect, and a little sugar for his coffee.
Because this is a borderlands, like all borderlands in this period, you know, it's infested with smugglers.
Savoie was its own kingdom, sandwiched between France and Switzerland, and not under the control of the General Farm.
At that crossroads, Louis had access to the markets in Switzerland, where everything from chocolate to tobacco was cheaper than in France.
So he starts smuggling tobacco into France, and at first, you know, he does this like most smugglers do it.
Yeah, why would you tell people? Why would you broadcast that you're doing this illegal thing?
You know, and you're, you might go s- you know, sneak into a town, talk to someone at the market, "Oh, I've got some tobacco.
You wanna come check it out in my apartment?" And then, you know, you'll look at the apartment, and you know, this, this should be familiar, this k- you know, idea of buying illegal things.
I see Louis as the guy in a trench coat selling watches, but instead of watches, he's got the finest Virginia tobacco.
He had learned plenty from his father's successful supply business, and he had other advantages, too.
He's in between the world of the elite and the kind of vast peasantry below him, and that's important.
[instrumental music] When Louis hit rock bottom, he left France and went east across the mountains.
There, just over the border, a new gang of friends offered Louis a chance to get back some of what he had lost: business, respect, and a little sugar for his coffee.
Because this is a borderlands, like all borderlands in this period, you know, it's infested with smugglers.
Savoie was its own kingdom, sandwiched between France and Switzerland, and not under the control of the General Farm.
At that crossroads, Louis had access to the markets in Switzerland, where everything from chocolate to tobacco was cheaper than in France.
So he starts smuggling tobacco into France, and at first, you know, he does this like most smugglers do it.
Yeah, why would you tell people? Why would you broadcast that you're doing this illegal thing?
You know, and you're, you might go s- you know, sneak into a town, talk to someone at the market, "Oh, I've got some tobacco.
You wanna come check it out in my apartment?" And then, you know, you'll look at the apartment, and you know, this, this should be familiar, this k- you know, idea of buying illegal things.
I see Louis as the guy in a trench coat selling watches, but instead of watches, he's got the finest Virginia tobacco.
He had learned plenty from his father's successful supply business, and he had other advantages, too.
He's in between the world of the elite and the kind of vast peasantry below him, and that's important.
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