Drum is a brand of fine-cut handrolling tobacco. It was originally produced and distributed by the Dutch Douwe Egberts corporation. Douwe Egberts was purchased by the Sara Lee Corporation, which sold Drum to Imperial Tobacco, the current British producer. Drum is considered halfzware (Dutch for “half-strength”) type tobacco, although the flavors and cuts are not the same due to different methods of curing. Imperial also produces Drum in gold (blonde) and light (mild) varieties.
Drum is worldwide the #1 brand for shag tobacco. Before Sara Lee sold their Drum and Van Nelle tobacco section to Imperial the main factories for Drum were Drachten and Joure. The factory in Drachten was closed directly after the move to Imperial in 1989 and IT decided to further integrate the production within Douwe Egberts / Van Nelle (DEVN) which also had production facilities in the nearby Joure (30 km) and Meppel (60 km). IT invested 22 million guilders (€ 10 million) in new machinery for the remaining locations.[2] Drum Tobacco is also produced outside the Netherlands in several factories of the Imperial Tobacco group.
