Translation: No one goes to Tula with a samovar.
Meaning:
It’s like carrying coals to Newcastle, or water to the river.
Tula is famous for its samovars. The first samovar factory was founded in Tula by Nasar Lisitsin in 1778. Rich ore deposits, highly trained craftsmen, and proximity to Moscow all helped Tula’s reputation as Russia’s premier samovar-manufacturing town in the nineteenth century. In 1826, there were eight samovar factories in Tula, but by 1896 this number had increased to 70.
Samovars from the Batashov factory were among the most popular; they won many prizes for design, and the award medallions were stamped on the samovars themselves.
The Russian samovar (self-cooker) was a relative newcomer (late eighteenth century) to the Russian household. But when it came, it stayed, for the samovar was an economical way to get hot water quickly.
The samovar made hot water for tea, but the tea was never inside the samovar. A charcoal fire built in the central tube heated water that surrounded the tube in the body of the samovar. Naturally, smoke poured from the samovar chimney while the fire was being made, so that in the summer the samovar was started outside the house and in the winter its draft chimney (an extension of the central tube) was connected to a pipe in the Russian stove.
A very strong tea mixture was made in a small teapot that was then kept-warm resting on top of the samovar. A small amount of this strong tea was poured into a cup and then diluted with hot water from the samovar. |
THE SAMOVAR (CAMOBAP) (1) teapot(2) teapot holder (3) lid (4) central tube (5) spigot Also: eaglushka - lid for the central tube |