Paper Straws: A Habit We Don’t Need

Most people don’t realize it, but paper straws were born in a cigarette factory. In the 1880s, Marvin Stone—who made his living producing cigarette paper in Washington, D.C.—rolled a sheet into a cylinder, glued it, and invented the first paper straw. At the time, rye straws were still common in saloons. Bartenders liked them because they were natural, inexpensive, and gave cocktails an elegant touch. Stone’s invention was clever, but it was also commercial: he simply adapted cigarette paper into another product he could patent and mass-produce.

From there, straws became a business. By the 1930s, paper straws were everywhere, especially with the rise of soda fountains and the booming popularity of Coca-Cola. A young inventor named Joseph Friedman noticed his daughter struggling to sip from a tall glass and went on to patent the flexible paper straw in 1937. His company, the Flexible Straw Corporation, supplied hospitals, diners, and fast-food chains. By the 1950s, straws were embedded in American culture.

But the industry took a sharp turn in the mid-20th century. As plastics surged after World War II, paper straws lost ground. Plastic was cheaper, stronger, and easier to scale. For decades, it dominated—and left behind a trail of microplastics and ocean waste we’re still reckoning with today.

When bans on plastic straws arrived in the 2010s, paper made its comeback. But it’s the same old problem in new packaging. Paper straws still collapse. They still taste wrong. And many are coated with PFAS “forever chemicals,” raising environmental and health concerns that undercut the very sustainability they’re supposed to deliver.

It’s worth remembering: rye straws were here first. Long before Stone rolled his cigarette paper into a tube, bartenders served cocktails through hollow rye stems—the original cocktail straw. They were natural, biodegradable, and didn’t need glue or coatings. They worked.

That’s why we created OG Straws. Made from natural rye stems, they’re durable, compostable, and authentic. They don’t collapse. They don’t taste like packaging. And they carry a story that stretches from the first cocktail bars of the 1800s to today’s eco-conscious hospitality movement.

Paper straws were yesterday’s habit, born in cigarette paper and mass-produced in factories.

OG Straws are today’s solution—reviving a tradition worth keeping.