The paper examines the development of the state tobacco monopoly in Russia at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries. It describes how the state management was carried out, discloses the principles of operating and accounting in it. The development of this state monopoly in the period under study includes the periods of transfer of rights to import into the country and sale of tobacco to private individuals and completely state administration of state sale. The first tobacco factory in the Russian Empire, appeared at the end of the reign of Peter the Great thanks to the personal efforts of the monarch and state funding, is described. Particular attention is paid to how the economic policy of Peter the Great, built in accordance with the doctrines of mercantilism and cameralism, influenced the development of tobacco turnover in the country, as well as an assessment of the impact of state administration reform (replacement of Orders (prikazi) by Collegia) on the activities of the tobacco monopoly.