The Cubans were packing in consumer size boxes of cigars (25, 50, 100) in the early 1800’s though little information exists about specific companies and brands. Examples of pre-1878 Cuban boxes are especially rare. Any Cuban boxes prior to the US invasion of 1898 are to be prized.
While we’re all waiting for me to find more time to write about them, I hope you enjoy a look at some of the Cuban boxes I have been able to find.
Cuban Boxes
A National Cigar Museum Exclusive
© Tony Hyman
FIGARO was a popular cigar and cigarette in both Europe and the U.S. by 1848 when this box was made. The top brand is of a jester sitting on the floor with legs spread wide. The sticker on the left is an 1847 award. [8382]
Interior label. The sloppy cut is indicative of the
little significance given interior labels. The brand
was well known internationally, and as a result widely copied and counterfeited.
See Early Cuban Labels for an example. [8385]
Early Cuban boxes of 100 frequently had top labels, the marca branded on one end. Black ink on blue paper was popular despite being hard to read. WASHINGTON cigars displayed his portrait. 1850
[9844]
The front, back, and one end are paper covered. The inside label has nothing to do with Washington, depicting a rural farm scene. The inner label is decoratively framed and captioned like an art print.
[7424]
Remarkably rare example of Cuban use of cardboard in the mid 1850’s. Top and bottom are sewn with waxed thread. The poet Byron was
an early literary apologist for cigars.
[2824]
Spanish & French includes guarantee of Cuban origin by the Governor, rationale for using cardboard to protect contents and instructions on how to
open the can. Earliest known upright cigar box.
[2825]
LA CORONA DE ESPANA NW box of 100 imported from Cuba, 1865. Top brand heat branded rather than steam press printed. US Customs oval stamp on right is unlisted. Box was nailed, tied and sealed with a tag. [N9 - 20]
LA CORONA DE ESPANA four sided flap (left side missing) with the same tag used outside the box here used to hold the flaps shut. Cuba, 1865
[N9 - 21]
FLOR DE REGIO COSTALES uses an oval inner and no outer. Ties are almost universal until the mid 1870’s. Cigars from Santiago, Cuba. Plain flaps are typically attached front, back and both sides. 1850’s
[7416]
LA QUINTA ESENCIA brand by Jose Velez is the earliest use of gold ink (1865) I’ve found on a cigar box label. Gold was widely used by Belgian printers 1840-1860 but ruled deleterious to health, banned
and replaced by buffed bronze powder. [9843]
One of the most popular Cuban brands in England and France for decades was JOCKEY CLUB featuring the 1850’s champion horse Monarque, This example of a 100/13 box is from 1875.
[9829]
Made in the San Francisco factory of major maker Francisco Perez del Rio in 1876 using the same label as the Cuban mother factory in Havana (label is printed in Cuba). Flaps glued from all four sides covering the cigars, protecting the label. [9066]
PARA VD. Y SUS AMIGOS (For You and Your Friends), a well known Cuban brand made in the 1870’s in the California factory owned or
licensed by Francisco Perez del Rio.
[K11 - 2]
Inner label of PARA USTED (as it was popularly
called by smokers), a very early example of
gold colored Cuban printing.
[K11 - 3]
ROMEO Y JULIETA was created in 1875. This box
lid is from 1877, so probably their first label.
[6773]
LA ROSA AROMATICA was a popular brand in the 1880’s. This box was imported in 1885. Women are an early and popular label theme in Cuba, the U.S. and Europe. A guy is a guy.
[6709]
Cuban boxes of the 1880’s tend to look a lot like U.S. boxes from the same decade as this LA MIEL from 1887 attests.
[9088]
White edging, colorful inner label, decorated personalized flap attached at the front...all typical
of the decade. LA MIEL means honey, hence
the beehive. Made by Tomas Diaz.
[9848]
LA SUPERIOR was a minor brand whose maker is unknown. This box was sold in a small mining town in California in 1887.
[9084]
Luis Corujo owned the 1840 PUNCH company from 1874 to 1884, though this box dates a few years later while owned by Manuel Lopez Fernandez
who also ran Juan Valle y Cia.
[6721]
LA FLOR DE TRESPALACIOS 1889
[6706]
LA FLOR DE TRESPALACIOS was another popular 1880’s and 90’s brand exported to the U.S. 1889
[6708]
LA CAROLINA 1889 first version of their label. Compare this to the box used 25 years later.
[6702]
First version of BELINDA, founded in 1882.
Box from mid to late 1880’s One of Cuba’s biggest sellers, the brand was discontinued in the 1960’s.
[6726]
1891 version of H DE CABANAS Y CARVAJAL.
Note the tax stamp is crosswise so as not to interfere with labeling or the union stamp.
[6747]
Interior of H DE CABANAS Y CARVAJAL from 1891. Note small plain side flaps. Cabañas seems to be
dedicated to out-medaling everyone on the label.
[6748]
Two decades later, the brand still uses its “end label” on the front and its vitola (frontmark) on the end, a practice which many of the Cubans would adopt. Imported into Canada between 1912-1915.
[12713]
The label changed around the Spanish-American War. The medals are now in a sharper arc and the two loners are now inside the arc.
[12707]
Brand honoring naturalist ALEXANDER HUMBOLT (for whom Humboldt county and college are named) was created for the lucrative California market. 1890
Made by Joaquin Arguelles. [9071]
Brand honoring naturalist ALEXANDER HUMBOLT was created for the lucrative California market. This box sold in gold-country town of Colusa in 1890.
Production of the brand was moved from Cuba
to Florida by 1901. [9070]
Nothing can be written about Cuban cigars without including feisty, and some claim traitorous, Gustave Bock whose sell-out to American Tobacco was vilified by the independents. Box from 1891.
[6760]
One of Cuba’s best known brands EL AGUILA DEL ORO was usually called “Bock” by the folks who smoked them (including me). 1891. Brand was bought by the Tobacco Trust and ultimately moved to New Jersey in the 1930’s. [6761]
H. Upmann imported right after the law changed, requiring place of origin to be marked on imported goods. Note hasty hand stamping on the front bottom of the box edging. Their new factory opened only two years before this 1893 box. [9075]
Made in Havana Cuba was added under their brand logo, but I don’t know when. Their label changed
very little over the years.
[6830]
This 1901 box is included to illustrate the continued “1880’s look” to much Cuban packaging. A box exterior in this condition does not qualify as very good. It’s good at best. Sadly, the inside is worse.
[9081]
Despite its rarity (this may be the only surviving example) this is severe damage, lowering the box to “poor” grading and marks it of minimal value. I got it in a lot of 60 that I purchased. I don’t buy boxes
in this condition after 1860. [9082]
The READY AND ROUGH brand name doesn’t seem in keeping with the luxurious image on this 1898 box. This brand appears on sales lists for
a few decades then disappears.
[6742]
Wow! Partagas used a knockout
of a package in 1904.
[6814]
Another knockout. Exported to England for
the Christmas trade around 1900. Lace had
been used for decoration on cigar boxes
since the 1870’s, perhaps before.
Maker unknown to me. To you? [3495]
Exterior of box at left. This type package is called a “re-usable,” the meaning obvious. To see many
other reusables, be sure to visit the exhibit
of novelty packaging.
[3496]
Exterior of one of many boxes used by
F.E. Fonseca for his cigars made in both Cuba
and New York. This 1909 box came from Havana.
[9847]
One of the island’s most inventive packagers, F.E. Fonseca cut an interesting figure in both Havana and New York where he owned his first factory at age 19. This box from 1909. Unusual Fonseca
boxes are featured in other NCM exhibits. [9846]
This 1910 version of LA CAROLINA has added a decorative flap and a bunch of medals.
Compare with the 1889 version.
[6703]
1889 version of the LA CAROLINA label. Printing quality is more delicate as is the foliage. Note the absence of brand name on the inner label.
[6702]
In 1905 LA MERIDIANA by Pedro Murias had just been bought up by the Tobacco trust.
[6711]
American senator and statesman Henry Clay visited Cuba in the late 1840’s and had a cigar named for him. This is the 1880’s version of HENRY CLAY.
Turn-of-the century version of HENRY CLAY.
Turn-of-the-century flap from HENRY CLAY
featuring picture of Julian Alvarez.
HENRY CLAY was another important brand that was owned by the Tobacco Trust in 1910 when this box was made. Only a few Cuban brands used tin because of the shipping cost and high humidity.
[8743]
American version of HENRY CLAY made
in Factory 135, 3rd Massachusetts in 1932.
[9831]
50 tiny 2” long Cuban cigarettes were packed
25 in each side in this 1910 box.
[6886]
SIERRA brand was exported to Europe
but I don’t know when. Guessing 1910±,
[6736]
LA BELLA ORTERO was exported to Canada in 1914. Note the green Cuban guarantee stamp which is found on Cuban export boxes from 1912
to the present. See Dating Cuban boxes exhibit
if you want to know more about them. [6866]
LA FLOR DE CUBA was an important brand of
M. Valle in 1915 when this 7-compartment assortment box was created. Assortments were usually created for the Christmas market.
[6875]
A long popular brand worldwide, LA CORONA boxes looked like this in 1914, For some of their many frontmarks (vitolas) this “look” was continued
almost unchanged into the 1960’s.
[6805]
In 1926 when this box was sold, American Tobacco was already making plans to move this and other prestigious Cuban brands to New Jersey.
[6804]
After WWII, some frontmarks were packed in the same edging, nail tag and end label but white paper attractively covered up cardboard and lesser quality box wood. White stamp shows they were domestic cigars made entirely of Cuban leaf, [6808]
ALMIRANTE appears to be a late 1930’s brand with a very specific market in mind. The inner features a German Navy officer, the flap a submarine. A reminder that Germany and England often bought more Cuban cigars than the U.S. [6857]
Segundo Alvarez is given credit as the brand’s creator, but I know little about this 1942 box.
Placing the U.S. tax stamp on top of the Cuban
Guarantee could be viewed as a deliberate insult.
All stamps tended to be placed with courtesy. [6852]
Attractive inner and flap from 1942. Very few Cuban boxes are found from the 1930’s. Military personnel passed through Cuba by the score between 1942 and 1948 and had to take home a souvenir.
What better than a box of Cuban cigars? [6854]
PERLA DEL OCEANO sold retail during the war (1944) for 13¢, two for 25¢. Lesser known Cuban cigars appeared on the market because U.S. made cigars were rationed and more famous Cubans
were in short supply. [6847]
LA FLOR DE LIS is another example of a minor brand appearing in retail counters due to war shortages of both domestic and name brand Cubans. 1944
[6850]
Rare 1945 box from Rocha period (1921-1954). The brand didn’t become widely exported until the late 1950’s under Cifuentes, tho it had a strong presence in Southern California before then. Another war
import, but one that eventually caught on. [6704]
A rare full nude doesn’t need more than two colors to stand out in a cigar counter, especially named after the goddess of love. Pricing was that of a medium priced Cuban, a popular price in 1945.
LA CORONA Coronas sold for 35¢. [6732]
HOYO DE MONTERREY believed to be from the late 1940’s, but date officially unknown. Red exterior and wrap around end label, which changes function over the years. [6790]
HOYO DE MONTERREY in a distinctive box 1945.
The former end label is now used as a nail-tag guarantee stamp.
[6797]
HOYO with a different end label, 1951.
If memory serves, this style was the most popular in
the 1950’s. The nail-tag guarantee tag is also gone.
This style end-label becomes popular with
many big Cuban export companies. [6791]
There was no over-looking or mistaking this glorious 1952 presentation in any cigar counter,
no matter how crowded.
[9856]
A distinctive clear end label became increasingly
important as expense forced Cuban cigars to be most often packed in thin boxes of 25.
Each company adopted a color.
[6813]
More end labels. JOSE PIEDRA, BELINDA,
ROMEO Y JULIETA, QUINTERO
[9861]
This tiny logo on a large box was a different (how effective?) strategy. Personally, I think it looks lost and like the larger early version more than this 1948. The company may have used a larger label on smaller boxes. [6755]
Founded and very popular since 1880, this is the 1945 version of JOSE PIEDRA, a time when
it was very strong in the U.S. market.
[9089]
The very distinctive orangey-looking fake printed wood and bright red top oval made the PIEDRA box stand out in 1946 cigar counters.
[9091]
Five years before its 75th anniversary in 1950
this was ROMEO Y JULIETA, a popular cigar.
[9850]
A ROMEO Y JULIETA imported into Canada in 1945. Note placement of white Canadian
tax stamp on top of Cuban Guarantee.
[9852]
The design changed little at the dawn of the Castro era, but the printing quality not quite as good. 1960
[6776]
Castro era version, 1970±, is basically the same
tho side by side, subtle differences in
printing quality are evident.
[6780]
FLOR DE JUAN LOPEZ was a best seller in the international market, outselling such favorites as JOSE PIEDRA and QUINTERO. Rarely seen in California in the early 50’s when this was sold.
[6843]
Another top selling brand on the world market
that was seldom seen in the California of my collecting youth, QUINTERO is from 1954.
[9857]
Between 1952 and 1954, changes took place
in the quality of printing of the labels, tho the
same image was used.
[6727]
Like most Cuban brands, box design changed little over the years. This 1954 BELINDA box would have fit into a counter 30 years in either direction.
[9853]
BELINDA two years later, 1954.
[9854]
A popular brand in 1952, with a grey-green
marbled paper exterior.
[6743]
Established in 1845, the brand was absorbed by Partagas in 1927 and made by them still. This
pre-Revolution box is from 1952±. You’ll pay
20x as much for one of their cigars today.
[6785]
Castro-era, 1971, version of the brand.
Colors are less subtle. The cigars
are still as good.
[6786]
Both colored and black and white labels
were used by Upmann in 1953 when
this box of cigars was sold.
[6833]
EL REY DEL MUNDO was once the most expensive cigar in the world, highly prized in European markets especially, but also sold in the U.S. 1953±
[6730]
PARTAGAS in 1960. Not as pretty as
the turn of the century version, but
still distinctive thanks to the heavy
use of goldenrod color.
[6820]
Made in Jamaica and you can hardly tell
the difference in the box. 1970±
[6823]
PARTAGAS ceramic jar. Date unknown.
A number of other Cuban brands, including Ramon Allones, were packed in ceramic and/or Bakelite jars, all of which are prized by collectors. [w0001]
Not in the NCM collection.
Cuban brand about which I know little, other than it was around for decades. A fabulous carved chest of this brand can be seen in the Cuban Chests exhibit.
[6865]
Another Cuban brand about which I know little.
[6876]
Yet another brand I’d like visitors with
information to fill in the history or date.
[6877]
Poor condition VALLE Y SUAREZ box from 1881.
[9033]
Cardboard five-pack from the 1940’s
by J. Montero y Ca.
[K18-24]
