Fake Coca-Cola® Cigar Band
A National Cigar Museum Expose´
© Tony Hyman
[12563]
The Coca-Cola cigar band
This cigar band has excited amateurs and plagued collectors ever since it was printed in the February 1933 issue of FORTUNE magazine, one of 20 bands illustrating an article about a band printer. This is not a genuine cigar band, nor is it what a genuine Coca-Cola band looked like.
A Coca-Cola company rep assured me genuine Coca-Cola bands exist, but they ALWAYS show the entire Coca-Cola trademark, whereas you can see the FORTUNE band shows only "a-Cola" on the bottle. This is considered a fake by both Coke and band collectors.
Coca-Cola cigars were never sold in the open market, but were created for smoking at company banquets in the 1920's and 30's. The company also ordered a limited number of boxes of SPRITE cigars to be passed around at the event when that drink was introduced.
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In today's anti-tobacco climate, cola company officials are cagey about providing information regarding their internal house-brand cigars. I'd love to hear from a former employee or someone else who can provide details about when the various Coca-Cola product cigars were made, how many were created, and how and where they were distributed
