Cigars have always been identified with celebration, pleasure and the good life. As a result, no tobacco product has been more associated with Christmas than the cigar. Each year, from 1880 to 1920, the eight week holiday season saw more than 25,000,000 boxes of cigars sold. By early November shelves were stocked with attractive holiday packaging in all price ranges, from two for a nickel cigars to those selling for a buck each (the typical turn-of-the-century domestic cigar sold for 5¢ to 2/25¢).
 
    Cigars were popular gifts because they
could be given cross-gender, cross-age
 
and cross social class. Cigars were an appropriate present from a robber baron to his chauffeur, a maiden aunt to her nephew, or an unmarried woman to her paramour. Sons could give them to their father, women to their tradesmen, parishioners to their priest, drunks to their bartender and students to their mentors.
 
 
    Cigars appear to have been the first widely available commercial product to create special packaging for the holidays. By late summer, label companies deluged cigar factories and wholesalers with labels, flaps, and edging designed for boxes to sell during the holiday season. The earliest known Christmas cigar boxes date from the 1860’s and by the 1880’s a shopper would have hundreds of brands, prices and package designs from which to choose. Because they were associated with pleasant memories, Christmas boxes often became keepsakes, surviving in fine condition. Today, they are avidly sought by collectors of advertising, packaging and cigar collectibles.
 
    In the 1940’s and 50’s the American Tobacco Company attempted to convince people that cigarettes were also an appropriate gift by decorating cartons of Lucky Strike and Pall Malls with printed holly, but those feeble efforts pale into insignificance compared with the glorious Christmas cigar boxes created  during the Golden Age (1878-1915) by cigar makers, wholesalers and retailers.
 
    This exhibit is selected from the cigar packaging collection of Hyman’s National Cigar Museum for your holiday pleasure and year-round edification.
 
Christmas & Cigars
A National Cigar Museum Exclusive
© Tony Hyman
1880’s  My favorite Christmas box. Die cuts are common on Christmas boxes, both inside and out.
Cigars by Riddle, Graff & Co., Delaware, OH
Fact. 22, 11th  Ohio
[4112]
Interior of previous. Note ribbon which stretched across 25 cigars, and the smaller colored ribbons which banded them. Angels were a popular theme in the days when Christmas was a religious holiday.
Interior lid is uniquely padded satin. [4111]
1880’s  Plain top as Christmas boxes go.
Fact. 428, 1st Ohio. Unidentified maker.
[10076]
Interior of previous. Wonderful snow-suited
die-cut angel with triptych style design. Box printed
in silver, gold, red, and unusual light blue.
Lovely paper lace flaps all around.
Curator’s favorite.   [10077]
c1886  NWHC box with unusual green background for die-cut. Cigars made in Fact. 543 Wisconsin.
[4113]
c1886  Interior of previous. Striking Christmas box with die-cut against a blue and silver background.  Gold foil liner.
[4114]
1885 Striking early box made in Fact. 276,
1st Mich., an unlisted cigar maker.
[4123]
1887  Die-cut cat on NW with full hardware.  Slogan reads “May Christmas bring you many comforts.”
Fact. 70, 3rd NYC
[4117]
c1886  Die-cut of two little girls playing with dolls.
Cigars by Levy Bros., a firm with 500 rollers, located at Avenue C and 18th Street. Fact. 401, 3rd NYC.
[4119]
1887  Unusual double sided box with two different die-cuts. How were the cigars held in the box when lid opened?  Fact. 279, 5th NJ
[4106]
1889  Unusual die-cut top with silver-printing.
Cigars by Levy Bros., a firm with 500 rollers, located at Avenue C and 18th Street. Fact. 401, 3rd NYC.
Fact. 401, 3rd Dist. NYC.
[4102]
1889  Interior of previous.  Robins on a branch makes for an odd theme for a Christmas box.
[4103]
1888  Trimmed Nailed Wood box with clasp. Lovely embossed top label.  Cigars by or for F.F. Follett, in short-lived Factory 239, Dist. CT.
[4142]
1888  Interior of previous demonstrates not all Christmas boxes carry the holiday theme inside. Note outstanding use of paper lace.
[4141]
c1890  Trimmed nailed wood box used by
Charles Dittenhoffer of Lancaster, PA,
 Factory 1712, 9th PA.
[4137]
c1890  As especially nice label with heavy use of gold on what appears to be a varnished label. Unusual for inner to match top on Christmas boxes.
[4138]
c1900  Trimmed nailed wood box with clasp and overall lid, with a simulated alligator label printed
in silver and gold. Fact. 116, 1st Oregon
[4139]
c1900  Interior of previous. Lovely pastel young ladies. Note internal all around flap-style edging which laid on top of the cigars, probably on top of a floating tissue paper flap.  Curator’s favorite.
[4140]
c1900  Wicker basket weave surface on NWHC box; cigars by Henry Gutsmith, Canton Ave., Baltimore.
Fact. 226, Maryland.
[4131]
c1890  This same charming duo appear on individual 14” die cuts in an ad for Kinney Bros. cigarettes as well as on standee-type posters.
Cigars by Osborn Bros., Fact. 23, 8th Dist.
Decatur, Illinois.  [4151]
1892  This book shaped box has a large clasp to keep the lid sealed when the box is stood upright.
Cherubs printed in silver.  Fact. 107, but the state
is obliterated in the ID.
[4134]
1892  Birds and a young girl adorn this, the first book-shaped box and the first Christmas box in my collection. Purchased for an enormous $5 from a Pasadena, CA, antique store in 1953.
[4133]
c1895  Die-cut snow scene combined with gold printing made an attractive top on this box used by Charles Kurtz of Milville, NJ, Fact. 8, 1st NJ.
[4109]
c1895  Interior of previous uses another die-cut, centered in gold-printed greetings with unusual use of black ink as shading.
[4110]
1894  Horseshoe an unusual theme on a Christmas   box. Box used by W.H. Fischhofer & Co.,
337 East 75th St. NYC.  Fact. 1937, 3rd NY.
[4104]
c1890  Silver and gold ink with an angel die-cut.
No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. The top
design is printed crooked. Not catalogued.
[4135]
Unusual cut Nailed Wood box with full hardware used by Straiton & Storm, whose 1,000 rollers made it one of the nation’s largest cigar factories,
Fact. 11, 3rd Dist NYC.
[9242]
1884  Very unusual house-shaped Christmas novelty box made in the Detroit area by an unidentified cigar maker. Fact 276, 1st Dist. Mich.
[3466]
Rare 12/6 featuring a boy peeing his Christmas greetings in the snow.  Cigars by Chas. Specht Noonday Cigar Co., Fact. 505, 1st Missouri,
St. Louis, 1904. A curator’s favorite.
[3305]
c1901 Snow Flake is unusual in that the top and the inside label are both the same design. True of few  Christmas boxes. Cigars by  Josephson Bros,
Fact. 338, 3rd NYCity.
 [4144] Now owned by the family
c1905  Book shaped box from the period when they were most popular as gifts. Cigars by L.M. Bement, Clifton Springs, Fact. 973, 28th Western NY.
[4108]
c1905  Pretty girl inner, one of my favorite
F.M. Howell, Elmira printer, cigar labels.
[4107]
c1901  Unusually labeled book-shaped box used by L.C. Schmidt, Appleton, Fact. 382, 1st Dist Wisc.
[4127]
1900 Labels with New Years themes are scarce. Friends giving a midnight toast at the millennium was used by D.E. Woodmansee of Springforge, PA, owner of. Fact. 414, 9th Dist. PA.  
[4152]
c1903  Interesting basket weave pattern stamped or cut into wood with applied metal corners, hinges and clasps, and fancy centered leaves. Cigars by A.E. John, Fort Madison, Fact. 155, 4th Dist, Iowa.  
[4147]
c1903  Interior of previous. Santa with demented look in his eye appears to be stuffing his bag
as much as emptying it.
[4148]
c1901 Everything about this box is unusual, from its satiny blue exterior paper and applied corners to its "Remember Me" message, likely  given by a lady to her man friend. Cigars by Ralph Davis, Fact.171, 4th Dist. Moulton, Iowa.   [0000]
c1901  Interior of previous. Cuddly Santa.
[4154]
c1900 Textual inner advertises TIMM’S MONOGRAM cigars. Floating flap is holiday themed. Gold foil used for liner. Ornate metal trim with die-cut of woman, not untypical of Christmas boxes.Fact. 931, Minnesota   [4146]
c1911  Adding a die cut santa to the interior was a quickie way to jazz up a box. Added later? Possible, but doubtful, given the widespread use of die-cuts on Christmas boxes. Fact. 1133, 1st PA was owned
by John K. Steffy, Lyons.  [4121]
c1901  Unusual box of 12 cigars with severely trimmed label, lace decorations.  Cigars by
John Tolan, Escanaba, Fact. 311, 4th Michigan.
[4156]
c1901  Same Santa label on a partially trimmed NW box used by an unknown cigarmaker, Fact. 204 MD.
[4136]
c1912  A sectarian season label was used by H.G. Barnhart, Springvale PA on this 10/5 made in Fact. 1825, 9th PA probably at the request of a wholesaler seeking exactly that.
[4130]
c1900  Jewish immigrants played an important role
in the industry, but few symbols appear on labels.
[4174]
c1935  Very plain Christmas book made from redwood, used by F.S. Baer, Los Angeles.
Fact., 164, 6th Dist. CA.
[4145]
1927   Cardboard BN style with paper hinge made in Fact 305, 5th Kentucky for F.R. Rice Mercantile Co., a major St. Louis wholesale distributor retailer.
Distinctive non-sectarian inexpensive package.
[4126]
1940  Replacing the top label makes for a simple relatively inexpensive holiday box.
[4161]
1940   Interior of previous box, with no
holiday reference.
[4162]
1960’s  It became popular to ‘customize’ cigar boxes by Scotch© taping single sheets to the top, creating inexpensive Christmas, Father’s Day, etc. boxes.
[0000]
1950’s  Another simple expedient was to add a wax paper like holiday wrap over the box.
[4164]
ANTONIO Y CLEOPATRA Clear Havanas made by American Tobacco.  This full sealed box of domestically made Havanas is for sale
to help fund NCM projects. $400.
[7071]
Lightweight cardboard sleeves to customize boxes were cheaper and faster than wrapping.
[4178]
[4179]
Gone are any suggestions of religion.
[4180]
[4182]
[4183]
[4184]
[4185]
Other holidays can quickly replace
Christmas with the slip of a sleeve.
Look like your family on father’s day?
[4177]
No clue what this sleeve celebrates.
[4181]