The introduction of cigars into Europe and the subsequent mania led to a two-decade-long outpouring of satirical comic drawings about smokers. As the legions of smokers grew, and the quality of cigars improved, the fun-poking slowed. By Civil War days, and thereafter, cigars became a standard fixture in caricatures of men of all social classes. In 1896, a new type of cigar smoker entered the American scene, the denizen of the daily newspaper. Beginning with Richard Outcault's Yellow Kid, recurring men, women, children and animals filled what came to be called the "funny papers" and like their readers, comic characters smoked. Despite the fact that The Yellow Kid, Jiggs, Mutt & Jeff, The Captain, Happy Hooligan, Mr. Jack, Alley Oop, Abie Kabibble, Rosie's Beau, Barney Google, and 
many more long-forgotten denizens of the pre-World War One comic pages were all seen with cigars in their mouth, only a few of them went on to decorate cigar boxes. Most likely, their absence can be attributed to the tight short lease on which the cartoonists were held by their syndicating papers, and the royalties they demanded.
many more long-forgotten denizens of the pre-World War One comic pages were all seen with cigars in their mouth, only a few of them went on to decorate cigar boxes. Most likely, their absence can be attributed to the tight short lease on which the cartoonists were held by their syndicating papers, and the royalties they demanded. There’s a certain irony in the fact that the longest-lived cigar box cartoon character was a non-smoking women’s libber. Here she is, along with a few of her friends and rivals.
Comic Character Gallery
A National Cigar Museum Exclusive
© Tony Hyman
Given the huge popularity of cigars in the late 1890’s. it’s fitting that the young denizen of Hogan’s Alley, the first “person” to be printed in color, should be a cigar smoker. Artist Richard Outcault designed
the labels and signed them.
[2408]
About 40 of these NW 100/13
boxes are known to have survived.
Cigars were made in various factories
under contract.
[2407]
The NWH version of YELLOW KID is far more difficult to find than the one with labels. The brand continued to be made in numerous factories
in NY, PA and NJ. 1900-1910.
[2412]
If you have one of these, please drop me an email and tell me the factory, state and
tax district yours was made in.
[2413]
Popular relatively hard-to-find tin can.
Cigars by Swisher in Jacksonville, Florida,
Factory 110 during the 1930’s depression.
Many factories made the brand under contract.
[2406]
Full set of labels: Inner, outer, top oval and nail tag. The labels have been found used on boxes
of 13, 25 and 50. Boxes are more difficult to find than cans but sell for substantially less.
The NCM would like to get a box for display.
The NCM would like to get a box for display.
[4026]
When brands change makers: 1916 invoice from Wing Cigar Co. in Columbus, OH, to Commercial Cigar Co. in Newark, OH, for 24,000 sets of BUSTER BROWN labels, 300,000 bands and 35 reams of BUSTER BROWN edging. Total price? $300. Title to transfer when payment made. [2415]
Postcard size flyer with Buster and Tige urging retailers to order cigars from Brewster, Crittenden
and Co. their Rochester distributor “because my cigar is the finest in the country and I redeem the bands with useful presents.”
[2416]
Box offered two different lengths of cigar reflecting the large difference in hight between the two friends. The strip ran 1907-1982. The phrase Mutt & Jeff has entered the language to mean tall and short. Cigars by H.J. Roth, McSherrystown, Fact. 317, 9th PA for Mutual Cigar Co., Buffalo. 1913. [2410]
Bud Fisher created Mutt & Jeff, and became the first comic industry celebrity, making $250,000 a year, an enormous sum in the 1920s. Cigars made in 1916 in Fact. 328, 18th Dist Ohio. Unknown maker.
[2418]
Aluminum ash tray featuring Andy Gump. It’s cartoonist got the industry’s first million dollar contract from a newspaper publisher: $100,000
a year for ten years. On the ashtray Andy is giving his catch phrase cry, “Oh Min,” a call to his wife
for help. Strip ran from 1919-1959. [2425]
Desktop matchbox holder featuring horse racing fan Barney Google and his horse Spark Plug. Repainted aluminum. The strip began in 1919 and still runs in 21 countries. Like most strips of the day, it was
definitely non-cerebral.
[2405]
William Ireland was an editorial cartoonist for The Columbus Dispatch, but best known for his weekly full page “Passing Show.” Teck Haskins was the title character in a 1908 book he wrote and illustrated about his experiences as a student at Ohio State.
[2414]
Ireland’s book in which Haskins goes to Ohio State as an ag major, joins Si Eta Alfalfa fraternity, hung out in the girl’s dorm and became a football fan who scouted opponents. He was eventually expelled for neglecting his studies. Not in the NCM.
Palmer Cox’s famous brownies attacked the moon on this spectacular 1908? box.
A curator’s favorite.
[2419]
Cartoonist ZIM, drew a gag label for E.W. Cannon, Horseheads, NY, his hometown cigar maker. “The Zim cigar contains no leather shavings, no chewing gum wads, no curled hair, or other odorous foliage.” “Mostly tobacco manufactured by a kind neighbor and tolerated by the board of health.” 1910. [2422]
Large cartoon sign for cigars by M. Foster & Co., 1059 3rd Ave., NYC, Factory 8, 3rd Dist. I haven’t been able to find which strip she was from.
[12257]
History’s most popular cartoon cigar appeared only a year or two after this liberated single breadwinner hit the comics in 1920. The label changed little. This box-wrapped version is from 1956. The strip continued until 1996.
[2423]
J.P. Alley wrote and illustrated a newspaper column called “Hambone’s Meditations” about the pithy philosophical musings of an ex-slave he met and interviewed. This hanger is based on Lindbergh's 1927 flight. Started in 1916, the column was taken over by Alley’s son and continued until 1968. [2477]
MONKEYS PUFFING CIGARS !!
“New customs, though they be never so ridiculous,
Nay, let them be unmanly, yet are followed.”
7” x 7.5” London, c1820
