The men and women of the 1800’s may have worked hard, but the upper and growing middle class was every bit as sports and recreation nutty as their counterparts today. It was almost a given that men smoked cigars and men, and an ever-growing number of women, played and competed.
Here, for your enjoyment, are those boxes and a lot more. In building this collection, it’s been a goal of the NCM to obtain as many different sports and recreations as possible. As cigar boxes will attest, the huge variety of sports and other available recreations was no less than today. There are so many boxes featuring the most popular pastimes of hunting, fishing, horse racing and baseball, that they are covered in separate exhibits.
Miscellaneous Recreation
A National Cigar Museum Exhibit
© Tony Hyman
One of the earliest of sports, chariot racing. Cigars made in Fact 421, Detroit, by Gus Moebs. This “salesman’s sample” box of 12 appears to have been a retail package as there are many more 12 boxes than any other size. [12230]
Recreation in medieval days was a bit rougher and an unusual topic for a cigar box. Cigars by Rudolf Imhof, Reading, PA, factory 1090, 1st Dist. in 1898. Imhof went out of business a few years later.
[12581]
Amusements, according to this 1898 label, consist of ballet, tennis, horse racing, sulky racing, steeple-chase, rowing, river cruising, women and cigar smoking. Cigars by Henry Ream, Fact. 718, 9th PA in Kleinfeltersville. A curator’s favorite. [7666]
Sports, according to this 1901 label, consist of baseball, rowing, bowling, hunting, fishing and tennis. Cigars by Joseph Lehmann, Fact. 180,
4th Dist. Burlington, Iowa.
[0826]
Some designer thought if one champion is good, eight is even better. Buffalo Bill, Buck Ewing, John L. Sullivan and five guys you never heard of. Cigars by W.C. Smith’s three man factory in Windsor,
Fact. 931, 9th PA 1880’s. [0824]
The big run was made by steamships, trains, horses, sailing ships, automobiles, bicyclists, track stars and the cigar brand. The 1943 version of this long runner made in Fact. 183 8th Ill by Fred Steer, Jacksonville successor to RT Cassell. [9596]
Most unusual cheese box shaped box holds
a cigar brand called CHEESE IT made in an unidentified Massachusetts factory in 1878.
[9875]
Only cigar label I’ve seen featuring race walking, this a famous 1878 race featuring the world’s best (Howell, Hart, Merritt, Ennis, Weston according to the label) competing for the Astley belt. Held in Central Park, NY. [9877]
All the early America’s Cub winners appeared on cigar boxes. Puritan was a revolutionary design and easy winner of the 5th race, held in 1885. Cigars by George Schmidt & Son in Neenah, Wisconsin
Fact. 106, 1st Dist. in 1886. [3791]
Mayflower won in 1886 and found its way onto a cigar box almost immediately. Cigars made by Leonard & Roess of Brattleboro, Vermont.
[4584]
This 1884 oarsman didn’t let his workout interfere with his enjoyment of a good cigar. Cigars by
George Wendell of Ionia, Fact. 2, 4th Michigan.
[0813]
Rowing is featured on a surprising number of early labels, here on a mid-1880’s cigar by Fisher & Co., of Reading, Fact. 422, 1st Dist. PA.
[0814]
Interesting use of 1860’s vertical style outer label: cut it in half and use the text as an end label and the picture as an inner. 1871 feminist box with woman beating man in bike race, showing a lot of leg in the process. Fact 57 MD. Curator’s favorite. [0810]
Popular label depicting cigar-smoking bicyclist riding balloon-tired safety bicycle. Generic label used by many cigar makers, here by N.B. Bement, Fact. 1529, 21st Dist. Palmyra New York, 1916.
[0851]
Women golfers pictured on a 1901 box used by Elmer Kirkland, Fact. 810, 21st Binghamton, NY.
Crooks were rectangular cross section cigars with a bend moulded into the middle, especially popular in the 1950’s in sweet liquor flavored versions. [0849]
1920’s & 30’s Babe Dedrickson Zaharias, history’s greatest female athlete and founder of the LPGA.
Married, she asked to be described as “boyish” rather than “manish” to avoid lesbian overtones. More in Frauds-Fakes-Fantasies [also 3612]
FORE! doesn’t seem to be a good name for a box
of five cigars. Cardboard five pack, 1950’s.
Fact. C-176 Pennsylvania. Gift of
A.J. Jerry Golden.
[6902]
Classic 1960’s style design box. Outstanding use of only two colors in an eye-catching way. Depicts the opposite of Champions. Curator’s favorite.
[0879]
Rare depiction of Somersworth, New Hampshire’s 1920± town football team. Cigars by C.N. Hurd of Berwick, Maine, Fact. 35 tax district of NH.
[0891]
The limited nature of the brand is suggested in that the inner and outer are pasted on a box of SPIDER cigars, Hurd’s main brand. Original top brand and edging remain unchanged for the football box.
[10280]
Unusually shaped cardboard ten pack featuring football at Yale in the days when the Yale-Harvard game was one of the country’s more important gridiron events. Pre WW One.
[10718]
The hight of success: a football goal. That’s a sports fan copywriter! Boxes featuring football games are far more rare than those showing baseball. Unlisted Fact. 593, 1st PA, 1935.
[0871]
1930’s style “cedar chest” style boxes were designed for women and usually have mirrors
rather than paper labels inside. See exhibit of
1930’s Novelties.
[6455]
1935 Green Bay Packers are featured inside
this very rare box created by George Barth,
204 N. Chestnut, Green Bay factory 283.
[6456]
Auto racing boxes are rare largely because the heyday of the sport came after the Golden Age of cigars. The best of a small selection was made around 1915 in unlisted Fact. 302, 9th PA.
[0857]
Bowling was a fairly popular cigar box sport, with both men and women pictured. Here an interesting mix of ad copy and sports image by Kaufmann Bros, a 700 roller factory #925 on 3rd Ave., NYC c1886
[0816]
Is she swimming recreationally or because of ship wreck? Ambiguous, but possibly the latter making for a ghoulish label choice for Fact. 262, 9th PA.
[0823]
As soon as roller-skating became a fad it appeared on a cigar box. Fact. 84 Kansas, c1888.
[0822]
In some parts of the country, cigar brands featuring ice-skating were popular. Here an accomplished woman is depicted. Fact. 1908, 9th PA, 1880’s.
[0818]
Tin late 19th century box used by Binghamton’s Tower & Wells Cigar Co. Fact. 714, 21st NY, shows boys racing on an outdoor ice skating pond. See the rest of the 19th C. sports boxes made by the Vogel tin company in the Tin Boxes exhibit. [2908]
Tobogganing is featured on another Tower and Wells tin made by the Vogel Tin Co. in the 1890’s.
[2907]
Cigar smoking little boy and little girl lead the field in a sled race while carrying a box of SNOW FLAKE cigars made by Heed Bros, in Fact. 17, 18th Dist.
of Ohio (Barnesville) in the 1890’s.
[4406]
Red “King of the Homers” Whizzer flew from Pensacola, FL, to Philadelphia, a distance of 935 miles in 23 3/4 hours on August 2, 1885, and got pictured on a cigar box for his effort. Fact. 2092,
9th Dist. Pennsylvania. [0825]
Cock fighting is a sport in many parts of the world including Cuba. Not many cigar boxes though. Fact. 2059, 9th Dist. PA owned by W.S. Brown, Lincoln
around 1910 when this was made.
[0854]
French painter Emile Bayard’s 1886 “An Affair of Honor” was quickly plagiarized by both cigar and
tobacco companies...and probably a few others. Cigars by L. Newburger & Bro., Cincinnati, Fact 18, 1st Ohio in 1887. [0827]
Nude women’s fencing isn’t an Olympic sport yet. Alas. But it’s irresistible subject matter for a men’s product. This trade card for smoking tobacco has
an 1887 calendar on the back, indicating it dates to the same year as the painting. [0828]
Women’s clothed fencing also appeared on
cigar boxes, here on a sample box from
Fact. 204 Virginia around 1922.
[0860]
Body building as a sport also appeared on a few
boxes, including this from 1910.
Catalog card missing.
[0850]
1895 monochrome label depicts a popular home game played by upper and middle classes, often on manicured lawns designed for the purpose. Cigars by Kelly & Schott, Fact. 107 in Waterloo, NY.
[0829]
Whether played in exclusive clubs or run-down saloons, pool and billiards were popular with everyone and frequently seen on labels.
Catalog card missing.
[0831]
Riding to hounds was a surprisingly popular theme on cigar boxes. Cigars by John Kaufman, Fact. 224, 21st District, Trumansburg, NY, 1898.
[0848]
The most popular fox chasing brand, made for decades by John Swisher. This end-nailed wrapped cardboard box was made for Fact. 110 Florida
in 1933. Earlier ones come from Ohio.
[0872]
Tails were awards in some fox chases. Animal parts appear surprisingly often on cigar boxes. Cigars by
H.J. Ammann, Kiel, Wisconsin Fact. 190, 1st WI
between 1901-1904.
[10427]
Woman in riding garb by big time cigar maker, Bobrow Bros. of Philadelphia. Fact. 305.
Depression era.
[0873]
You don’t have to chase foxes to be pictured riding
horses on cigar boxes. Fact. 412, 3rd NYC.
Sutro & Newmark’s 1000 roller factory for
unidentified retailer. 1880’s.
[7687]
Somewhat gruesome hunting scene complete with bloody dead moose is not typical of the outdoors related boxes found in the hunting-fishing exhibit.
Cigars by S. Ottenberg & Bros, 500 roller
Fact. 1065, 3rd Dist NYC 1880’s. [5557]
Champions of the National Soccer League from 1928 through 1938 are featured on this
outstanding vanity label used by Thomas Vavra
Fact. 1201 in Chicago. Photo taken in 1928.
[10265]
Tennis was a growing sport with a few box appearances, its popularity noted on this ambiguous box used by Autzenroeder & Co. of Mansfield Ohio
Fact. 33, 11th Dist Ohio c.1888.
[0832]
Tennis and golf and a strange looking blue ball highlight this Wm. H. Snyder box packed in
Fact. 1696, 9th Windsor, PA, c1912.
[0858]
An important tennis trophy for those who don’t follow the sport. No other explanation needed. Good thing, since I’ve no catalog card for this 1930’s box.
[0869]
A similar problem (no catalog card) exists with this pre WWI box depicting a Princeton University
trackalete. Was this part of a series of boxes featuring college sports and athletes?
[0853]
Among the weirdest of featured athletic endeavors is this high kick performed by saloon owner and cigar retailer, J.J. Hittemiller. Cigars in this book-shaped box by Wm. Hartley, Dyersville, IA, in
Factory 133, 3rd Dist. Iowa around 1900. [0888]
The illustration of these child boxers may have
been based on a series of pictures originally.
Cigars by Jacob Roland, Fact. 1159, 1st Dist.
Lititz, PA, in 1930. [0868]
Trade card with familiar image.
[10293]
Late 1920’s boxing image printed on the box
(POB) used by unlisted Fact. 952, 1st PA.
[2544]
Great two-color illustration of a child boxer
used by Fred Druck in Dallastown,
Fact. 1171, 1st PA 1936.
[10221]
Boxing continued popular on cigar boxes, tho the design was greatly simplified. Higdon Cigar Co. of Quincy, Florida, Fact. 51 used this in 1952.
[0874]
Turnverein was founded in Germany for “physical and spiritual development” and spread to the US in 1848. Members were instrumental in getting PE added to the school curriculum. Cigars by Gott Weilandt, Fact. 1445, Avon, Illinois. [w0000]
College rugby is another cigar label sport.
Not in the NCM collection.
[w0000]
Hardly as dramatic as boxing, board games have been a recreation for millennia. One of Indiana’s last one-man factories, J.G. Matkovitch of Hammond, Indiana, Fact. C-314 displayed it on
this cardboard box. [0876]
Chess is seen on cigar boxes more than checkers.
This time thanks to the Herkomer Cigar Co.,
Fact. 1214, 1st PA in the mid 1930’s.
[10970]
CROSS WORD puzzles may not be a sport, but they’re certainly a recreation of millions...and a
topic for a cigar box. Cigars by Quality Cigar Co, Fact. 1386, Red Lion, PA in 1945.
[2338]
[12581]
