In general, tin can collectors prefer their cans to be lithographed directly on tin rather than with paper labels pasted on.  But there are some interesting and attractive paper label cans.  A selection from my collection is exhibited for your enjoyment.
Tin Cans with Paper Labels
A National Cigar Museum Exhibit
© Tony Hyman
Important long time cigar maker adds another Shakespearian themed brand. Cigar smokers were considered literate it appears. Cigars by M. Valle & Co. Fact. 56 Tampa Florida 1923. [8166]
A great play on words made for unknown distributor
by Cross Road Cigar Company, Felton (York) PA.
Fact. 1549, 1st PA  late 1920’s. This brand has been found in wood and paper covered tin. [3038]
Bees, wasps, yellow-jackets and  pinch beetles are among insects found on cigar boxes. [3039]
Wengler & Mendell is a Chicago company that owned Factory 300, Tampa, FL in the late 1920’s.
Paper vanity outer makes up the labeling
on this otherwise simple plain white can.
Kauffman & Bro., So. Dallastown c1904  
 [3138]
 
Major maker whose brand is also packed in wood.
W.K. Gresh & Sons  Fact 2724, 1st PA  1922.
[3040]
This brand depicting a sorcerer pulling cigars from a bale of tobacco leaf is also packed in wood.  
Fact. 11 Maryland for Adams & Sons a Missouri grocery distributor in 1915.  [3045]
Cans of 25 are usually square, but not here.
Unusual use of inner label, end label, back flap and nail tag as trim on one can. This brand was usually packed in NW boxes.  Fact 233, 18th Ohio made for Hulman & Co., Terre Haute, Indiana in 1920.
[3048]
Backside of the can. A nail tag is pasted
on top to become the can’s top oval.
Seems like someone had a lot of sets
and didn’t want left-overs.
[3049]
Is this an actual sculpture or a label
designer’s fantasy? ¿Quien sabe?
Fact. 1117, 1st PA  c1921
[3043]
Clever idea but ugly execution
Myers, Lee Roy Cigar Co., Fact. 20 in Georgia.  Savannah 1920’s  [3050]
Vacuum packing was a short lived experiment
in the early 1950’s. Why it disappeared is a story
I don’t know and would like to learn and pass on.
[3041]
Humipak seemed like a good idea at the time.
Cuesta-Rey & Co., Fact. 55 Tampa, FL. 1950.
Very few Humipaks have survived with lids.
[3042]
Buildings, especially newspapers and court houses frequently show up on cigar labels. Cigars made by Chas. F. Pusch, Kansas’ largest cigar company.
[8863]
Labels are rare inside hinged tin cans.
Factory 284 in Marysville, Kansas.
This was never an overly popular shape can,
printed or with paper label.  [8865]
One of the advantages of paper labels was the ease with which custom and commemorative labels could be created.
[10239]
DWG, Fact. 88, 10th (Delphos) Ohio created this rare Father’s Day special around 1950±
[10240]
All for sides carry different cartoons celebrating cigar smoking the year around.
[10241]
Some idiot put a price sticker right on the head of January’s smoker which another idiot didn’t remove carefully. The result is irreparable damage. Price stickers should NEVER be used on paper goods.
[10242]
These extra long cigars were made especially for NYC retailer Nat Sherman by Salvador Rodriguez, Fact. 409  Florida. 1920’s   [3124]
Simple portrait label.
Fact. 105, 5th New Jersey  1915
[3137]
Fact. 5, 1st New Jersey  1916
[3128]
Clever Christmas packaging for a popular brand.
Fact. 23, 1st PA  c1915
[3051]
Not very pretty but as rare as it gets. Made in unlisted Union Factory 7 in Rock Springs, Wyoming between 1927 and 1935. Not in the NCM collection.
 [w 0000]
Not a brand you’re likely to see today. Unknown cigar factory for a Mid-Atlantic distributor’s house brand. Coffee and other products carry the same
brand name.
[2782]
One of the problems with cans is that the cigars aren’t visible to the customer and they are difficult to remove, causing excess handling by the clerk
[7350]
Clever method of making cigars in cans visible. Open, remove cigars, put lid inside at angle, replace the cigars, tuck the display insert behind them.
[7350cu]
Rare paper label not in the NCM collection.
Cigars by G.A. Strobeck, Fact. 563, Red Liion, PA.
[w 0000]