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¢).

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.