CIGAR HISTORY 1910-1960
A National Cigar Museum EXCLUSIVE
© Tony Hyman
Part IV of the Cigar Time Line covers events from the closing days of the Golden Age until the Castro era, the closing of Cuba and the corporate take over of the industry.
Government activities (usually laws) and particularly noteworthy companies are in bold as are brand names. If a box, label or company is on exhibit, it is marked in claret color. Entries in light blue have been added since the May 1st, 2008, upload. Entries in red are social or historic events with significant impact on the country.
This timeline is under construction. I add dates as I find them. Since the information was gathered over a period of 50 years from more than 1,000 sources, errors, contradictions or differences of opinion are inevitable. Feel free to write <Tony@CigarHistory.info>.
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1910 US Government drops denominations from small white import stamps, now dated 1910.
1910 US Government totally redesigns cigar tax stamps, shortening them to 9± inches.
1910 US Government allows boxes of 5 and 10 regular cigars as well as 5 and 8 small cigars
1910 US Government allows Caution Notices to be printed directly on cigar boxes instead of pasted on. Specifies strict uniform dimensions and shape.
1910 WESTERN TOBACCONIST magazine founded.
1910 LA CORONA (owned by the American Tobacco Trust) was making 40,000 Havana cigars a day.
1910 Cigars and smoking tobacco confiscated by British tax agents were given to "Criminal Lunatic Asylums and to State Inebriate Reformatories."
1910 R.G. Sullivan, Manchester NH, claims to be the country’s largest maker of a 10¢ cigar brand (350 rollers making 7-20-4).
1910 George Weidman and Thomas Fisher found Weidman, Fisher & Co., box makers, in Tampa.
1910 Jose “Mucho” Suarez starts leaf merchant business in Havana.
1910 Bayuk Bros. introduce PHILADEPHIA HAND MADE, which the smoking public shortened to “Phillies,” which ultimately became one of history’s biggest selling cigars.
1910 The Independent Retail Tobacconists’ Association (I.R.T.A.) is formed in reaction to the growth of United and other chain stores.
1910 President Taft lights the cigarette of the Russian ambassador’s wife, reportedly the first cigarette smoked in the White House. News reports say “Within five minutes nearly every European woman in the room was smoking.”
1910-1916 Huge quantities of Philippine cigars imported due to favorable tax rulings. Highly prized in Asia; contrary to legend, Philippine cigars were what the Kennedy brothers smoked.
1911 Tobacco Trust broken up: American, Lorillard, Liggett & Myers, RJ Reynolds separated out. The company’s two-thirds holdings in British American Tobacco were sold.
1911 La Floridian Cigar Factory established in Tampa.
1911 Statistically every man, woman and child in the US smoked 78 cigars and 108 cigarettes, chewed 2 1/2 pounds of chaw, smoked 1 3/4 pounds of pipe tobacco, and dipped 1/3 of a pound of snuff. In 1941 Americans still dipped a 1/3 of a pound of snuff and still smoked 1 1/2 pounds of pipe tobacco. Chaw had dropped to 3/4 of a pound, cigars were down to 45 and cigarettes up to 1,500 a year.
1912 Of the 8,500,000,000 US cigars, nearly half were made in PA and NY. Florida’s output was one-sixth that of PA, but got all the publicity because the city of Tampa produced more Clear Havanas than any other city, closely followed by Manhattan. Florida’s cheap cigars (5¢ or less) outsold Florida’s high-priced cigars (20¢ or more), something they didn’t publicize.
1912 If all the cigars manufactured in the United States this year were placed end to end they would go around the equator twenty-two times.
1912 American Tobacco Co. takes over F.R. Penn Tobacco Co.
1912 American Tobacco’s cigar division operates 60 factories (20 of them in Cuba) which sell more than 140 different brands of 5¢ cigar and hundreds of other brands sold at prices up to $1.
1912 H.Fendrich, maker of LA FENDRICH, CHARLES DENBY and many custom brands, opens huge new plant in Evansville, Indiana, capable of 350,000 cigars a day. Claims to be largest cigar factory in the world.
1912 Bayuk Bros. Cigar Co. moves to larger quarters in Philadelphia. Now operates factories in Allentown, Bethlehem, Steelton (PA), Newark, Perth Amboy and Binghamton.
1912 A.L. Cuesta of Tampa, FL, buys Cuba’s world-famous EL REY DEL MUNDO brand and opens new cigar factory and warehouse in Havana, primarily to supply Europe and South America. It was cheaper to import raw tobacco and make all Havana cigars in Tampa for the U.S. market.
1912 Cuban Government begins use of wide green Guarantee stamp. Text all in Spanish. This replaced the red and black stamp of the Union Fabricantes de Tabacos which had been in use since 1889.
1913 US Government issues first Manufactured in Bond customs stamp. Continued as long as supplies of Cuban tobacco are available (early 1960’s). See Dating Import stamps for detail.
1913 US Government tax laws modified to permit 21 cigars per week per employee to be smoked in the factory “without the manufacturer of cigars being required to pack the same in boxes, or to stamp or pay any internal revenue tax thereon.”
1913: A cigar makers’ strike involving 700 Cincinnati workers ends August 12 after two months when employers meet their wage demands.
1913 Jno. H. Swisher & Son formed as John buys out brother Harry and brings in his son Carl. Maker of KING EDWARD, SWISHER SWEETS, POM-POM and others.
1913 Charles Beck opens small cigar factory in Belleville, Illinois. Lasted 44 years.
1913 M. Labkoff’s Sons begin wholesaling cigars, cigarettes, patent medicines and fountain supplies in Philadelphia.
1913 RJ Reynolds introduces CAMEL the “first modern cigarette.”
1914 US Government enacts an increase in taxes to offset the loss of customs duties which followed the declaration of war between Germany and allied nations in Europe.
1914 Thomas E. Brooks, already a successful PA cigar maker, combines with S.E. Sechrist in forming T.E. Brooks & Co. of Red Lion, PA. By 1930, the company operated five PA factories.
1914 B. J. Van Huystee and his 16 year old son B.F. Van Huystee, immigrants from the Netherlands, open a cigar factory in London, Ontario, Canada. They made POLLYANNA, R34 and MAMMOTH SMOKERS. In 1922 they moved to Detroit, and B.F. became management in a series of major cigar-makers’ factories.
1914 Continuous ovens first used to dry inked tin, speeding tin lithography greatly, making tin signs, cans and boxes cheaper, starting two decades of popularity.
1914 The largest 1% of US cigar factories rolled 50% of domestic cigars. The 24% classified as “mid-size” made 40% of the total, whereas 75% of US factories combined to make 10% of the output. Of the 26,000 registered cigar factories, only 50 roll more than 25,000,000 a year.
1915 Canadian Government issues new series of tax stamps the same as 1897, but redated and printed only in black. Small denomination stamps (5 & 10) were redesigned as small horizontals printed in gold-orange, but not color-coded. See Dating Canadian boxes for more detail.
1915 Onandaga County in New York’s finger lakes region cultivates 5,000 acres of cigar tobacco, Drops after WWI. 1931 sees only 1,000 acres planted, and that was up from previous years.
1915 William Steiner & Sons takes over Krueger & Braun label printers in NYC.
1915 Liggett & Myers reconstitutes CHESTERFIELD into a Camel type “modern” cigarette.
1915 High quality Cuban cigars sell for 35¢ to $2, with top of the line brands and sizes bringing $5 each.
1915 John Hertz founds Yellow Cab Co. By 1925 he owned 2,700 vehicles and a cigar brand had been named after his company.
1915 Tobacco Merchants Association formed. Jacob Wertheim, formerly President of the United Cigar Manufacturing Company elected first president. A Who’s Who of the tobacco industry involved including: George W. Hill, Leon Schinasi, George H. Hummel, John Bagley, George L. Storm, R.G. Sullivan, M. Regensburg, Fred Hirschhorn, Charles Eisenlohr, Emil D. Klein, Alvaro Garcia, Joseph Cullman, D.A. Schulte and many many more.
1916 US Government shortens all cigar tax stamps to a uniform 4± inches. Portrait dropped.
1916 Membership in the Cigar Maker’s International Union peaks at only 53,000 members, but they are very influential philosophically. One hundred or more other union charters and constitutions are based on the cigarmakers.
1916 Don Francisco Pego Pita partnered with Cifuentes in Partagas. Name changed to Cifuentes, Pego y Cia.
1916 WILLEM II brand established in Valkenswaard, the Netherlands, by H. Kersten, former employee of the van Best Brothers.
1916 A German soldier’s ration during WWI was officially two cigars and two cigarettes a day. History doesn’t record how often they succeeded in collecting it.
1916 American Tobacco Company introduces LUCKY STRIKE to compete with Camels and Chesterfield.
1916-1920 Nearly all laws prohibiting sale of tobacco products to minors were passed between 1916-1920, simultaneous to the development and popularity of the domestic-blend cigarette.
1917 US Government sets 5 tax classes for cigars based on their retail price; Tax class shown both on the box and stamp, now color coded by amount paid.
1917 E. Latimer Sechrist and W.C. Fruitiger form the Superior Cigar Co. in York County, PA. Sechrist buys out Fruitiger 6 years later. Maker of FAVORITE PLAYERS, PAY DAY, JENNY LIND 5¢ cigars, JOLLY FELLOWS 2/5¢ cigars and KALO 3/10¢ cigars.
1917-1918 The Salvation Army and the WMCA both distribute free cigarettes to the troops in France.
1918 John Dengler opens St. Louis cigar factory and tobacco shop that lasted 50+ years.
1918 An entire generation of young men returns home to England, France, Australia and the U.S. from World War One addicted to cigarettes.
1919 US Government enacts national PROHIBITION of booze. Saloons by the tens of thousands closed, cutting off an important retail outlet for cigars.
1919 First fully automated cigar machine introduced in US. One machine sold. A decade later, more than 4,000 would be in production, making more cigars in an hour than a hand-roller could do in a day, at about half the daily wage cost.
1919 Philadelphia's Juan F. Portuondo celebrates 50th anniversary with gold/orange tin can. Have boxes, anniversary can, sign.
1919 D. Emil Klein becomes first President of the newly formed Consolidated Cigar Corporation. Julius Lichtenstein, President of American Sumatra Tobacco Company, becomes its 2nd president in 1922.
1919 Waitt & Bond. moves production of BLACKSTONE from Boston to Newark, a move usually associated with mechanization and or labor disputes.
1919 Census reports 19,832 people employed making cigars and cigarettes in Manhattan.
1919 Toraño y Campañia opens warehouses in Havana, specializing in Vuelta Abajo and Partido fillers from their own farms. “Buy direct from the grower; your dollar brings you better value.”
1919 Nationwide, 56% of cigar and cigarette factories produce less than $5,000 worth of goods a year.
1919 Cigarettes use more pounds of tobacco than smoking tobacco for the first time.
1919 Membership in the CMIU drops 40% in NYC because of the strike of 1919. One quarter of cigar rollers remain members, but in New Jersey less than 3% of cigar rollers are unionized. Important cigar companies in NY, PA and MA begin plans to move to New Jersey.
1919 London cigar importer NR Silverstone founded by Nat Silverstone. Still operating in 2000.
1920 Amalgamated Tobacco Workers of America founded as CMIU rival, small ineffectual, harassed NYC manufacturers, driving some to relocate to non unionized New Jersey.
1920 American Cigar Co., General Cigar Co., Consolidated Cigar Corp., American Tobacco Co., P. Lorillard, Liggett & Myers and other domestic and foreign manufacturers all have NYC headquarters.
1920 George & Herman Schroer open what in 1972 would be Louisville’s last surviving cigar factory.
1920 Bayuk Bros. incorporates, adding Inc. to their name.
1920 J.C. Winter operates 32 Pennsylvania factories, large and small. Maker of O’SAN, CHAMPAGNE, 50-50 and many other brands.
1920 Biggest cigar production year ever. Only 7.5% of cigar tobacco used in the US is imported, much of that from Sumatra via the Netherlands. Eight BILLION U.S. cigars used eight million pounds of tobacco imported from Cuba. That’s one pound for every 1,000 cigars. The word “Havana” on a cigar box almost always refers to a type of domestic U.S. tobacco, but is used in ways to make the smoker (and today’s ebay sellers) think of Cuba.
1920 The development of the modern blended burley cigarette, cup packs, World War One, the jazz age, automobiles, flappers, movies, and women smokers led to 100 Billion cigarettes going up in smoke and combined with the fully automated cigar machine brought an end to the Golden-Age of the cigar. Cigar consumption remained around 8 Billion cigars while cigarette consumption skyrocketed.
1920 Cigarettes accounted for 51% of tobacco taxes, up from 2% in 1880. By 1970, cigarettes would account for 97% of all tobacco taxes collected by the Feds.
1920 NYC from 50th St to 96th, from 3rd Avenue East remains the greatest concentration of cigar factories in the world, but the introduction of the fully automated machine is about to change that.
1920 Crippling 11 month long strike bankrupts many Tampa cigar factories.
1920 Cigar making machine permits four unskilled girls to make 4,000 cigars a day, compared to four skilled and much higher paid workers’ output of around 1,200, The handwriting was on the wall and everyone could read it.
1920 Jose Fernandez Rocha and Jose Rodriguez Fernandez (owners of J.F. Rocha y Cia, Inc., a Havana tobacco company) established LA GLORIA CUBANA. Brand today is made in Cuba, but also in the Dominican Republic by Cuban refugees.
1920-1935 marks a fifteen year depression in the CT tobacco industry.
1920 WINNIE WINKLE, the first significant daily comic strip starring a working single woman, starts in the Chicago Tribune. Before the decade is out, she appears as a cigar brand. The strip lasts 76 years, the unlikely cigar brand more than 50.
1921 Advent of broadcast radio in the United States.
1921 13,983 factories made less than 2,000,000 cigars a year each (average 125,607) 26% of US total.
121 factories made more than 10,000,000 cigar a year each (average 23,125,826) 42% of total.
Compare to 1906, 40% and $37% respectively.
1921 Average cigar production per factory 461,000 per year, double that of 1900. Factories larger, more mechanized.
1921 Canadian Government ID’s change from IRD (internal revenue districts) to Ports. Boxes with ID’s referring to “Ports” date after 1921. Those with IRD numbers date from 1921 or before.