Cigar smokers have been fussy abut the size, shape and blend of what they smoke ever since the 1880’s when a wide variety of choices became available. Among connoisseurs, cigars of different size and blend were required for different meals or times of day. As a result, non-smokers were often hesitant to choose cigars as gifts for fear of making the wrong purchase. Cigar makers responded by creating “the assortment,” a box of cigars that took away all that worry. The assortment, or variety pack, was designed to hold anywhere from three to as many as twelve different sizes and shapes (called “frontmarks” or “vitolas”) of cigar in one box.
Assortments are usually SBN’s or NWH’s with the addition of dividers and compartments to accommodate the various shapes of cigar. Because of their long term popularity, however, cigar and box industry people speak of assortments as a class of box apart.
That so many eye-catching assortments have been created during the last 100 years is no accident. Since they were usually designed for the novelty-seeking Christmas trade, box makers had a free hand to create packages that were out of the ordinary and aesthetically pleasing. Designs of a wider latitude were possible, breaking away from the limitations imposed by standard cigar packaging shapes of 13 or 17 cigars to the row.
Assortments are often found with the top row of cigars nestled in a lift-out tray to permit access to the bottom row. Trays and dividers are sometimes a nuisance to the user of the empty box, however, so today’s collector often finds assortments with trays missing or dividers broken out.
A special category of assortment is called a “Your Choice.” These boxes offer the same cigar but in different colors or the same cigar under different brand names or pictures. In the latter case, names and images are usually competing political candidates or rival actresses. The smoker “votes” for his favorite by buying a cigar from the compartment named after his candidate or favorite celebrity.
Choices were usually “Light, Medium and Dark” or “Mild, Medium and Strong.” A retailer might accept a space hog like ROYAL PURPLE (below) from a cigar salesman on a short term basis since most stores wanted to stock only one color or strength of a particular cigar and a box like this would give customers the opportunity to sample a new brand in three strengths, and register an opinion before the storekeeper ordered a stock. The disadvantages of offering three strengths quickly became apparent to retailers. If all the cigars of one strength were sold, the retailer would be giving up display space for an empty compartment that could not legally be refilled from another box.
Assortments & Your Choice
A National Cigar Museum Exclusive Exhibit
© Tony Hyman
Vote for your favorite 1880’s actress. Cabinet photo
inserts of Marie Geistinger & Emelie Melville. Cigars by Lewyn & Martin, Fact. 34, 3rd NYC,
200 rollers.
[4272]
Vote for your favorite local politician. Cabinet photo inserts of unknown men. Cigars by E.J. Fitzgerald,
Fact. 18, 3rd NYC, 1880’s. 60 rollers.
[2169]
Folding Novely NWHC which gives smoker choice
of three colors of cigars. Fact. 215, 3rd NYC
with 45 rollers owned by Sol. Dobriner. Retailers didn’t like the large latch on top as it made the
boxes nearly impossible to stack neatly.
[3405]
Front lid unfolds forward creating an extra large space hog demanding to be atop the case.
Unusual purple liner. Mid 1880’s.
[*3406]
Unusual tri-level unfolding novelty gives smokers choice of three colors of wrapper. 1889.
[3403]
Big space hog demands to be on top of the counter.
Cigars by Westcott & Son, Fact 320, 21st Dist NY,
Binghamton’s 3rd largest factory with 300 rollers.
[3402]
Very unusual long cigar box which offers Choice
of Mild, Medium and Strong cigars. Length isn’t the odd part, but rather the fact the lid is hinged
on the short end. Huge space hog is difficult to
put in a cigar case so gets put on top.
[3497]
Cigars made by Kahner & Merkel, Fact. 65, 3rd NYC. Their 100th Street factory employed 500.
[3498]
Standard configuration for offering Mild, Medium & Strong choices of cigar. Cigars made by Kahner & Merkel, Fact. 65, 3rd NYC. Their 100th Street factory employed 500. Same maker as Cockney
[4358]
Singularly configured way of presenting choice of three colors in three drawers. Cigars by A.J. Hess in Fact. 16, 23rd Dist., Allegheny, PA c1900.
[4352]
Double jugate election box from 1904. Unusual use of 10 top boxes with cut-down inners. Choose between the Republicans or Democrats. Cigars by
J.H. Peters, Fact. 73, Nebraska City, NE.
[2168]
Very unusual use of two trays for a 6-choice assortment. Cigars by Factory 2762, 9th PA.
1919 box depicts Henry Sage, philanthropist
donor to Cornell U., Bay City, MI, library.
[4346]
There’s a good chance this Assortment was a salesman’s sample rather than a Christmas gift.
Fact. 1120, 115 Lake Street, 1st Illinois. 1913.
[3413]
Cigars by S, Solares & Co., Lake Street, Chicago, were packed in this unusual compactly designed
double lid eight pocket Assortment.
A curator’s favorite.
[3412]
Plain, but polished, wooden exterior, highlights this large Assortment of cigars from Isaac Jacobson’s
3 man factory No. 321, 3rd Dist. NYC, c1914.
[4383]
Five compartment Assortment was probably a Christmas gift. Purple isn’t a color associated with the Holidays but the patterned foil is. Foil is rarely found in such fine condition.
[4384]
GONZALEZ & SANCHEZ, Fact. 72 Florida, used this unusual compartmented and drawered box around
1912±. Marked as “Made expressly for Fred Brooks, Jacksonville, Fla.”
[3608]
Unidentified maker created this unusual cruciform assortment around 1910. Catalog card missing and box in storage, so further data unavailable.
[3611]
One of the most common Assortments is this SBN with tray created in the 1930’s for Congress Cigar
Company’s top selling brand. Fact. 513 1st PA.
[9927]
Finest condition example of this box I’ve ever seen, A poor condition example was the 1st Assortment in my collection in 1954. Bottom of each compartment labeled POB with the frontmark of the cigars.
[9928]
Near mint condition 13/13 Assortment was
probably a Salesman’s Sample for cigars
made by Charles Fritz, Quakertown, PA,
Factory 585, 1st District, c1915.
[3624]
Very popular 1950 Christmas gift of 50 quality cigars in 5 shapes made by American Tobacco Co.
in their giant Trenton, NJ, Factory 1,
Customs Dist. 11.
[4381]
Assortment from late 1940’s of 10 cigars made in Fact. 5 NJ by this famous New England Company.
Probably a Waitt & Bond salesman’s sample.
[0570]
Salesman’s sample of A. Santaella’s
quality cigars. Boxes of 8 cigars
were not legal until 1959.
[0571]
Famous Christmas gift Assortment. Unusual
box bottom depicts and describes contents.
Cigars by GHP in 1954.
[4304]
The same two photos were used in magazine ads.
Saves on production costs. Twenty-five cigars were packed in the “Cigar Album” sold at $3.75.
Designer Paul Rand is responsible for this then avant-garde cover. Very popular when released, the box materials haven’t worn well over time.
Hard to find in fine condition. Ebay sellers
tend to optimistically overestimate value.
[4303]
Attractive use of fragile plastic for this
late 1950’s assortment of 25 cigars
in five shapes.
[8853]
A follow up to the popular Christmas gift of previous years, this assortment of 26 cigars in 9 shapes
was made after 1959 when boxes of 26
were legalized.
[8854]
Another innovative use of plastic in the post-1960 era. Two rows of 17 cigars and nestled in plastic lift-out inserts and displayed with a sliding lid.
[7095]
Box of 4 given away “Compliments of the Cigar Institute of America” though exactly when
and why isn’t recorded. Can anyone help?
Cigars made in Fact. C-855.
[4395]
Post-1960 ANTONIO Y CLEOPATRA Assortment with
vinyl exterior and inset sports theme image.
Attractive use of modern materials. Date?
[6325]
Thompson and Co.’s almost weightless cardboard
Assortment designed 1880 for the mail order trade.
Use of simple not particularly eye-catching designs, have become traditional with mail order.
[4305]
Not a single box, but certainly deserving of
being seen is this clever use of matching
slipcased “books” to hold the various sizes.
LA CORONA for Christmas 1970.
[3319]
Any box which holds different sizes and shapes of one brand of cigars is called an “Assortment” a type of packing that seems to go back to the 1880s. Most that are found appear to date much later. Assortments are used both as salesmen’s samples and Christmas gifts right up to today.
[3412]
Your Choice boxes offer smokers the opportunity to select from various colors or strengths of cigars, here Mild, Medium and Strong. The category also includes a type of novelty box that allows the smoker to ‘vote’ for an actress or a political candidate. They date as far back as the 1870’s, and were most popular before 1920. [4358]
FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT, A FEW EXAMPLES OF BOTH
