Ever wonder what brands were available in a remote small Western town in the late 1800’s? Wonder no more. The boxes in this Exhibit were sold 1875-1905 by merchants in the tiny County-seat town of Colusa, located in California’s central valley roughly 150 miles Northeast of San Francisco.
When these boxes were emptied, they were used by county tax officials to store duplicate receipts and other documents between 1875 and 1905. Once filled with official papers, these and hundreds of other cigar boxes were stored in a warehouse on the edge of town. A century later, a violent rainstorm collapsed the old warehouse roof, soaking the boxes and records. An official decision was made to discard them. One of the men responsible for cleaning the mess salvaged a selection of relatively unharmed cigar boxes and took them home. A quarter century later he sold them to me.
Statistically, it might seem logical to say the rescued boxes would provide a random look at what type of boxes were available at that time. Unfortunately, more than chance determined the ultimate selection. The size, shape and material of the boxes influenced which ones the tax collector originally brought home from the tobacconist. They are all nailed wood, chosen because they would be sturdier than cardboard boxes, tho the latter were widely used for stogies and cheap cigars and would have been available. Salvaged boxes are almost all uniformly sized boxes of 50 which suggests that odd sized boxes were rejected 100 years ago. The boxes used are almost all 50/13’s which means that 50/10’s were too short and 50/17’s too 
long for either the records or uniform storage. Lastly, the sample is influenced by the artsy factor. As a general rule, people, when they choose between two similar cigar boxes, almost always keep the most attractive. We know from surviving printer’s catalogs that most cigar label designs were nothing special, whereas the vast majority of surviving pre 1920 cigar boxes are decorated with very pretty labels. During the century between when these boxes were made and today, “natural selection” favored the attractive. The man from whom I bought them admits that, when searching through the soggy rubble, he salvaged “the prettiest” boxes he could find.
COLUSA’S CIGAR FACTORIES
The three sources of turn-of-the-century cigar factory information are the official Tobacco Trade Directories of 1886-87, 1893 and 1905. In 1886, Colusa had only Factory 211, a two-man operation owned by W. Waller. Boxes dating from 1889 with that number are labeled as being made by Hoenes & Kirschner of Colusa. By 1893, Colusa’s only cigar factory was Number 63 owned by S. Kirschner. In 1905 W.A. Waller was back, owning two factories of indeterminate size, numbers 5 and 82. A third factory, still assigned Number 63 by the Feds, was registered to Joe Steinmetz.
These research caveats notwithstanding, the surviving boxes provide a better look at brands available in a small Western mining town than would a list in a ledger or the showcase contents seen in a photograph. The collection is biased in favor of attractive wooden 50/13s but they do demonstrate that cigars were shipped a long ways to market 125 years ago and that small town folks sometimes smoked expensive cigars. The boxes are displayed in the following order:
[1] Boxes for cigars made in Colusa;
[2] Boxes for cigars made elsewhere in California;
[3] Boxes for cigars made in Florida;
[4] Boxes for cigars made elsewhere in the United States;
[5] Boxes for cigars imported from Cuba.
Small Town Choices
Colusa, California 1875-1905
A National Cigar Museum Exclusive
© Tony Hyman
PRINCESS. Made by Hoenes & Kirschner, Colusa, according to the overprint, Factory 211, 1890. Four of these boxes with minor variations, indicating different printing lots were found.
[9002]
MANUEL GARCIA ALONSO brand name and a Cuban address and design, but made by Hoenes & Kirschner, Colusa, c1890, in Fact. 211.
[9008]
SILVER QUEEN Ordinary “pretty girl” label used on yet another brand by Hoenes & Kirschner sold in Colusa in the 1880s.
[9014]
KEY WEST Ordinary “Spanish pretty girl” label used on yet another brand by Hoenes & Kirschner sold in Colusa in the 1880s. Cigars made in Key West were regarded as the best outside Havana, with the benefit of being cheaper...so the name appears
everywhere, even in a small farm town. [9015]
LA ESTRELLA This Fact. 211, Colusa, brand was a direct knock-off of the well-known LA ESTRELLA brand made by Eduardo Gato in Key West, FL, which was also sold in Colusa. See next.
[9012]
LA ESTRELLA The original, one of the few brands famous enough to have coast to coast distribution. Cigars by Eduardo H. Gato, Fact. 38, Key West, Florida, in the very early 1890s.
[9045]
AEOLIAN Semi-languishing “pretty girl” label used on yet another brand by Hoenes & Kirschner
sold in Colusa in the 1880s.
[9013]
ROUGH & READY “Pretty girl” label doesn’t fit the brand name. Cigars made at 730 Pacific St. in San Francisco by Wong, White & Co. were sold in Colusa during the 1890s. Name a knock-off of the well-known Cuban READY & ROUGH.
[9024]
MORNING GLORY “Pretty girl” and flowers label for cigars made at 219 Battery St. in San Francisco by E. Goslinski & Co. in 1876. Fact. 71, 1st Calif was one of SF’s fifteen cigar factories employing 100 or more ollers in the 1880’s.
[9023]
RED TAPE Early and rare box with cigars by Beverleigh & Co. [n.p.] and label printed by Korbel of later wine fame. 1876 cancelation, two years before some historians have Korbel opening.
Tiny CN. Crude drawing of Indian Wars.
[9027]
LA NATIVIDAD Earliest example yet found of this long-lived important California brand. Only one made by Frankel, Gerdts & Co. in Fact. 124, 1st CA, located at 244 Fremont, in San Francisco. 1904
[9022]
The Dixie Chicks, 1902 version. Attractive box made by D. Eisner, 404 Clay St., San Francisco in
Fact. 26, 1st CA, and sold in Colusa.
[9031]
SULTANA Box canceled 1891 was made in Factory 309, 1st Calif, which is unlisted in 1886 and 1893.
[9030]
MATADOR Stock label with incongruent brand name added later. Cigars made in Chinese factory owned by Hing Yee at 649 Clay St. in San Francisco.
Company listed in 1893, not in 1886.
[9032]
VALLE Y SUAREZ Important Cuban company, makers of FLOR DE CUBA and JOCKEY CLUB in Havana. Did they own this factory or license the name or were they victims of plagiarism.
San Francisco factory 380 in 1881.
[9033]
BOUQUET DE TOBACOS de F. PEREZ DEL RIO.
One of 1870’s Cuba’s more important makers licensed factories in San Francisco, including numbers 71, 175 and 349 to make his brands.
[9066]
LA ESTRELLA The original, one of the few brands famous enough to have coast to coast distribution. Cigars by Eduardo H. Gato, Fact. 38, Key West, Florida, in the very early 1890s.
[9044]
Selection of LA ESTRELLA showing part of the variety of front marks sold in Colusa.
[9050]
FLOR DE MANUEL GARCIA was made in Key West, Florida, by Sideman, Lachman & Co. in their
Factory 157, FL, bonded for 100 rollers.
[9036]
OPTIMO A. Santaella y Ca.’s long lived brand was among those rescued from Colusa. c1907.
[Factory 114, Tampa, Florida.
[9034]
Another Florida cigar, made for Seidenberg & Co. in the factory of Fernandez, Wodiska & Ca. (that later became Corral Wodiska, famous maker of BERING.)
Fact. 8, Tampa, Florida. 1898. [9041]
One of many brands with this name, these were made by Cook, Strickland & Co., a Binghamton, NY factory that rolled 90,000 cigars a day. Fact. 548, 21st Dist. Open in 1886, shut down by 1893.
[9053]
Cuban scene, nail tag reads: Juan Enriquez Cerrojo but the cigars were made in the 200 roller factory
of Boltz-Clymer Co., 15th & Lehigh in Philadelphia.
Factory Number 2715, 1st Dist. PA 1898.
[9056]
No surprise to find giant cigar maker Kerbs, Wertheim & Schiffer’s heavily advertised GENERAL ARTHUR among the brands being sold in 1897. Made in Fact. 1116, 3rd New York City.
[9060]
Robert Mantell joined the ranks of hundreds of stage actors and actresses honored with a cigar box appearance. Cigars made by T.J. Dunn & Co.,
210 N. Broad St., Philadelphia mid 1890’s.
[9063]
Very rare Cuban H. UPMANN from 1893 with newly required hand stamped place of origin on the front.
Unusual Castelares frontmark. [9075]
Pre 1893 BOCK Y CA. El AGUILA de ORO, another important Cuban brand being smoked in Colusa.
[9079]
Rare and desirable Cuban ALEXANDER HUMBOLDT brand created for the California market
and annexed by Joaquin Arguelles who
made the brand in the 1870’s and 80’s..
In addition to a cigar, a county and college were named for this scientist-explorer. [9070]
Made by Tomas Diaz, this Cuban brand enjoyed international success for a few decades, including
being sold in Colusa, 1887. Later (1901) made by Diaz, Valdez y Ca.
[9087]
LA TRAVIATA was a minor Cuban export brand of Fernandez, Garcia y Hijos when this was made (1901-1904).
[9082]
LA SUPERIOR Conchas finas. The maker of this minor 1887 Cuban brand is not known.
Marca contains a RC monogram.
[9084]
