An 1864 U.S. patent (#44,695) issued to Canadian cigar maker Sam Davis, reads:
“This invention consists of cigars made of a composition of tobacco leaves mixed with a small quantity of the leaves of belladonna, in such a manner that the specifics contained in the said plant are introduced into the system of the human body, together with the tobacco smoke, in a finely divided state, and thereby the healing qualities of said plants are enabled to exert a much more powerful effect than they can when introduced into the system in the ordinary manner.”
Other medicinals could be added:
“The effect of my cigars (which I term “specific cigars) on the system of the smoker naturally differs according to the nature of the medical plant mixed with the tobacco. Cigars containing belladonna, for instance, will be found almost magical in relieving all the distressing symptoms of the following diseases, viz: neuralgia, liver complaints, bronchitis, spasmodic complaints, especially of the stomach, epilepsy, amblyopy, or shortsightedness, intermittent fever, gout, and all kindred diseases. The cigars containing digitalis will instantly ameliorate and eventually cure the following complaints: organic diseases of the heart, dropsy, weak lungs, nervousness, incipient consumption, &c. It is obvious that by mixing other medical plants with the tobacco other diseases may be reached in the same effective and easy manner.”
This close-to-cure-all cigar was not a totally new concept according to its inventor, who noted his cigar was merely an improvement on previously created “medicated cigars.” He also made mention of “scented cigars” made from “shreds of cascarilla or other fragrant material.”
About that same time, a British patent was issued to mix tonka-beans, gallic acid and valerian root in cigars, cigarettes and cheroots. The acid was to neutralize nicotine and ammonia contained in the tobacco, the tonka-bean was flavoring, and the valerian was a “nerviae” to correct the effect of the nicotine upon the system. The on-going quality problems related to tobacco in England are ameliorated by adding Benzoic acid “where very rank tobacco is employed, to further neutralize the ammonia.”
Alas, neither boxes nor literature from these early efforts are known to have survived. The earliest use of doctors and health themes on cigar boxes to promote cigar smoking found so far are from the 1870’s, though earlier examples may yet turn up. The oldest box in the NCM collection offering cigars with health-promoting chemical additives is from the mid 1880’s. That same decade witnessed the first offerings of cigars made healthy by the removal of nicotine.
Health as a Sales Tool
A National Cigar Museum Exclusive Exhibit
© Tony Hyman
Doctors and their recommendations appear on boxes early. “Take one every hour” was the prescription. Cigars by Reliance Cigar Co. (Foster Hilson) Fact. 1, 3rd NYC, one of the giants. 1878
[2764]
Cigar touting doctors presage the medicos who pushed CAMEL cigarettes by 80 years, and did so for decades longer. Fact. 6, NH was Leonard & Roess in Brattleboro, VT, part of the same tax district. “Take one every hour” remains the prescription in 1904. [2770]
The earliest known box with healthy chemical additives. Witch hazel leaves “the mouth tasting clean and sweet.” “For Asthma, Catarrh or Hay Fever blow the smoke through the nose.” 1884
A Curator’s Favorite. Top 100.
[2760]
Girlie trade card for previous brand makes a sure-fire combination: sex and health. “Cold in the head” added to aliments smoking one will cure. Cigars made by William Hale, Milford, Mass., in his 10 roller Factory Number 319, 10th tax district MA.
[9716]
NWH 100 box for a doctor’s non-nicotine cigars
(not de-nicotinized...important distinction?).
Cigars made by one of the 7 rollers in Fact. 1303, 9th PA owned by John K. Pfaltzgraff in York. 1885
[2780]
An 1885 ad for ANTI-NICOTINE cigar referring to the recent death of former President Grant as “attributed indirectly to the excessive use of Tobacco and Nicotine Poisoning” and goes on to say smoking ordinary cigars is “to say the least, Very Risky.” [9762]
Made in Fact. 13, 3rd NYC (2nd Ave & 54th St.) by one of Kerbs & Spiess’ 750 rollers for
Cousens & Tomlinson in 1886.
A Curator’s Favorite. Top 100. [2761]
“Take one after each meal” and you will, according to the label, regulate your liver, put on 40 pounds, make it possible for you to eat and drink a lot more, and keep your waiter happy. Now, that’s a cigar!
[2763]
1895 envelope from B.H. Allen in Corsicana, TX, with admonition to “smoke HEALTH PRESERVER cigars.” No factories are listed in Corsicana between 1885 and 1905, so Allen was probably a distributor.
Not in the NCM collection.
“Famous vitalizer...great liver regulator...wonderful health restorer...popular tonic discovery...nerve restorer...anti dyspeptic” Not much these cigars wouldn’t do. Made by Shubmehl, Barrett & Co. Binghamton (350 rollers) for the Geneva Cigar Co., Geneva, NY, c1888. A Curator’s Favorite. [ 2768]
Tiny cardboard slide pack of cigarette size cigars made by Landis & Co., Factory 2001, 9th PA, Shippensburg, PA, c1892. Box made by
Ferriday Box in Harrisburg, PA
[2785]
“Invention of Dr. Hugo Gerold, Professor of the University of Halle, Germany. Nicotine made harmless. Nicotine made insoluble. Nicotine not extracted. Endorsed by leading physicians of the World.” Fact. 420, 14th Dist. NYC. 1898.
A Curator’s Favorite. Top 100. [2769]
COSMOPOLITAN magazine ad for the previous brand of cigar. Health Tobacco Company was
at 5th Avenue and 42nd St., NYC. 1898
[2790]
LIPPINCOTT’S Magazine ad for the previous
brand of cigar. 1898
[2792]
Promotional booklet for Health Tobacco Company handed out by Georg Griebel, 1898.
[2794]
Magazine ad for FLOWER HEALTH CIGAR a rival brand of de-nicotinized cigar, made in Detroit, 1898.
“Scientifically treated to neutralize the nicotine. They do not injure the heart. They do not wreck the nerves. They are Fragrant, Pure and Clean.”
[2791]
“As clean as the food you eat” became a familiar slogan after the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. Cigars by George Pries, Fact. 945
9th District, Conestoga, PA. Box is pre-1910.
[10411]
Unknown Slatington, PA, cigar factory, advertising cigars as “Clean as the food you eat.” 1906. Limited time offer: 100 free cigars with every 1,000 bought.
Not in the NCM collection.
Slogan “Clean as the food you eat” integrated into the brand’s logo. c1907. Cigars by Duff Bros.,
Factory 2092, 9th Lancaster, PA.
[4245]
“Clean made cigars” according to this pre-1910 Caution Notice for Wentzel Kohout. Once the law was enacted, “clean” became word of the day.
[11689]
“RED CROSS CIGARS Are made in a factory where every employee must have a doctor’s certificate that he has no lung or other infectious diseases. You can’t say that about the Havana you must smoked.”
Ad by John Smith Cigar Co., 1910.
[8953]
Page from a brochure emphasizing the cleanliness of cigars made in England as opposed to those made in Cuban “germ infected factories” where workers “almost invariably bite the Tobacco in shaping point of cigar [sic], a disgusting, filthy practice.” Avery Cigar Co. flyer, 1912. [2789]
“PEPSO’S are the only cigars made that aid digestion and contain Pepsin.” Made by Irving Perry, Fact. 240, Belfast, Maine. 1898.
[8972]
What’s in this one? c1925.
[8366]
Doctor smoking above the slogan “All your ills will ascend in smoke.” Cigars by Walter Barre,
Fact. 128, 9th District Lititz PA, 1912. “Since 1884”
[2771]
Upright tin version of the same brand, now made in Factory 2353, 9th PA by H.S. Meisky, Lititz, 1920.
[2781]
LITERARY DIGEST magazine ad, 1917, in which a doctor advises giving GIRARD cigars for Christmas because they never get on your nerves. “The average smoker feels better physically” when he smokes this brand exclusively is the claim.
[7925]
LITERARY DIGEST magazine ad, 1918, with scene out-of-focus. Smoke GIRARD cigars and “No more mental mists...no dizzy sensations...no cloudy lethargy. No more sitting ‘round befogged and befuddled with an edge on your nerves...”
[9941]
House brand of East Coast food distributor. Coffee and other products have the same label. “Health by good living.” Unknown cigar maker. 1920.
[2782]
“Sanitary wrapped” for the newly clean. Probably wrapped in tissue paper. Cigars made in Fact. 13, 7th Indiana, by William Frier, Vernon, in 1912.
[2783]
Controversial 1930 sign emphasizing that CREMO cigars weren’t made with spit, a certainty since they were machine made. Other companies hated the implication that their cigars were spit on and pressured American Cigar Co. to pull the campaign. [P10295]
American Cigar ran magazine and newspaper ads on that same spit theme. This space reserved for one of those ads, if I could find one.
YOUR HELP FINDING THESE
“NO SPIT” MAGAZINE ADS IS REQUESTED.
Series of 1931 ads in UNITED STATES TOBACCO JOURNAL, a weekly publication of the tobacco trade.
[11757]
[11761]
[11758]
[11759]
[11760]
[11762]
American Cigar Co. drops the “spit” campaign in the face of great opposition from other cigar makers.
June 13, 1931, news report. American Cigar had
“no comment” on the elimination of spit from their year-long campaign.
[11770]
Ad which ran in UNITED STATES TOBACCO JOURNAL the same issue. Emphasis changes to cleanliness.
[11763]
September 12th, 1931, spit was back:
“One man’s spit is another man’s poison.”
The text wasn’t the only thing that flipped.
They saved on modeling fees, too.
[11776]
Life size standee for the cleanliness theme continued after the “spit” ads were pulled. Doctor-like man offers a CREMO and the admonition to “Avoid cigars that may be unclean.” 1931.
[N0424]
Large cardboard standee used in conjunction
with the previous one. 1931.
[N0427]
During the 1952 chlorophyl craze, I gave an El Centro, CA, drug store clerk the 36¢ necessary to buy the last 6 cigars (which at age 13 I couldn’t) so I could have the empty box. My first purchased box, it cost 72% of my week’s allowance. W.H. Snyder & Sons, Windsor, PA, Fact. 752, 1st PA [6581]
De-nicotined “Bulk of nicotine removed” cigar offered in 1939. “Smoke to your hearts content and with content to your heart.” Puritanos front mark is nice play on words.
[6579]
Same brand’s box a year later, 1940. Same slogan. Perfectos front mark is nice play on words. Cigars by Lincoln & Ulmer, Fact. 260, 3rd NYC, same factory that made CARL HENRY and O-NIC-O.
[2779]
Interior label used on both previous boxes.
[6580]
Sizes (frontmarks) of SACKETT cigars offered
by mail in 1940. Prices for boxes of 50
ranged from $5 to $10.50. Havana
filler and Sumatra wrapper.
[2798]
NO HARM Deliciosos. packed in a box of 10,
a low priced mail order sampler from Carl Henry, Fact. 143, 5th Dist, NJ. 1926. “Bulk of the nicotine removed without affecting the natural oils which alone give tobacco its fine flavor and fragrance.”
[6577]
Inside of previous box. Label and flap entirely textual, the label providing facts about the company and cigars, the flap requesting that the smoker recommend them to other smokers. 1926.
[6576]
Same cigar, same company, same slogan, same top design, but brand renamed. 1940.
[10410]
Interior of previous box. Same slogan text as used on top brand. Fact. 260, 3rd Dist. NY, 1940. This is the same factory that made SACKETT and O-NIC-O cigars. Gift courtesy of Guy Nishita.
[6583]
Flap text on renamed cigar. “There is a good deal of psychology in smoking a cigar...In presenting CARL HENRY Cigars to your guests, we suggest that you do not mention the fact that they are denicotinized until after the have smoked the cigar” so as not to prejudice their judgment. 1940. [10409]
Denicotinized cigars by Lincoln & Ulmer, Fact. 143, 5th NJ. 1922, the same factory as NO HARM.
[6575]
Later version of the brand. Factory 260, 3rd NY of Lincoln & Ulmer in 1943. This is the same factory as CARL HENRY and SACKETT denicotined cigars.
“Less than 1% nicotine.”
[6578]
“A Health Cigar” “Aromatic-Mild-Satisfying”
with “less than 1% nicotine.” Fact. 1488, 1st PA. Stamp cancelled 1925.
[6584]
Seventeen years later is was “A Scientific Cigar” but still “Aromatic-Mild-Satisfying” and with
“Less than 1% nicotine,” but now made
in Factory 1297, 5th NJ, 1942
[2775]
Another 10 years, 1952, and the slogan has become “Mild-Distinctive-New” but still “less than 1% nicotine” but now made in factory 212, 10th Ohio.
[6585]
Two more years pass and the slogan is gone, but they’re still “less than 1% nicotine” though the factory is now 611 in Florida. 1954.
[6586]
Filtered cigarillos made in Switzerland to provide a milder, mellower smoke. Unlike today, few cigars were imported except from Cuba in 1952. Though filtered cigars were patented in the 1860’s, you seldom saw them on the market in the early 50’s.
[2784]
This exhibit looks at [1] how cigars have been modified to promote health, [2] adaptations to cigars to prevent harm, and [3] ways good health was used conceptually in early advertising and packaging.
