The cigar industry worldwide has never been shy about borrowing names, images and ideas from others. Here are a few examples, some of which might be considered an illegal invasion of rights.
One of these boxes was handed to me personally by the man who created it. The image on the box was lifted exactly from another, non-cigar product. The infringement seemed so blatant to me, my curiosity was overwhelming. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful, but I had to ask.
“Isn’t this...” I said, followed by a pause while I debated my wording, finally blurting out “copyright infringement?”
“Hell yes,” he admitted, “but it’ll take five years for them to find out and another five years to make me stop. By then I’ll have sold all those cigars.”
The spirit of the industry for a century and a half!
Copyright Infringement?
You be the judge
A National Cigar Museum EXCLUSIVE
© Tony Hyman
BULL DURHAM smoking tobacco was one of the most heavily advertised tobacco products of all time. It was only logical to capitalize on brand recognition.
NWH with overall lid made for Haworth & Dewhurst by Rosenthal Bros. giant (400 roller) Fact. 1030, 3rd
Dist. located on 73rd St. in New York City. [2622]
Blatant copycat of the BULL DURHAM’s big balled mascot by Hettermann Bros. Fact. 23, 5th District of Kentucky, employer of 75 rollers. c1903.
[2321]
MAIL POUCH was another well known brand of smoking tobacco in the 1800’s. This knock-off was created by Hull, Grummond & Co., whose 250 rollers made it one of Binghamton NY’s largest factories. Fact. 227, 21st Dist. NY.
[79b09]
PENN smoking tobacco was packed in black and red and used a pen point as a logo. Penn Cigar Company of Pittsburgh saw an opportunity and created this late 1920’s NW 20/10 box.
Fact. 90, 23rd Dist. PA
[2357]
McCORMICK was a name known to every farmer
in America for decades, leading to this brand in the 1880’s. At first, the brand was packed NW 100/10, the attractive square boxes showcasing the outer label. The “Allies” frontmark shows WWI inspiration.
Fact. 304, 1st Ohio. [2314]
Long before Miata’s “zoom zoom,” MAZDA was an electric company and manufacturer of light bulbs.
Fact. 132, 2nd District, NY City, 1920’s.
[2309]
An unknown cigar man borrowed a brand name, image and slogan from the day’s best known name in recorded music. He even dog-napped Nipper!
Cigars made by Julius Deedmeyer, Factory 82, 1st District (Freehold), NJ c1919
[8165]
Less a direct copy, more a bit of fun with R.C.A. Victor’s “His Master’s Voice” slogan and their
image of a dog listening to the product.
[2305]
The first name in bicycles for many decades, COLUMBIA found its way onto an early 1890’s cigar box made in Fact. 3, IRD 8, Quebec. Even the script in the loco is the same as the bicycle.
[8736]
Another blatant Canadian piracy leads one to believe loopholes existed in Canadian copyright laws. Cigars made by Rock City Tobacco Co. in Levis, Quebec, Fact. 2, IRD 8.
[2302]
The cigar industry here borrowed the name of the country’s most popular magazine. The brand survived for 40+ years so may have had an arrangement with the magazine. Cigars by Superia Cigar Mfg. Co. in Detroit, Fact. 19, 1st Mich.
[2307]
This clever knock-off exactly copied the typography and style of woman seen on covers of The Saturday Evening Post magazine in the early 1900’s. Another Canadian rip-off, Factory 1, IRD 32. Toronto.
[2362]
The type style used to spell CAMEL will look familiar to old time cigarette smokers. The camel itself is different, but the two pyramids are another vestige of the cigarette label. Fact. 127, 11th Ohio.
Cincinnati Cigar Co., Wellston
[2304]
Neither of these are brand names you usually associate with cigars. They are brand names that anyone, male or female, would have recognized in the 1950’s when these cigars were made.
As familiar as Honda or Sony today.
[2326]
Inexpensive Ford automobiles were changing the way Americans lived and did business. Fords were talked about by everyone from politicians to vaudevillians (sometimes not such a long trip). From a marketing standpoint it made sense to “borrow” the name. Fact. 502, Wisconsin. c1920. [2323]
Compact cars appeared in ads nearly a century ago. Depicts a new 1915 coupélet (the forerunner of the Ford convertible). It sold for $750 and was advertised as “clean enough for a woman to drive.”
Fact. 387, owned by Frank Miller in Sterling, 1916.
[2322]
1934 box made in Fact. 305 Kentucky by F.R. Rice, giant St. Louis wholesaler and cigar factory owner. The cigar logo copies the PACKARD auto’s script.
For those too young to remember, Packard was one of the fine luxury automobiles of that period.
[9459]
Promotional item, Christmas gift, premium for taking a test drive, gift with purchase, an award to salesmen. We’ll probably never know. Having the cigars packed in an all wood BN box was cheaper than using a paper labeled NW box.
Fact. C-249, J.B. Back, Kingston, NY c1959 [2324]
1930’s brand featuring another well-known
non-cigar name. Not in the NCM collection.
[w0000]
Cigar brand taking advantage of a well established name with quality associations. Jumbos are those big novelty gag cigars. The government neither classified nor taxed them as ‘cigars’ but rather as smoking tobacco. Cardboard 8/4h, mid 1950’s.
[2325]
Most desirable YELLOW CAB but not the most rare. Dates mid 1920’s through 1930’s. The long front flap was practical when shopkeepers removed lids of boxes in crowded counters. The use of a front flap instead of a back flap is a sign they were banded.
Fact. 348, 1st PA Ellis Strickler, Yorkana [2316]
The longest running cigar brand featuring a four wheeled vehicle. YELLOW CAB cigars were sold for more than 40 years. Newer boxes picture a late 30’s auto, but were used into the 1970’s. This box dates from the mid 1950’s, and has an excellent displayable end label. Same factory. [2319]
Two of the most rare of the YELLOW CAB boxes are pictured here. This is a nailed cardboard 13/13 salesman’s sample from about 1960.
Fact. 348, 1st PA. [2317]
Exceptionally rare Jumbo novelties, brokered by
A.J. “Jerry” Golden, one of the nation’s most prolific cigar brokers, creator of nearly 100 brands.
Cardboard 4/4 packed horizontally.
[8199]
Any one who lived through the 1950s will recognize the Old Dutch Cleanser girl and the product’s slogan. The girl on this cardboard 13/13 salesman’s sample made in Fact. TP-348, PA, in the 1960’s is an exact copy of the original cleanser logo.
[7102]
I was surprised to find, 25 years after being given the previous box, an example of the brand from the early 1920’s when they were made by Rush Mfg Co., Fact. 65, Shillington, 1st Dist PA, and sold
for 2/15¢. Brand created by broker A.J. Golden.
[10417]
A name that needs no introduction to anyone who’s watched more than a few minutes of TV or been to a party in the last 20 years. This c1950 dropfront was made by Paul Eyster, York, in Fact. 1888, 1st PA.
[9448]
According to this box, you’re supposed to smoke
OLD CROW, not drink it. Cigars made in Fact. 5, Kentucky by N. Steinberg, Louisville.
[2312]
Another liquor brand. The price drop is almost always an indicator of 1930’s, despite its minimalist 60’s appearance. Fact. 146 Fla. is unlisted.
Bourbon and ginger was my drink during
Navy days, so the next box is a logical one.
[2311]
An effervescent smoke, it says. Ginger ale was a product rather than a brand name. Calling your cigar GINGER ALE was a questionable attempt to take advantage of a popular well known drink. Do you really want a bubbly smoke? Fact. 348, 1st PA was
Ellis Stickler, Yorkana. c.1928 [2313]
Bromo Seltzer, a foamy liquid analgesic similar to Alka Seltzer, was another product everyone in the early 1900’s recognized. It’s a name associated with headaches and upset stomaches, so not my idea of a good brand name for a cigar. Cigars made by
F. Becker Sons, Baltimore. [4285]
Slightly sexy double entendre cigars cashing in on the name as one of the most popular orange soft
drinks ever. Made in Fact. 1190, 1st PA, c1927
Attractive and clever. [2310]
This is not an infringement, nor an attempt by the cigar industry to capitalize on someone else’s brand. These were ordered for smoking at the annual Coca-Cola© corporate banquet at which the product was introduced. Cigars made in
Factory TP-18 Tampa. [2380]
