DATING CIGAR BOXES
There are two kinds of information on every cigar box:
information that is [1] optional and [2] that required by law.
Optional information includes advertising, guarantees, slogans, ingredients lists, copyright and registration dates, type of labor, type of tobacco, source of tobacco, retail price and the like. Everything optional was exactly that. Pictures were optional, Text was optional. Truth was optional. The latter was abused unmercifully by this creative and opportunistic industry.
When it came to decorating a box with claims, there were no restrictions or guidelines. Anything went. “Key West Favorite Cigars” (according to the label on the inside lid) were made by the “New York Cigar Factory” (according to a label on the bottom) but the cigar maker’s I.D. (required by law) identifies the cigars as having been made in Factory 978, 9th tax district of PA, a tiny one-man factory owned by Fred Runkle in Red Lion, the heart of the nation’s cheap cigar district.
Only required information can be trusted to be true.
What information is required?
Tax laws required all cigar boxes made in the U.S. to have:
[1] tax stamps (1863-1959),
[2] cigar maker I.D.’s (1866-1960’s),
[3] caution notices (1868-1959)
[4] tax paid notices (1917-1959)
When you want to KNOW how old a box is, who made the cigars, and where their factory was, ONLY information required by law can be counted on as accurate.
Since the Feds kept changing the law (what a surprise!) Federal requirements are useful for dating a box. Regulations governing cigar boxes changed in 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866,
1868, 1869, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1875, 1878, 1879, 1883, 1891, 1895, 1897, 1898, 1901, 1904, 1909, 1910, 1914, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1926, 1928, 1931, 1932, 1942, 1946, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1976 and a few other times.
Fortunately you don’t have to memorize them all. If you learn a few rules, you can date almost any box. I tried to make them easy to understand by covering the various government mandates in separate exhibits.
Many Museum visitors are able to get all they need in the Short Form Dating Guide at left.
If it’s not enough to help you, try Easy Dating then the specialized exhibits.
Good Luck.
