by Tony Hyman, Ed.D.
Cigar History Museum
The history of cigars, cigar boxes, cigar labels, cigar making, cigar cutters, cigar premiums, cigar tools, cigar promotions,
and everything else cigar in the U.S., Canada and Cuba.
Newest Exhibit: August 18, 2010: <Cigar boxes designed to be kept when empty>
FEATURE
EXHIBITS
Give-away phenom
Identification guide
Expanded with details
And other things that are not cigar
Most complete list
ever published
NEW
Part I: 1725 - 1875
NEWLY EXPANDED
Good for you?
AND
195
MORE EXHIBITS
What’s New?
LAST NEW EXHIBIT 08-18-10
SEE WHAT’S BEEN ADDED
Overview of what’s here
Tales previously untold
Cigar Advertising
Scheduled 2011
By hand & machine
The fun and frolic
A good place to start
Endless possibilities
Since the 1870’s
Cardboard, plastic, etc.
Since the 1870’s
It’s easy
Labels, labels, labels
Girlie pix to automobiles
A sad wonderful story
Bigger than you think
An overview, plus...
What they really mean
Cutters, lighters, more
Of books & magazines
Tony, visiting, selling to
SPECIAL EXHIBITS
Here’s how I did it
Other things not boxes
Links to other sites
What is it ?
Early years 1725 - 1875
Junior cigar fiends
Bequeathed to me
Such clever people
Sample of what’s available
Sample of what’s available
Researching the cigar industry is like building a giant jigsaw puzzle after the pieces have been scattered through a leafy Fall forest. The search is for tidbits without knowing the final picture.
In 58 years, I’ve discovered it to be an amazing story with some genuine surprises. I learned
[1] the domestic cigar industry is almost 250 years old, and is much larger than previously recorded, involving a quarter million cigar factories, hundreds of label printers, a thousand box factories, hundreds of thousands of salesmen and millions of wholesalers and retailers
and
[2] that cigars had more to do with the development of modern advertising and packaging than any other industry, creating more than 2,000,000 brands of cigar in the process.
Hyman’s National Cigar Museum is designed to tell the stories behind all those folks and all those brands, the processes and procedures, the battles and strategies, the schemes, the triumphs and failures. The story is huge.
When it came to using the package to attract the customer’s eye, the cigar industry did it earlier and more adventurously than anyone. In the 1800’s, the folks who made and sold cigars tried every advertising image, gimmick and theme used today.
As pioneers, they tried a lot of bad ideas as well. There were no precedents, polls or web-sites to advise against using dead moose, skunks, goats, drunks, spiders, wasps, rattle snakes, funerals and Satan to sell cigars. Sellers had to learn to focus instead on pretty girls, dogs, cute kids, sports, celebrities, good health, good times, wealth and more pretty girls instead. Experimentation was constant.
Unlike today when a few large companies decide brands and brand names, cigar companies, salesmen, wholesalers, retailers and even customers got into the act. Everyone created brand names. Advertising anarchy.
Few people recognize the cigar industry’s importance because it has never had a champion. The industry was fragmented into millions of small difficult-to-find pieces, yet is a fascinating tale filled with clever entrepreneurs, advertising pioneers, package innovation, union precedents, government regulations, bribery, counterfeiting and tax evasion.
It’s the greatest story ever NOT told.
The National Cigar Museum is my way of sharing the tale and the artifacts I’ve found. As long as I’m alive, the Museum will be a work in progress. I was 68 the day the first Gallery was created and the first Exhibit was posted on the Web. I plan to ultimately post 400 Exhibits. Since I learn something new every week there will always be more to tell. Whim, convenience, and reader requests will help determine which topic comes next.
What you’ll see and read in the Museum is personal and idiosyncratic. I am an information junkie and compulsive teacher.
I take full responsibility for errors of fact, omission or interpreta-tion. If you think I’m wrong, misguided or ill informed, you might be right. Feel free to let me know.
I’m always glad to find another piece of the puzzle.
Tony Hyman
Central California coast
2009
Thank you:
-
1.Mom & dad for aiding and abetting my youthful interest in boxes;
-
2.Savers, pickers & dealers who sold these things to me;
-
3.Families who entrusted me with stories and memories;
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4.Execs & workers in box and cigar factories who explained processes;
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5.Clerks & librarians who dug through files;
-
6.Collectors who share[d] especially Howard Richards, Tom Somerville and Chuck Tuthill;
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7.Jerry Golden who taught me how the cigar industry really worked;
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8.David Diaz, EdD, who showed me how easy iweb was to use, and continues to be a friend, helper, and fellow appreciator of good beer;
-
9.Lew Rothman of JR Cigars who understands how important this story is and put his money where his heart is;
and especially
My wife, friend, companion, and fellow adventurer Marilee who has
always encouraged and supported my research and buying.
Photo: Dr. David Diaz
“Museums have five functions: collect, conserve, interpret, catalog and exhibit. In 1952, I began to build a Museum to tell the story behind the
History of Cigar Making, Selling & Packaging.
This is the result.”
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Dr. Hyman has been a photographer for more than 50 years. To see a collection of photographs from around the world, and notes on adventures he and his wife Marilee have had, go to <www.TonyHyman.info>.
