S
ince the 1860s, elections have been special times for cigar makers, wholesalers, and retailers alike, all of whom quickly learned there was money to be made by covering boxes with labels picturing
candidates and issues and offering them for sale wherever opinions ran hot. Saloons, pool halls, barber shops and men’s clubs were favorite spots – for both politics and cigars. The earliest living American politician known to have appeared on a cigar label was Henry Clay, who visited Cuba in 1850 and was honored with a long-lived cigar brand, possibly before he left the island. Plagiarizing ideas was
A bloated Uncle Sam after taking over Cuba, Puerto Rico and The Philippines, all in need of “civilizing” according to Republicans.
common among Cubans, one of whom who reasoned if one famous American orator’s name and picture could sell Tony Hyman
cigars, tres grandes politicos might sell even more.
During the 1830s, ’40s, and ’50s, the Cubans experimented widely with shapes and sizes of labels to decorate the millions of boxes of cigars they were shipping worldwide. The lithographic design and the absence of a beard on Lincoln (shown on right) tends to place this cigar box before Lincoln became President, or very early in his term. Was it originally ordered by a Lincoln supporter to help raise recognition or drum up votes? We’ll never know.
1868 Ulysses S. Grant vs. Horatio Seymour Heavy smoking wildly popular Civil War hero Ulysses S. Grant helped bring cigars into the mainstream. Grant became the only presidential candidate whose campaign song touted his love of cigars when “A-Smoking His Cigar” was introduced: “The people know just what they want. Less talk and no more war. For President, Ulysses Grant a-smoking his cigar.”
1892 Free Trade vs. Protectionism A large “McKinley Stinker” poster (shown below) criticizes the McKinley tariff act of 1891 which sent the price of Cuban cigars and Cuban tobacco skyrocketing, thus driving down the quality of domestic cigars
This may be the first Lincoln label, but certainly not the last. Lincoln has appeared on more cigar labels than any other person, more than 1,000 different.
dependent on the latter for blending. The tariff was but one of the reasons the Republicans lost the election of 1892. Recovery from the hard times of the early ‘90s and the decisive victory in the Spanish-American War (in which his VP candidate played a noisy role) helped McKinley score a decisive victory.
1912 Woodrow Wilson vs. Teddy Roosevelt vs. William Howard Taft Popular Speaker of the House “Champ” Clark competed against Wilson for the Democratic nomination, narrowly losing on the 46th ballot. Wilson won the nomination and the election, becoming only the second Democrat to live in the White A large “McKinley Stinker” poster criticizes the McKinley tariff act of 1891 which sent the price of Cuban cigars and Cuban tobacco skyrocketing.
This Binghamton, NY, brand was created at least two years before Grant ran for the Presidency.
Summer 2012
South Florida OPULENCE
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