Tobacco Documents Online

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N r  II rl . .  .. .. . N . ® . . i. Ni . ......... . 0 Y LL THE LORILLARD STORY . By MAXWELL FOX Researched by CARL W. DREPPERD MCIIZXL hII !w im I

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George D. Whitefield Executive Vice-President Todd Wool Vice-President and Secretary Officers of the William J. Halley Vice-President and Treasurer Edgar S. Bowling Vice-President Frank Hopewell Vice-President

I'obacco & Snuof the befl quality &favor, At the Manufaaory,No.4, Chatham ftreet,near the Gaol t nd G B P e L ill d e er a eor y or ar , g Where may' be had as follows : Cut tobacco, Prig or carrot do. Common kitefoot do. Maccuba fnuff, 'Common fmoakingdo. Rappeedo. Segars do. Strafburgh do. Ladies twifl do. " f Common rappee do. Pigtail do. in fmall rolls, Scented rappee do. ofdif- Plug do. ~ ferent kinds, Hogtail do. Scotch do. The above Tobacco and Snuff will be fold reafonable, and warranted as good as any on the continent. If not found to prove good, any part of it may be returned, if not damaged. N. B. Proper allowance will be made to thofe that purchafe a quantity. lytay a7--tm. Earliest Known Advertisement of the Oldest Tobacco Company in the United States- The House of Lorillard, May 27, 1789 THE INDIAN smoking a pipe, standing beside a hogshead of tobacco, with a picture of the tobacco plant-that was the Lorillard trademark in 1760. During the next hundred years it became the best known tobacco trademark in the world, and %.•as imitated to such an extent by all and sundry that woodcut imitations of the trademark picture could be purchased from printers' supply houses.

FOREWORD W xErr You light up a cigarette or a pipeful of tobacco you are enjoying a simple commonplace pleasure. However, if you take a backward glance at the long, romantic history of tobacco you will see at once that this is a relatively new, inexpensive treat for the common man. Your backward glance will be a long one, for it will take you right through the Colonial days of America, the i6th century and even past the exciting adventures of Christopher Columbus. Most of that time, tobacco, in its various forms, was a luxury which only the most wealthy could afford. The solace and joy of tobacco were far less attainable than, say, champagne and caviar are for most people today. Of course, it is only natural that we take for granted this everyday enjoyment in our American civilization. For that matter, how often do we stop to appraise and appreciate the other day-to-day bounties of our modern life? No longer do we marvel at such things as pure drinking water in our homes, the fine schools and colleges in our com- munities, or the wonderful developments in communications and travel which tend to make the whole world one big neighborhood. These are all marks of progress. [s]

But we all play a part in this progress and we have a right to be proud of it. As a participating partner in the oldest tobacco company in America, you may like to know more about the romance of tobacco, and particularly how importantly your company features in the exciting drama of American business. What happened before you came in? How did tobacco smoking get off the luxury list; out of the castles and onto the store counters all over town; why can you now pick up this pleasant commodity in clean, neat, handy packages for only a few cents? You will be amused and perhaps amazed at some of the things the Lorillards did to make this possible. Artist's original design for Cigar Store Indian of the c85o's [6] .

CHAPTER I The Romance of Tobacco ET L us imagine we are sailors in Columbus' crew. Early in Novem- ber, 1492, our ship anchors off th.e shore of Hispanola (now Cuba),,and we go ashore. We have seen many strange things in this foreign land so far from home, but now we are to see another eye-opener. The native scouts wait for us anxiously as we row to the beach; but as soon as we land we convince them (by sign-language and trinkets) that we are friendly visitors. The Hispanolans treat us hospitably, invite us to their village nearby. We are surprised to see natives carrying lighted firebrands from which they inhale smoke and puff it out, first from their mouths, then through their noses ! We look closer and find the firebrands are actually rolls of corn husks filled with a peculiar aromatic herb. Then our eye catches another curiosity. We see that some of the Hispanolans are smoking with a hollow, forked stick plunged into a pile of smouldering herb leaves. The smokers hold the forked ends in their nostrils, inhale through their noses and exhale by their mouths. This strange smoking in- strument is called a "tobago." A "tobago" from which tobacco gets its name [71

Naturally, Columbus and his sailors, who were the first Europeans to see people smoking tobacco, buzzed with exciting tales about the new world when they returned to Spain. Talk about the fantastic custom of smoking spread over the Continent. In the telling, the story took on a few new twists and turns; and as a result the name of the instrument became the name of the herb: tobago. Incidentally, the early stories also related to Tobago as the name of the island where the native smokers lived, but later historians set the record straight. However, the popular impression stuck, and the herb was called "tobacco" from then on. Actually, the Hispanolans and the natives of other islands discov- ered by Columbus and following explorers called their smoking weed "kohiha." Interestingly enough, the American natives enjoyed their tobacco in every form enjoyed today-except, possibly, the cigarette. For example, Columbus' crew came across some Indians taking the herb, dried up and powdery, through hollow canes. That was their version of snufff taking, a fad which later swept Europe, catching the fancy of noble ladies and gentlemen of the royal courts and almost anyone else who could afford this rather regal and affectatious pleasure. But that was not all. Some of the new world natives smoked with long-stemmed pipes, very much like ours today. In i 5 i 9, the chaplain who accompanied the redoubtable Cortez on his explorations reported that smoking was a general custom among the people of Mexico. The king, Montezuma, smoked a pipe after dining. Centuries later, archaeologists dug up great quantities of clay pipes in excavations near Mexico City. Some of them were quite fancy, rivaling the elaborately carved meerschaum pipes which intrigued our grandfathers so, and which we now view as rather amazing museum pieces. Cigar smoking was common too, but probably the cigars looked [g] i

about as professional as the crude jobs the farm boys rig up when they smoke corn silk behind the barn. Giralamo Benzoni, who traveled America, 1541-56, made this observation about Cuba: "There are some bushes, not very large, that produce a leaf shaped like that of a walnut, although rather larger. It is held in great esteem by the natives and prized by the slaves whom the Spaniards have brought from Ethiopia. In season these weeds are picked and sus- pended near a fireplace until dry. When they wish to use them, they take a leaf of their maize, put the other dried leaves within it, roll it up, set fire to one end, and draw smoke into mouth and throat and head. There they retain it and find pleasure in it." Long before the early American settlers ventured to find new homes and freedom in this land of promise, the American Indians used tobacco in various forms. Apparently every tribe in America smoked or snuffed tobacco even before the custom spread to Mexico or the islands discovered by Columbus. Indians living in the Lancaster, or Conestoga, section of William Penn's vast colony raised and used tobacco. In fact, the rich soil of that region still produces a good grade of tobacco leaf, especially suited for little cigars, chewing tobacco and wrappers and fillers for medium- priced cigars, cheroots and stogies. Outside Pennsylvania, few of us know how the word "stogie" took root in our language; but thee explanation is simple. The word is a contraction of the name "Cones- toga," and the original Pittsburgh stogie was a foot-long roll of tobacco which appealed particularly to the rough, tough drivers of the Conesroga wagons. These were the first freight trains in the U. S. and a vital link between the rather well-populated Eastern colonies and the wild outposts of the new Western Empire. As a result, those [9l