Textile Tobacco Inserts and Premiums; Cigarette Silks, Tobacco Flannels, and Cigar Ribbons

This large quilt, circa 1915, is made from tobacco silks, and contains a large variety of designs, including flowers, girls and flags, and yachts.

Fabric has always been an important part of the life of a household. Not only does it make up our clothing, but it is also used to warm our homes when used for window coverings, furnishings, and bedding. When fabric is used as part of the décor of a home, it can bring great pleasure, surrounding us with our favorite colors and textures.
One of the ways that fabrics have been used for warmth and pleasure is in the making of quilts. Used on beds, quilts can warm the chilliest nights while charming us with their use of fabric and pattern.

Throughout the years quilts have been made with many unusual textiles, and one of the most unusual is the tobacco related textile. While these quilts and other quilt related items are unusual, they can be among the most beautiful of quilts, taking their place with other “fancy” quilts such as the silk show quilts and the elaborate crazy quilts.
With this article I hope to bring a better understanding of how the tobacco related quilt came to be made.

Tobacco Inserts

The practice of inserting advertising in tobacco products and packaging began about 1870 and was common throughout the late 19th Century and the first decades of the 20th Century. The inserts or premiums were varied, some more functional than others, but altogether interesting, and therefore they became collectible items to thousands of men, women and children. Tin tobacco tags, cigarette cards, cigar ribbons, cigarette silks, and tobacco flannels, are a small portion of the collectibles classified as Tobacciana. These items are not as well known nor collected, as other tobacco related items like cigar boxes or tins, cigarette cases and lighters.
 
However, though they may not be the most popular of collectibles, tobacco inserts or premiums were popular in their time, and continue to be collectibles. A great deal of their charm comes from the fact that they were free, packed in or on cigarette and tobacco products.
 
The textile tobacco insert, often cataloged as a tobacco card novelty, is truly a novelty and these items may be of interest to the student of quilt history.
Identifying these items as tobacco inserts or premiums is not always easy, and it is often difficult to know exactly how the user obtained the textile.
 
The tobacco insert is described as the item that was actually inserted into the tobacco packaging, sometimes packed in with the tobacco product and often enclosed in an envelope. At other times they were attached to the outside of the package, as when they were attached to tins of loose tobacco.
 
The tobacco premium was given away by the tobacco company, in exchange for coupons. The paper coupons were inserted in some tobacco products packaging. The coupons were printed by tobacco companies and were honored as having value when they were exchanged for premiums offered in catalogs that were distributed by the tobacco companies. Coupons were gathered and saved until the consumer had enough to send for an item in the tobacco companies’ catalog. Everything from furniture, clothing, sporting goods and silk textiles could be redeemed with these coupons.
 
Textiles tobacco inserts, including silks, flannels, rugs or carpets, and cigar ribbons, are unique and fascinating because they were used to make quilts and other quilt like textile objects, demonstrating how the quilt maker used imagination and available materials, to create interesting and beautiful items to grace her home.
 
Following is a brief synopsis of the history of the tobacco insert, premium or novelty as it relates to the tobacco textile insert or premium. The article will later  focus on the many tobacco related textiles made from them, and how they were used in quilts and other textile items for the home.

P. Lorilland Co. paper envelope containing one of the flannel flags. Envelopes were "attached to each 10c tin of STAG TOBACCO" The flannel flags were probably the most popular of these inserts or premiums.

Leggitt and Myers Tobacco Company catalog called a "Booklet of Presents". The coupons could be exchanged for a silk rug or a pillow top, both items required 60 of these coupons.

Three silks in different sizes.

Butterfly cigarette silks with their original cards on the back (bottom left). Silks were easily separated from the card advertisement with a gentle tug.

Tin tags from several tobacco manufacturers showing a small fraction of the variety used for advertising.

Tobacco Tin Tags

The first tobacco inserts were the small metal, or tin, tags that came primarily in plug chewing tobacco, and sometimes in loose smoking and chewing tobacco. They were introduced in the 1870’s as advertisements and as labels, to identify the manufacturer of the tobacco product, and to distinguish one brand from another at the retail level. The small tags were actually inserted into or onto the plug of tobacco, and after the tobacco product was purchased and used, the tag was a reminder to the buyer of the brand name of the tobacco.

These first tobacco inserts were made in a myriad of shapes and designs, some very elaborately decorated, and were quick to become popular collectibles. They were an inexpensive and important identifier and advertisement for the tobacco companies, usually noting the product and the company name, and were distributed in chewing tobacco for decades. Since thousands of different tin tags were distributed, it is understandable that a brisk hobby of collecting and trading quickly ensued and in fact, still exists today. Tags are small, generally under an inch in size, and are a compact collectible, with whole collections sometimes being held in one notebook.

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Tobacco tags are small and came in an infinite variety . They are a popular collectibles even today. They primarily came with plug and loose tobacco.

Cigarette Cards

Another early tobacco insert advertisement was the printed cigarette card, they were another important form of advertisement for the tobacco companies. Given away in cigarette packaging from the 1870’s through the 1930’s they fell out of production during WWII due to the shortage of paper during the war. While a few cigarette companies issued cards post WWII (mostly in Europe), the practice was not widespread and most cards originate from before the War here in the US.
 
The cards were inserted into packages of cigarettes, and were a long lasting advertisement for the cigarette manufacture. Consumers gathered and saved these cards as collectibles, trading with friends for more desirable cards or trading to complete a series set. Cigarette cards are usually about 1 ½ x 2 ½ inches tall, with a printed design on one side of the card and an advertisement for the company on the reverse. Many are polychrome prints and are colorful and attractive.
 
The subjects of the cards vary widely with themes like flowers, animals, Hollywood actors and actresses, European Royalty, American Indians, sports stars of the day, and military themes. Many of the tobacco cards were distributed in series format, encouraging the collector to gather all of the cards from a series, which of course meant more sales for the tobacco company. Collector books or albums were available for purchase with illustrations of the card series, while other albums were meant to hold the series cards, with collectors striving to collect all of the cards in the series to fill the appropriate spaces in the albums.
 
Today cigarette cards may be the most popular of the tobacco insert collectibles, having come in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of themes and series, giving the collector any number of subjects to collect. Though they are no longer distributed, they continue to be collected and one may even purchase new reproductions for some of the hard to find older cards.
 

Cigarette cards came in hundreds of themes. These are samples of the flower cards. Cards like this were often offered in a series of 50 or more.

Floral cigarette silks with designs similar to the cigarette cards .

Cigarette cards with actors and actresses, including what are called photograph cards.

Cigarette cards in a variety of themes, including English peerage, ball players, military, and animal and bird themes.

Original store display for Zira cigarettes depicting the cigarette silk in the package of cigarettes.

Textile Tobacco Inserts and Premiums

It was between 1905 and 1910 that tobacco companies here in America, began inserting textile items into their cigarette and tobacco products. Most books written on the subject say the fad for these textiles was between 1910 and 1916. They also agree that at the beginning of WWI the practice of inserting textiles into cigarette or other tobacco packaging, here in the United States, was more or less abandoned.

In European countries the practice may have begun somewhat earlier and extended later into the 1920’s - 1940's, so it is possible to find some items from this later period. Tobacciana of all types have been and are still popular collectibles, with many items sold worldwide at auctions, and in recent years through online sites.

Some suggest that the tobacco companies stopped the distribution of these textiles because of the large expense incurred, reportedly costing up to $300,000 a year for one large company. Others suggest that the interest of collectors waned after a decade of collecting the inserts. Whatever the reason, tobacco companies stopped issuing the textile inserts and chose to advertise in other ways. Therefore there is a relatively short window of availability for the tobacco inserts and premiums, and that makes it easier for the quilt historian to date these unusual textile items.
 
These many years later it may seem odd that textiles like silks and flannels would be used as tobacco product inserts or premiums. But this was all happening at a time when there was much competition between the tobacco companies and advertising was important to entice new customers, and it was a good way to build brand loyalty.

It is thought that the practice of inserting textiles into the tobacco products may have been a direct marketing strategy to entice women into smoking cigarettes, although it wasn’t until several years later that tobacco companies openly seduced women into trying their cigarettes.

It is true that women were encouraged to gather up these small textiles from spouses or friends who used tobacco products and sew them into useful and beautiful items. These tobacco related textiles were varied and colorful, and women were encouraged through literature distributed by the tobacco companies, to use them to make things for the home, including quilts, throws, pillows, table covers, purses and even curtains for windows and doors.

The P. Lorilland Co. envelope for a small rug tells us that we can "make beautiful table covers, pillow tops, bed spreads, and many other useful and ornamental articles for home decorations" with the rugs.

This is a quilt made from the flannels and rugs as suggested on the envelope pictured above.

Small quilt top made of several flags in different sizes.

Pillow top showing a nice variety of cigar ribbons in several colors.

Silk Cigar Ribbons

Cigars were the most popular tobacco product used in the 19th Century, with most households having at least one cigar smoker. Tobacco shops selling cigars and other tobacco items were established businesses in every town, and carried selections of cigars for every budget, including expensive Cuban cigars.
 
The cigar ribbon was the first of these textiles associated with tobacco products, and the practice dates back to as early as the mid 19th Century. As noted by author Gerard Petrone in “Cigar Box labels” the first company making these cigar ribbons dates back to 1868 in New York City.

Silk ribbons, not actually tobacco inserts, and perhaps better called novelties, came with cigars when they were used to tie bundles of cigars together. The ribbons were used in factories by cigar makers to bundle cigars into groups of 25 or 50 for easier handling or counting. Sometimes manufacturers shipped cigars in large barrels, or boxes, that held hundreds of cigars, and distributors gathered the cigars into smaller numbers and bundled them together, using these colorful silk ribbons. While the ribbons were utilitarian in purpose, they were good forms of advertisement for the tobacco companies, differentiating their product from others because they were printed with the cigar maker’s name. Similar ribbons may  still be used today by some companies to identify their cigars, and may be found on fine Cuban cigars, for example.
 
The ribbons came in attractive bright colors and were printed with the manufacturer’s or distributing cigar company’s name, usually printed in black. The most common colors for ribbons were gold and yellow, but we also find ribbons in colors like blue, green, orange, purple and red. The printing styles vary, with some ribbons simply printed with the name of the company, while others are elaborately printed with additional information such as dates or country of origin. Sometimes fancy design motifs are printed on the ribbons, for example, elaborate scroll work designs decorate some ribbons. A few ribbons were woven with the company’s name woven right in.
 
Cigar ribbons are narrow in width, usually about ¾ inches wide, by about 12-15 inches long. They are made of silk and are fragile and can show the same signs of fabric tendering, or deterioration, as other antique silk fabrics.

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Cigar Ribbons showing typical colors and cigar manufacturer's names.

Cigar ribbons on a pillow top showing the typical gold ribbons and many unusual blue ribbons.

Cigarette Silks

  One of the most popular of the tobacco inserts or premiums was the tobacco or cigarette “silk”. While they are called silks they were actually made from a variety of fabrics such as silk or silk satin, a cloth combination of silk and cotton, a cotton sateen or even a plain woven cotton. The silks were often beautifully poly-chrome printed with varied subjects, and were usually printed with the tobacco company name.
 
Silks came printed in dozens of themes and in series formats. Very often the designs were the same types of designs as those seen on the cigarette cards.
Themes included floral designs of every type, flags of all the different nations of the world, American Indian motifs including the great Indian Chiefs, popular actresses and actors, bathing beauties, Kings and Queens of the countries of Europe, animals of all types, and military themes with soldiers and medals from many countries, just to name a few. 

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Colorful butterfly silks.

Two large colorful Indian Chiefs silk premiums. The Indian motif is one of the most collectible in silks and other Tobacciana items.

Bathing girls in two sizes.

Pillow top made from colorful silks featuring "Actresses". Women were the subject of many tobacco advertisements and much of the tobacco packaging.

Queens of different European countries.

Small quilt with animal silks.

As with the cigarette cards mentioned earlier, many of these silks were distributed in series, with some categories having dozens of different designs. One of the most popular categories was that of popular sports activities, with ballplayers and athletes of every variety printed on the silks. Some silks unite two popular subjects, for example colleges and sports. These silks bear the name of popular American colleges, and depict designs showing athletes participating in the sports activities of that college.
 
Tobacco silks were distributed in different ways. Many like the small 1 ¾” x 3” silks were inserted in cigarette packages or cartons (see the store sign above showing the silk in the package of Zira cigarettes). Others were premiums given in exchange for coupons. Consumers could trade coupons for the larger silks, many measuring from 3 to 5 inches tall. One of the largest silks offered in the coupon catalogs is what was called a “pillow top” and is approximately 24 inches square. These larger silks displayed some of the same lovely designs as the smaller silks, while others were beautifully hand painted with fantastic landscapes, including one Japanese seaside scene. 

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Flags and a coat of arms.

Animal silks are popular and colorful.

Unusual and colorful silks featuring bulldogs make up this small quilt top.

Large hand painted floral silk premium, 24" x 24", from Fatima Cigarettes, Liggett and Myers Tobacco Co. The silk pillow top piece here and at the right are shown with the original literature and mailing tubes, dated June 1913.

Large silk premium available from Fatima Cigarettes of the Liggett and Myers Tobacco Co. The oriental themed, 24" x 24" inch, hand painted "pillow cover" was the largest offered, and could be redeemed for 60 coupons that came inserted in the cigarette packs.

Flannel Flags came in several different sizes up to 30 inches long.

Flannels

Another popular textile insert or premium was the tobacco flannel.
These were made of a cotton flannel fabric and printed in many designs, again in themes similar to the themes used on the cigarette cards. Popular subjects were flags of all the different countries of the world and athletes participating in various sports. One of the most unusual but popular subjects for flannels was the American Indian blanket. Some subjects seemingly targeted women, like butterflies, but the majority of flannel themes were male oriented.
 
As with the silks these flannels were distributed in or on, cigarette and tobacco products, with the larger flannels available in the premium catalogs, and sent to consumers in exchange for coupons, (which were also distributed in tobacco packaging.)

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Indian themed flannels came in many different designs.

Baseball flannels are some of the most sought after premiums. There are an estimated 180 different players in this series.

The back of a flannel flag with the original paper tag, showing it came from a factory in New Jersey.

Tobacco flannels are sometimes referred to as “cigar felts”, and this is probably a misnomer, because it is not clear how, or if, they are associated with cigars. The inference is that the flannels were inserted into the boxes of cigars. But according to cigar box collector and historian Tony Hymen, there is no reason that they should be called “cigar felts”. Hymen, who is the curator of the National Cigar Box Museum, stated during correspondence with this writer, that he has never seen a felt in the over 100,000 cigar boxes he has examined in a period of over 20 years. (See below for more information on Tony Hyman and his book).
 
Additionally in his book “Tobacco Advertising: The Great Seduction”, author Gerard Petrone states that the….” (flannel) rugs were utilized to promote cigarettes, not cigars, a common collector misconception today”.
 
The popular idea that these flannels actually came in the cigar boxes may stem from the fact that sheets of paper, printed and plain, were sometimes placed in the box of cigars. Perhaps the two were misidentified with each other, and thus the flannels have been thought to come from the cigar boxes.
 
One might also question why they are called felts when they are obviously made from flannel. One advertisement does mention a “felt”, but the photo in the ad shows what appears to be the small rug, which is usually made up of a velveteen type pile or made of flannel. Perhaps this is a simple example of a word’s popular meaning changing over a century of years.
 
Flannels come in a wide range of sizes, the smallest is the 3 ½ x 5 ½ inch flannel and the largest, according to the catalogs, is apparently 30 inches long.
 

A crib sized quilt top, the edges finished with embroidery, is made up of flag flannels from many different countries.

Pillow made with flannel flags trimmed with fringe. Back of pillow is done in patchwork.

Carpets or Rugs

Another tobacco insert or premium is the small rug or carpet, which is sometimes confused with the flannels. J. R. Burdick in his book The American Card Catalog, catalogs the flannels and rugs separately, noting that the rug has a fringe and the flannel does not.
 
Rugs were distributed in the same way as the flannels, in or on cigarette or tobacco packaging. One advertisement for Egyptian Straight cigarettes states that the consumer will receive one rug in each package, plus a free rug from the tobacco shop dealer, “to induce you to try these wonderfully good cigarettes”. The dealer was instructed to apply to the manufacturer for the supply of free rugs so they would have them on hand, in the shop, enabling them to participate in the promotion.

Two small "rugs", one from an animal series, and the other from a baseball player series.

The back of a small rug showing the stamp that says it came from "Straights" Egyptian cigarettes, and originated in the New York factory.

Coupon for the small silk rug from the Lorillard Company. It would take 10 coupons to get the 2 ½ x 4 inch rug.

One of the rug premiums that could be had from the coupon catalogs in exchange for coupons, was the Oriental carpet or rug, which was available in several sizes including some measuring up to several feet long. The rug seen in quilts is generally the small 3 x 5 inch size rug. These are usually designed to simulate Oriental carpets, and have often been used in dollhouses as diminutive rugs or carpets, in the well decorated, dollhouse parlor.
 
The rugs were unusual in some of their designs, while other designs were similar to the designs used on tobacco cards and flannels. Overall there do seem to be fewer rug themes than we see in the tobacco flannels. Oriental carpets are the most common, other themes are American Indian designs, children’s rhymes, and sports or college designs. Again we see a sharing of design motifs with the other tobacco inserts.

Three small rugs made, from left to right, in woven silk, cotton plush or velveteen, and cotton flannel.

Three small rugs designed with Children's Rhymes, including Little Miss Muffet, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Little Boy Blue.

Some of these rugs or carpets are actually constructed like their room size counterparts, with a pile of colored yarns making up the design, and trimmed with a fringe on two sides. Others are made from velveteen with the design printed onto the pile. We find some made from flannel like the other flannels noted above, but these come with fringe identifying them as rugs. Amusingly, others are little woven, silk Oriental inspired creations, worthy of any dollhouse.
 
There sometimes seems to be a relationship between the types of tobacco in the package and the design on the rug insert. For example the Oriental rugs often came with the cigarettes made from Turkish tobacco. Turkish tobacco products were of a high quality, and advertisements of these products often emphasized the flamboyancy associated with all things Turkish. The Turkish tobacco products were more expensive and carried some of the nicer inserts.

Other Tobacco Inserts

In addition to the already mentioned tobacco inserts and premiums, there were others that are less well known. One of the most unusual is the leather tobacco “card.” Made from leather and stamped with a variety of themes, these cards are often some of the most attractive of the inserts.
 
Another rarely seen premium is the embroidered applique. Usually seen in flora and fauna like themes, these are some of the most beautiful premiums. Seldom seen in America, these are most likely European distributions.

Cigarette Leather insert, and original envelope from Murad Turkish Cigarettes

These unusual embroidered appliqué butterflies are European tobacco issues.

Non Tobacco Premiums

In addition to tobacco, other products like chewing gum, candy, and baking goods are associated with these textiles. Some brands of chewing gum were wrapped in paper wrappers that were actually printed coupons, and these could be exchanged for the same premiums as those for which the tobacco coupons were exchanged. Some of the premium books offer premiums in exchange for not only tobacco coupons but also the gum wrappers.
For example the Kewpie designs, that are sometimes associated with tobacco, are cataloged as “Non Tobacco Issues” by Burdick in his book. Burdick has been the authority on cataloging American Cards since 1960.
 
Additionally, silks were given away via other venues, for example, in magazines. According to one researcher they came in a British women’s magazine encouraging women to “collect” all the silks in a series of floral designs. See the photo below of a flag "silk" inserted in issues of "The Happy Home" in England.
While the majority of the textile premiums we encounter came from tobacco products, some came from altogether different venues.

Kewpie Doll flannels came in several designs.

This flag came from "The Happy Home" magazine.

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