T206 Cigarette Brands

[Cory]

Is there a summary about the actual brands on the backs that anyone is aware of? I have been searching for information and am finding it somewhat hard to come by. The kind of information that I am looking for would be things like history of the brand, years active, premium or value brand, regional or national distribution, which company did they go with post-breakup, etc.

Presumably piedmont, sweet caporal, and sovereign were both long term national brands given their broad distribution and availability of other cards/memorabilia. I believe Old Mill was primarily a southern brand given their association with southern leaguers and t210s? Polar bear was scrap tobacco? Does that mean chewing, pipe, or roll your own (or any?). I've seen the t206 ads for piedmont, old mill, hindu, but outside of that I can't find any information on Hindu cigarettes (possibly because Hindu is too broad?). I've found Jon Canfield's research on the packs, which is useful, but I'd like a broader understanding of the brands. I've bought several books on Tobacco advertising, Cigarette packs, American Tobacco Co, etc.,and can't seem to find any ads for some of the brands. I have seen El Principe De Gales ads for cigars. I have found lots of stuff on Drummond a cigarette tin, a tobacco pouch, old trade cards, etc. - the predecessor to Drum - a St. Louis brand. I have found an American Beauty tin (no ads so far). I got a partial Tolstoi pack from Jon. Nothing outside of that. I did find a cool old ad for Cycle cigarettes. Nothing for Carolina Brights, Broadleaf, Uzit or Lenox (outside the military cards that sometimes have Uzit or Lenoz backs). Can anybody shed any light on when/where the brands were distributed and how they were positioned? In one of the threads here I thought someone mentioned Uzit only being distributed in New York City for 3 days? Would explain the rarity I suppose.

If there's an old thread direct me to, as I haven't been able to find anything. Thanks for any help.

[Scott L.]

Scot Reader's book Inside T206 contains some information on where speciific brands were distributed/were popular. It's available for download for free here:

https://www.oldcardboard.com/t/t206/...?cardsetID=699

[Cory]

I've read the book, but I may have skipped over/skimmed that part the first time through. Thank you.

[EddieP]

Base on my own research about Sweet Caporal: It was a Kinney Brand introduced in 1878. It was introduced in Canada in 1886. It became Kinney’s and eventually ATCs best selling brand in the US and Canada which is why ATC wanted to keep it after the break-up. None of the Sweet Caporal cards have the American Tobacco logo. The brand continued selling in Canada until 2011.

A misconception about Piedmont which is perpetuated by PSA is that it was a best selling brand. That is false. The Piedmont brand was introduced in 1908. A marketing ploy used by Buck Duke was to lower a cigarette brand’s price in order to generate sales, increase brand loyalty and drive out the competition. He employed this tactic with National Tobacco Works’ “Battle Axe” during the Plug Wars and with Ogden Tabs during the Tobacco Wars.

Drummond was a plug tobacco company that had its origins in Altona, Illinois. Moved to St Louis. Purchased by ATC in 1897. Ownership transferred to ATC owned Continental Tobacco in 1898. In 1901 ownership was transferred to the ATC and Continental Tobacco controlled Conglomerate, ownership reverted back to ATC when Conglomerate was dissolved in 1903.

[Casey2296]

I miss Ted and his wealth of knowledge on the set.

You may want to google Ted Zanadakis T206 Net54 and see what threads pop up

[Cory]

I have read tons of Ted's threads. Feel like I knew him. Definitely a great loss to the hobby and his friends and family. Just seemed like an all around good guy. Have had several issues that I wish I could have gotten his input on.

Eddie - thanks for your additional color.on the brands. Any good sources you recommend for digging deeper?

Revisited inside t206 and helped somewhat. Still not much info on the rarer back brands. I'll keep digging.

[EddieP]

Originally Posted by Cory

I have read tons of Ted's threads. Feel like I knew him. Definitely a great loss to the hobby and his friends and family. Just seemed like an all around good guy. Have had several issues that I wish I could have gotten his input on.

Eddie - thanks for your additional color.on the brands. Any good sources you recommend for digging deeper?

Revisited inside t206 and helped somewhat. Still not much info on the rarer back brands. I'll keep digging.

Try this: https://guides.loc.gov/tobacco-indus...ke%20Lorillard.

[EddieP]

You probably won’t find much info on the other brands. Other than the Sweet Cap cigs, I suspect the other brands were: 1) new, 2) poor sellers or 3) Battle Brands. I say this because after the break up Lorillard obtained “Old Gold”. The “ Old Gold” brand was a Kimball cigarette. The brand was so popular that it was sold overseas and continued to be sold in the 1950s. “ Chesterfield” was a brand sold by Drummond and still exists today. Liggett & Myers obtained the rights of “ Chesterfield” after the break-up. Neither brand to my knowledge had T206s included in their packs and I think the cards were marketing products in order to boost sales.

[Cory]

Thanks for the link.

[BRoberts]

https://www.t206resource.com/Backs%20Gallery.html