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Old 06-23-2010, 01:12 PM
canjond's Avatar
canjond canjond is offline
Jon Canfield
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: New York, NY
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Default Mono Cigarettes - An Intrispective Look at the Brand and its' History

I've recently written an article on Mono Cigarettes for the Cigarette Pack Collector's Association's quarterly publication - Brandstand. The article is focused on the brand, itself, as opposed to T217s. Since I would venture to say many board member's are not members of the association and will not read the publication, I wanted to post a draft of the article here for everyone's enjoyment (and corrections or additions). I also want to thank Joe Parker, Jim Shaw, Harvey Golstein, and Mark Macrae for all of their help in completing the article.


*The box belongs to a private collector

Mono “Turkish Blend” Cigarettes is a brand of cigarettes that many readers of the Brandstand have likely never seen or even heard of – and for good reason. It is not every day that you come across a product that, even with the collective knowledge, research material, and reference libraries of some of the most advance and experienced collectors in field, so little is known or has been documented about the brand. But this is exactly the case with Mono Cigarettes. In fact, had it not been for the issuance of “200 Portraits Selected from Leading Actresses and Base Ball Players” in 1910-11, later given the designation T217 by Jefferson Burdick in the American Card Catalog, Mono Cigarettes may have become another brand name that, as Carl Clawson so eloquently describes in his “Comprehensive Listing of United States Cigarette Merchants, Brand Names and Factory Numbers,” disappeared without a trace into the mists of time.

Prior to beginning my research on this product, virtually nothing was known about the brand, its manufacturer, where it was produced, or for how long. It had been believed Mono Cigarettes was a regional brand, issued on the pacific coast (since all 25 baseball players represented in the T217 set were from teams in the Pacific Coast League in 1911) in at least the 1910-11 era (the date of the T217 set issuance.) The card backs do not identify any factory numbers, district codes, or state of manufacture. Even after tracking down a surviving box of Mono Cigarettes, the packaging, itself, did not want to give up its secrets easily. Printed on the side of the box is only “Factory 296, District 1.” No manufacturer or other information is given. Using this scintilla of evidence as a starting point in my research, I began searching for a Factory 296, 1st District.

Although unclear when production may have began, by 1905 Charles Voigt (or Voight) of Philadelphia was manufacturing cigars (and possibly cigarettes) out of Factory 296, 1st District of Pennsylvania. The operation ran until at least 1919. While Voight’s operation was the correct period for the manufacturing of Mono Cigarettes, Pennsylvania struck me as an unlikely state for the facility to be located. In addition to Voight, Herman Stein of Lancaster, Pennsylvania was operating out of Factory 296, 1st District of Pennsylvania in 1924, 1926, and 1927. Stein’s operation was clearly the incorrect time period (although there are records of Stein operating as early as 1913, but the factory number would have been different as Lancaster would still have been the 9th District of Pennsylvania in 1913), and again, Pennsylvania seemed an unlikely location. Also, Eeiny Mitchell was operating out of Factory 296, 1st District of Massachusetts in Cambridge in 1930, but as with Voight and Stein, Mitchell’s operation did not fit the bill. The only other record of a Factory 296, 1st District that could be located was Factory 296, 1st District of California, but no manufacturer was listed - only that they manufactured Turkish Rose Cigarettes, circa 1910. This was encouraging – a Factory 296, 1st District of California that was producing cigarettes circa 1910. I was cautiously optimistic the mystery of Mono Cigarettes was one step closer to being solved. And, while Joe Giesenhagen had identified E.S. Goulston & Co. as the manufacturer of Mono Cigarettes in his book “The Collector's Guide to Vintage Cigarette Packs,” I was not entirely convinced this information was correct since Goulston was based in Boston, Massachusetts.

After tracking down a Turkish Rose Cigarettes box, my hopes of discovering the “likely” manufacturer of Mono Cigarettes hit a roadblock, as, like Mono, the Turkish Rose box listed no manufacturer. However the box, complete with a 1910 tax stamp, was produced at Factory 296, 1st District of California, and given the similarity to Mono Cigarettes in that the manufacturer was absent from the packaging, lent more credence to my belief that Monos were indeed produced in California. But indeed, I was no closer to discovering the manufacturer. While leads were running slim, the March 1909 issue of “The Trow Copartnership and Corporation Directory of the Borough of Manhattan and the Bronx” does list a trade name of “Mono Cigarette Co.” registered to a Douglas Burrelle and Robert Paris. Could these be the owners of Mono Cigarettes – a brand being produced in California? Could The Mono Cigarette Co. be a distribution company or the corporate headquarters of the manufacturer that produced Mono Cigarettes? Here is where the leads run dry and alas, I am left without finality. I have been unable to discover more about Mono Cigarettes, Factory 296, 1st District of California, Turkish Rose Cigarettes, The Mono Cigarette Co., or Burrelle and Paris. My hope is that this article may help spur some additional information coming to light.

Turning now to the packaging, itself, Mono cigarette boxes are burnt red in color and depict a Turkish-style militiaman on the front, likely keeping with the “Turkish Blend” theme advertised on the card backs. The boxes are a slide and shell configuration of normal size, with 10 cigarettes to the pack, and were sold for 5¢ a box (as also evidenced by the back of the cards).

The cards (identified in the American Card Catalog as T217s), issued on the pacific coast between 1910 and 1911, are one of the rarest sets of tobacco cards produced. A total of 200 subjects are identified as being in the set, 25 of which are baseball players, and the balance being actresses. Of the 25 baseball players, there are only 23 different subjects represented (as two subjects are duplicated) from each of the six Pacific Coast League teams. However, 12 of the 23 subjects depicted are from the Los Angeles team, possibly indicating that Los Angeles was the centralized distribution area of the brand. This is purely conjecture, however, as there could be other reasons for such a disproportionate amount of Los Angeles players depicted.

Although T217’s share a modicum of size (1 7/16 x 2 9/16), geography of distribution, and time period of distribution with Obaks, a series of Pacific Coast League “sets” issued between 1909 and 1911, T217’s are vastly different from Obaks in both rarity and appearance. The cards feature black and white photos on the front surrounded by a white frame. Also, there is possibly as little as 400 total T217 cards still in existence, in contrast to the thousands of Obak cards that survive to present day. From the discovery of a complete Mono cigarette box with an original T217 still inside, we know that the cards were inserted into the front of the slide and shell box, with the back of the card in direct contact with the cigarettes. Accordingly, T217s can be found with tobacco staining and cigarette imprints on their reverse.

So, where does that leave us today? There is no question that Mono Cigarettes is an exceedingly rare brand, which is only further highlighted by the rarity of T217s. It was most likely produced at Factory 296, 1st District of California and distributed (probably exclusively) on the pacific coast for a few short years – with distribution likely centered around Los Angeles. Beyond these hypotheses, not much more is known about this still reclusive brand.
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Last edited by canjond; 06-23-2010 at 01:16 PM.
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