Everything you didn't know you needed to know about Cigar labels

El Presidente · February 7, 2023

Everything you didn't know you needed to know about Cigar labels

It's a two Negroni read. Make sure you have the time and Grab a cigar. :cigar:

The Cuban collection of cigar labels is, undoubtedly one of the largest and most attractive collections of thematic labels worldwide. Since the beginning of the second half of the 19th Century and for a long period of over 100 years, hundreds of manufacturers of this sector were to be found in Cuba. Many of them even got to register tens of brands per year, all of which, regardless of their subsequent development, needed at least one set of their corresponding labels in order to be registered as trademarks. That way, thanks to the fact that Cuba was the country where these labels first appeared and regulations for their use were established, their collection turns out to be fascinating for those interested in both, historical and artistic components of an exclusive production, destined from the beginning to conquer the highest circles of international consumption. The undeniable quality of the plant grown on Cuban soil, together with the inventive and countless ways of processing and combining its leaves in order to manufacture the worldwide famous Havana cigars, resulted in a product therefore needing to be presented in the most sophisticated ways in order to maintain its supremacy. The development of printing techniques in Cuba was a determining factor in this matter. Therefore, and since the history of cigar labels was always connected to the world of the lithograph, we will proceed to look at the evolution of this activity in Cuba in detail.

First stage… the handcrafted period…

Although there’s knowledge of the existence on the island of two small printing shops (owned by Santiago Lessieur and Luis Claire) already in the second decade of the 19th Century, it wasn’t until the early 1840’s that the activity reached a true peak as a result of the arrival in Cuba of several draftsmen and lithographers who, making the most of the experience they had gained in European workshops, founded here two high-standing establishments:

-Litografía de Costa, Hermano y Cia (Costa Brother’s and Co.) or “Litografía Española” (Spanish Lithographic Workshop) – the first important of its kind in Cuba. It was first founded by the end of 1838, when the Costa brothers Francisco and Fernando, lithographers from the famous José Madrazo’s workshop in Madrid, arrived in Havana. After having been running for a year, it changed its name by that of “Litrografía del Gobierno” (Government’s Lithographic Workshop) due to its connexion with the authorities. Even though its raison d’être was that of working for publishing companies, it occasionally printed black-and-white labels for rolled cigar cases and packs of cigarettes, which were the first of its kind in Cuba.

-Litografía de la Real Sociedad Patriótica (Royal Patriotic Society’s Lithographic Workshop) –also known as “Litografía de los Franceses” (the Frenchmen’s Lithographic Workshop), because it was founded in 1839 by several French fellow countrymen, all lithographers and artists of experience and renown. Francisco Miguel Cosnier and Alejandro Moreau, who later brought Julio Bourrelier and Federico Mialhe, skilled landscape painter and engraver who was destined to become our main graphic chronicler, constituted the staff of the wonderful company, and their works were eagerly consumed by the elite of the emerging Creole bourgeoisie, then in marked conflict with the Spanish community and the Captain General’s office. Like that of the Spanish, this workshop initially worked illustrating contemporary publications, but it also produced some very primitive labels for cigar cases and especially for packs of cigarettes many of which either don’t show the name of the workshop along the bottom or weren’t signed by the artists that created them.

These two workshops operated separately until 1845, when they merged into “Litografía del Gobierno y de la Real Sociedad Económica” (Lithographic Workshop of the Government and Royal Economic Society). Under the new name, the production focused more on the cigar industry.

-Litografía de Marquier (Marquier’s Lithographic Workshop) - it appeared later, by the end of the 1840’s, and it was the most important printing shop of this first stage. The Frenchman Francisco Luis Marquier gathered a staff constituted by several important artists and lithographers, such as Mialhe and Laplante who illustrated the best publications of Cuban graphic history. Such books as Los Ingenios, Álbum Californiano, Viaje pintoresco alrededor de la isla de Cuba, etc., came out of their presses illustrated using one single ink. These lithographs were usually later illuminated by hand. However, this method was very expensive in terms of the mass production that was needed to meet the demands of the emerging cigar industry (one single brand required sometimes thousands of labels). Therefore, the works related to this sector were pushed into the background resulting in little labels produced in this printing shop.

Summing up, this early stage was about artistic lithographs, used to illustrate important books and picturesque albums, and printed in black and white by hand presses, and in some cases thoroughly illuminated by hand one at a time. This process was extremely expensive and unjustifiable in terms of the preparation of a label.

As to the cigar industry, the old way of packing cigars in large pine boxes (meant for wholesale trade and containing as much as ten thousand pieces bundled in packs of 50 or 100 each) that were labelled with the manufacturer’s information by means of stamping it with branding iron was no longer in use. This method had been replaced by small cedar cases containing a maximum of one hundred units that would go straight to the consumers, thus avoiding forgeries and also resulting in larger profit. Naturally, the enterprising Spanish manufactures liked the idea of using labels to identify their production and at the same time decorating such cases. Therefore, they soon embraced the possibilities offered by the rising lithography techniques. And so began the first orders of what would become the seeds of the future cigar labels (“habilitaciones”). These were small lithographs, always printed in one colour, showing a pretty simple motif and the brand name and manufacturer’s information in two languages in the cases of those meant for export. Very few of these have been preserved due to different factors, such as the closure of the workshops that first printed them, the lack of registers and control over brand names at the time, their limited production, and the little interest shown by old collectors given their rather poor making.

In other words, during the first decades, when the previously mentioned workshops were prevailing, labels were very simple and not known yet as “habilitaciones”. They are rather regarded as a step forward in the process of evolution from old stamps used on the large wholesale boxes. Generally speaking, the printing workshops didn’t even bother to sign these lithographs by stamping their registered name on the production related to this sector, because these were considered to be of little note. Brand names were registered using single form files that were only required to show the label and the overleaf image without any detailed explanation.

http://admin.cubamuseo.net/imagenes/Habilitaciones Tabaco/Hab---Im-2.jpg

Inscription sheet of the “Victor Hugo” trade mark

Second stage… industrial lithograph period…

CONTINUED