When Pipe Smoking Was Mainstream - Vintage Pipe Ads In Magazines

ghostsofpompeii

Thought I'd post a few vintage magazine ads featuring old pipes and tobacco products. Take special note of the magazine offering French pipes for well under a dollar ... many going for under a quarter. 

ghostsofpompeii

I really like those Sportsman pipes in the last ad. Anyone of them would be a welcome addition to my collection. And to think the prices ranged from $3.00 to $15.00. I'm half blind but it appears the date on the page is  July 1917. I wonder if any of those pipes are still in existence? I really like the look of the first one at the top of the ad. Would also be nice to pick up a Peterson pipe for $3.00 postage paid. Hell, the postage alone cost more than that now.

ghostsofpompeii

After further scrutiny the date is July 1947, so there still may be a few of those Sportsman pipes floating around somewhere.

ghostsofpompeii

I don't subscribe to many magazines but I was wondering if there are any magazines (like GQ) or something other than magazines dedicated to cigar and pipe smoker, which run ads like those above for either pipes or pipe tobacco. I know that way back in the 70s' or 80s' all cigarette and tobacco products were banned from TV commercials - and even most broadcast network TV shows frown on characters smoking cigarettes on TV. But was there ever some official ban on ads for tobacco products for print media as well?

Woodsman

Ghosts, if you like that top one, look on the bay and elsewhere for Custombilt Pipes. See my example.

Woodsman

In the back of Field and Stream when I was 17  there was an ad from Middleton's saying " Are you the one smoker in 20 who can smoke a pipe? They offered a sampler of 5 of their tobaccos, They came as 5 square tins in a plastic box. Things were nicer then. Assuming that their add was correct 5% of smokers used pipes. 

judandhispipe

Those are lots of fun. Thanks for sharing.

motie2

From Delanceyplace.com

<<Scientific American was one of the most popular magazines of the early 20th century. The excerpt below is the text in its entirety from a full-page ad for Prince Albert (P.A.) pipe tobacco in a 1917 edition of the magazine. It is clear from the ad that competitors were offering discount coupons for their pipe tobacco, so Prince Albert's claim is that its tobacco is so good that pipe smokers will want to throw away the other companies' coupons:

Prince Albert's quality gives joy that jams coupons right into the discard!

"Flashes such flavor and fragrance into your smoke-system so quick and so friendly-like; tips you to bang away so heartily via jimmy pipe or makin's cigarettes that you feel you must hire-a-hall and sing-a-song that'll be heard from Boston-to-Bombay!

"Prince Albert has won-in-a-walk without offering coupons or premiums. We have preferred to put their cost into quality! And, me-o-my, how smokers have come across and backed our judgment! Every P.A.-pal has wised up to his personal smoke-satisfac­tion that the speedier he opens up his smoke­-throttle the better he likes Prince Albert! For, its quality-flavor and quality-fragrance are right there -- and P.A. won't bite or won't parch, no matter how fast you push it! That's because our exclusive patented proc­ess cuts out bite and parch!

"Might just as well prove this say-so now;­ -- Every puff of Prince Albert has a quality tag tacked to it! Each fire-up goes you one better than the last! P.A. tunes your smokeappetite so cheery you hit a new excuse to fill 'er up again or roll-a-tube-or-two every little once and a while! Quality puts such go-to-it­ness into PRINCE ALBERT.

"Prince Albert has brought thousands of men to know the happiness of the pipe­pastime; it has swung many into the ranks­-of-the-rollers! It will win you on its down­right goodness, due to its quality, if you'll stand-by-for-a-spell and take at 100 per cent what we tell you about P. A., or what smok­ers all over the civilized world will tell you!

"Costs you mighty little to prove our confidence in what Prince Albert certainly can do for your smoke­-content. For, the toppy red bag costs but 5c; the tidy red tin, a dime. Or, take a fall out or the hand­some pound or half-pound tin humidors -- or -- that clever, practical pound crystal-glass humidor with sponge-moistener top that keeps the tobacco in such perfect condition.

"You buy Prince Albert everywhere -- like you find men in all walks of life smoking it -- everywhere!">>

motie2

Popular Science Monthly May 1929

Charles

Pretty cool ads!  Thanks for sharing them!  I remember seeing the Prince Albert ads.  My grandfather smoked Prince Albert regularly in his pipe.  I recently started smoking Prince Albert again and it is now a part of my tobacco rotation.

Londy3

Sweet. There is something awesome about the old ads. I still like looking at The Saturday Evening Post and old LIFE magazines. The ads are cool and the refection of how things used to be is amazing to me.

motie2

My only non-EA Carey pipe. These are ads from the mid-1980's

[It's interesting that today Duncan Hills are sold by.....EA Carey.]

SERENTIL

VERY cool to see those.  I really like old tobacco tin art as well.  I saw this old beat up one recently at a Vintage Antique Show.  They were asking $19.50 for it.  The saleslady asked me what a "Gut Plug" was.  It was fun explaining that it was actually a "Cut" Plug tobacco from J.G. Dill.  I think Dill was eventually sold off to Lane but can't be sure.

motie2

motie2

motie2

A bonanza, click on the VIEW AD column:

http://www.vintageadsandstuff.com/adspipes.html

SERENTIL

Very cool!  Thanks for posting!

ghostsofpompeii

@Woodsman At the end of last year I purchased an old Custombilt from a second hand shop for $5.00 and it needed a lot of work. More than I thought I'd be able to handle. The crust was so thick you could barely get a pipe cleaner into the top of the bowl. And the rim appeared badly charred as well. But once I started scraping out the crust inside the bowl the charred rim seemed to break away in three large pieces, revealing the rusticated pattern of the wood beneath, so I was able to clean it up relatively easy with a lot of spit and elbow grease. Reaming out the bowl was a bit more of a chore, and thankfully I got Decatur Ream-All Kits from P&C just a few weeks before. so once I wallowed out a hole with a small pocket knife big enough to get the reamers to do their job - everything came out pretty good. I then hand waxed it and she came alive. After watching a video from NW Piper, who is quite an authority on the Custom-bilt/Custombilt line my pipe dates somewhere between 1938 - 1946. It's a great smoker and a big chunk of wood.

pipeman83

@ghostsofpompeii, nice restoration job,good looking pipe!

motie2

I am so freakin' envious. 

rustedrailpipes

Those are some great ads.  I have a bunch of old Nat Geo's etc... that I picked the RR ads out of in storage, guess I need to go back through and look for some pipe/tobacco ads

pipeman83

I love watching the old pipe tobacco commercials on YouTube.

CACooper

Here's an old Sir Walter Raleigh TV ad from around '59 or '60.  The mood and setting are great. Friends at the lodge, after a day of hunting, relaxing by a warm fire with a bowl of Sir Walter Raleigh. Man's best friend by their side. A kinder, gentler time for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE1sirPGbmk

ghostsofpompeii

@CACooper That was great. You know, I can remember seeing cigarette commercials all the time when growing up, but can't ever remember seeing one for pipe tobacco.

motie2

Vintage tins..... I smoked all of these back in the day. Only bought Bond Street and Brindley's twice. The rest, once was too much......

ghostsofpompeii

Never tried Bond Street but I've always lived the tin art. I've smoked every blend in the picture except Brindley's Mixture. can't saw I ever remember seeing any. I wanted to say it's before my time ... but from the look of the tin it can't be that old.

motie2

Brindley's was an interesting OTC. I enjoyed smoking it back in the day. it had a very plain and simple two color packaging -- nothing fancy -- and it smoked OK and didn't smell half bad.

pipeman

Love these old ads that were seen in all types of mags back in the day when pipe smoking was in style and nobody was against
smoking like today.

Charles

Charles

Charles