NEW YORK – A new set of Topps Allen & Ginter trading cards is out. The success of the series reveals one of the more unlikely reinventions of brands, namely Allen and Ginter. The name is a forgotten tobacco brand heretofore only known to other card collectors and historians. ItMORE HERE
In the last few weeks I have been making some brand-related observations while out in the mad world of brands. Here are some of the good and bad, and in between. It’s a new feature here called On the Shelves, a sort of Hodgepodge Lodge of brand notes. Quarters for Cigs.MORE HERE
am not sure whether copper telephone wires will survive, I am sad about Kodachrome and I wonder about the revival of vinyl records. Will newsweeklies make it? Not sure why they should, but they can if they aren’t as boring as Newsweek. And the video store? Well that’s sort ofMORE HERE
One of the oldest extant American tobacco brands is Dill’s. J.G. Dill was once a great Virginia tobacco company, known worldwide for its Dill’s Best pipe tobacco. While as far as we know the tobacco brand Dill’s does not survive, Dill’s Premium Pipe Cleaners, known by their yellow and redMORE HERE
There are great brands related to lighters. Of course there is Zippo, which has done an aggressive and smart job of keeping an anachronistic brand alive at a time when folks don’t smoke as much as they used to. One other brand is Ronson, the flint and lighter fluid company,MORE HERE
HOOKSET, N.H. – Twins Smoke Shop in Hooksett and Londonderry will bring back the 7-20-4 cigar, made by the K. A. Kendall Co. Millions upon millions of the cigars were made until 1963; the cigar was named for the Manchester street address of the company. The makers have found manufacturersMORE HERE
TAMPA – There are a handful of places associated with cigars. The geography of cigars includes the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Cuba, Connecticut and Tampa. Tampa is synonymous with cigars, mostly because of the name Hav-A-Tampa, made by Altadis USA. However, there are real cigar companies still in Tampa. If youMORE HERE
El Sol, founded in 1929, is one of the oldest cigar brands in Tampa. Read about them at elsolcigars.com.MORE HERE