SP Box Car

From a different time, and frame of mind. I wonder where the cigars were made? Imported?

Boxcab E50

They were probably made in Philadelphia. Could have used imported or domestic leaf.

Interesting. During that time frame, I'm wondering about crops from around the Caribbean. Or were they not as popular in those days?

Boxcab E50

You can read up on General Cigar Company on this web site. They bought out Wm. Penn cigars and then marketed them as one of their 5 core brands.
https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/General-Cigar-Holdings-Inc-Company-History.html

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William Penn was one of the cheapest pieces of garbage that was ever rolled into a cigar. No doubt Pennsylvania tobacco twigs and stems. I actually smoke a few a half century ago and am still gagging over the rough taste.

Fotheringill, Cigar Affecianado Supremo. All of that aside, great picture.

They were that good huh. "In 1918, the company moved to establish the first national cigar brands. It dropped nearly all of its brands, and instead concentrated on the manufacturing, sales, and advertising for five core brand names. Each of General Cigar's brands--which included White Owl, Van Dyck, Wm. Penn, and Robt. Burns--hit a different price point. Advertising became important; General Cigar was among the first companies to recognize the potential of the new radio networks that were developing. General Cigar was soon sponsoring radio programs and announcing its products on a national scale. The company's net profits rose from $1.5 million in 1914 to $2.7 million by 1919. Cigar sales were on the rise throughout the country, reaching a high of 8.5 billion cigars sold in 1920. During the 1920s, the cigar industry began to suffer from image problems. The rise of organized crime during Prohibition, and the image of the stogie-chomping gangster--developed in part by Hollywood, and personified by such actors as Edward G. Robinson--gave the cigar an aura of disrespect among the public. Later that decade, the cigar industry faced a second crisis, when American Tobacco began promoting new, machine-rolled cigars. Its advertising asked: "Why run the risk of cigars made by dirty yellowed fingers and tipped in spit?" The image proved disastrous for the cigar industry as a whole. Cigar makers rushed to convert their manufacturing from hand-rolled to machine-rolled products, but cigar sales plunged through the 1930s. During this same time period, the cigar industry was hit hard by the rise in cigarette use across the United States. Cigar consumption never recovered to its early 1920s peak. General Cigar saw its sales fall steadily. While in 1924, General Cigar had posted sales of $23.7 million and a profit of $2.3 million, by 1939, its fortunes had dropped to less than $19 million in sales, with a slight $880,000 profit. "