{"product_id":"antique-1890s-1900s-acme-cubana-cigar-bag-label-d-s-erb-boyertown-pa","title":"Antique 1890s-1900s Acme Cubana Cigar Bag Label 🚬 D.S. Erb \u0026 Co. Boyertown Pennsylvania, Patented 1898 NOS","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Made Acme Cubana Cigars? 🚬 D.S. Erb \u0026amp; Co. of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, and a Pocket Patented in 1898\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 5\" x 1 1\/2\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JifiLXMFtD0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003ePicture a tobacconist's counter around 1900: a box of cigars open on the glass, and beside it a stack of these bright yellow paper pockets, ready to slip two cigars in for a customer on his way out the door. \"Acme Cubana\" in flowing script, a big interlocked monogram, \"Registered by D.S. Erb \u0026amp; Co.\" and the price right on the front: 2 for 15¢. That's the whole sales pitch, and I love how confident it is.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is an original, never-used Acme Cubana cigar pocket from Erb's Boyertown cigar works. Turn it over and there's a yellow band across the kraft-paper back printed \"PATENTED FEBY. 1-1898,\" the date the pocket design itself was patented.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📦 What It Is, Exactly\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt's a paper cigar bag, or pocket: a kraft-paper sleeve with a printed yellow wrap, made to hold a couple of cigars across the counter. These were made in perforated strips of three pleated pockets and torn off one at a time, and you can see the perforated edge where this one came off its neighbors. Because they were made to be used up, carried home and thrown away, unused ones are the survivors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏘️ Boyertown, Pennsylvania, a Cigar Town\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBoyertown is a small Berks County borough, and for a stretch of years it was cigar country. David S. Erb started his cigar business there in 1864, as the Keystone Cigar Company, and the firm put up a three-story factory building in 1882 on the corner of Philadelphia and Reading Avenues. Erb's best-known brand was Castle Hall, and the company was still making cigars into the 1930s. The Castle Hall name lives on today on cigars sold by other makers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOld-timers in Berks County used to say that in Boyertown's peak years the whole town smelled like a tobacco warehouse, a smell people who grew up there never forgot and never quite found anywhere else. Pennsylvania rolled more cigars than almost anywhere in the country back then, and towns like Boyertown were why.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📜 The Name and the Cuban Question\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the 1890s, Havana cigars sat at the top of the American tobacco ladder. Leaf from Cuba's Vuelta Abajo, rolled by expert hands, was what serious smokers wanted, and American cigar makers reached for Cuban-sounding names to borrow a little of that shine. Cubana, Habana, Havana: the names piled up on American boxes no matter what leaf was inside. Acme Cubana fits right into that tradition, and the registration line on the front tells you the name was Erb's own brand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1898 on the back is a fun coincidence with history. That was the year of the Spanish-American War, when Cuba's colonial tie to Spain came apart and Cuba was suddenly front-page news across the country. A Cuban-named cigar in a pocket patented that February was right in step with the moment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📅 How Old It Is\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe patent line gives the floor: this pocket design was patented on February 1, 1898, so the piece is no earlier than that. I put these in the 1890s-1900s, the turn of the century. Duke University's Rubenstein Library keeps Acme Cubana labels from D.S. Erb \u0026amp; Co. in its Richard Pollay tobacco advertising collection, catalogued to 1898, some joined together in strips with the patent date on the back, just like this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🖼️ Display and Collecting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe tall, narrow shape frames beautifully: a slim frame with a cream mat lets that warm yellow glow, and it looks right at home in a den, a study or a tobacco-themed corner. Pair it with other Berks County or Pennsylvania tobacco pieces, like cigar bands, box labels and trade cards, and you've got the start of a regional collection that tells the story of Pennsylvania's cigar towns.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e🎁 For anyone with roots in Boyertown, Berks County or the Pennsylvania German country, it's a real piece of home: a named local maker, a printed patent date and a price you can still read.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e❓ Questions Collectors Ask\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIs this a cigar box label?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo, it's a cigar bag, a printed paper pocket that held a couple of cigars sold over the counter. They came in perforated strips and were torn off as needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eHow old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1890s-1900s. The pocket design was patented February 1, 1898, which is printed on the back, so it's no earlier than that, and the patented stock fits the turn of the century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWho was D.S. Erb?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDavid S. Erb founded his Boyertown, Pennsylvania cigar business in 1864. The company made the Castle Hall brand and was still in business into the 1930s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWas Acme Cubana made with Cuban tobacco?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name is the Cuban part for sure. In the 1890s American makers used Cuban-sounding names across the board, whatever leaf was inside, so the name was doing the selling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat condition is it in?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNew old stock, unused, with little to no wear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-vintage-white-orchid-embossed-cigar-label-bonneauville-pa-1900s-1920s\"\u003eAntique 1900s-1920s White Orchid Cigar Box Label 🚬 Embossed Gold Border, Golden's Bonneauville PA Chromolithograph Tobacco Advertising\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-vintage-large-elsie-cigar-label-1900s-1920s-cute-victorian-child\"\u003eAntique Large Elsie Cigar Label 1900s - 1920s 🚬 Cute Victorian Child!\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-vintage-1900s-1920s-cranes-imported-embossed-cigar-label\"\u003eAntique Crane's Imported Embossed Cigar Label 🚬 Indianapolis, IN 1900s - 1920s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40866715762853,"sku":"VAG-7062421536933","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4123897485_4tdm.jpg?v=1785355053","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1890s-1900s-acme-cubana-cigar-bag-label-d-s-erb-boyertown-pa","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}