The Cigarette Addiction  
For many, depending upon your point of view and how warped your sense of humor, the launch of Death brand cigarettes in the mid 1980s marked either a pinnacle or new low point in the history of product branding.  With it’s stark skull and crossbones motif and a packet message that read along the lines of, “If you don’t smoke, don’t start.  If you smoke, give up.  If you can’t give up, smoke Death!” it was certainly memorable.

For many people, cigarette packets and other smoking related paraphernalia hold a special place in their affections.  Alt-Collector tracked down one such aficionado Tom Carter, who’s personal collection now numbers over 7,700 different packs, and asked how he embarked upon this particular collecting trail.

“I started collecting cigarette packets when I was 11”, Tom recounts.  “I was in Cub Scouts at the time, and one of the badge requirements was to start a collection.  I thought about the usual, you know, stamps or coins, but I really wanted to try something different and unusual.  Both of my parents smoked, and I noticed that they changed brands quite frequently.  Then it hit me – why not cigarette packs?  All the packs had such different designs, and I thought I’d found something both interesting and pretty unique.  So I started my collection with four or five different US packs and one from Mexico, I got my badge, and I’ve never looked back!” 

Smells Like Team Spirit 
Tom’s favourite pack is a special edition of the Sun brand from South Korea that was specially produced to commemorate the 1979 Team Spirit military exercise between the US and South Korean armed forces.  “I was stationed with the USAF in South Korea and took part in the exercise”, says Tom.  “At the end of it, the South Korean government gave all the US personnel a special pack as a token of their appreciation.”   

Other favourites include the Go To Hell brand (“a message for the smoking critics”) and the special edition packs regularly issued by Camel (Tastes of the Exotic), Parliament (American Scenes), Winston (Motor Racing) and others.  These are usually only available overseas, since the US government clampdown on collector’s packs to try to discourage smoking. 

The Internet to the Rescue - Again
Tom took his foreign posting as an opportunity to add to his growing collection, but had still only amassed a few hundred different packs by 1996.  And then, like many other collectors, he discovered the power of the Internet and its ability to bring like-minded people together.  “For a long time I thought I was alone, that no-one else in the world had been bitten by my bug.  Then I met a fellow kindred spirit on the net, a collector called Herbert from Austria, and I realized that I wasn’t!  Herbert told me how to trade with other collectors and my collection has exploded from 220 packs to over 7,700 in just a few years!”

And then there’s the Cigarette Pack Collectors Association (CPCA), formed in 1976 by Richard Elliott, which Tom joined in 1997.  The CPCA now has over 250 members, all interested in various aspects of tobacco related collecting, from obsolete packs to advertising.  There is a very good rapport between all the on-line collectors, though Tom has been fleeced on a few occasions.  “It’s unfortunate, but it happens from time to time”, Tom admits.  “Now, I usually check with other collectors before trading with someone I don’t know.”

Tips for the new collector
Tom is eager to recommend his hobby.  “There are so many different brands and designs to collect that it’s never dull.  Trading with other collectors from all over the world is always surprising – you just never know what you are going to get.”

But such diversity brings it’s own problems.  Alt-Collector has learnt of many collectors with tens of thousands of different packs, and several with over 100,000.  Tom has, sensibly, set his collecting goals a little lower and has an ambition to find at least one pack from every country in the world.  He has packs from 129 countries so far, but many African and Middle Eastern countries have eluded him.

His advice for new collectors is to keep it simple at the start.  “Start with the current packs”, he suggests, “which are readily available.  That way you can make a nice collection quite quickly.  Build up a large, and I mean large, trading stock and then try some trades – there are plenty of people out there ready to trade with newcomers.  Later, if you want to take it further, you could expand to the older packs – pre WWII is considered the real vintage era for packs - but that can get quite expensive and slow going at times.  I may well turn to them at some point in the future, some of them are really beautiful to behold, but at the moment I’m happy with the goals I’ve set myself”

Parting shot
We get around to the obvious question.  “Yes, I’m a smoker, but I know of many other collectors who haven’t smoked a cigarette in their lives.  My favorite brand, used to be Montclaire ultra lights, because they were cheap, but now I’ll smoke pretty much anything that comes along!  Some are really terrible – Go To Hell is one of the worst and there’s a Mexican brand called Delicados that’s pretty bad too”.

All power to you, Tom – don’t quit!  

 @ Alt Stuff 

Alt-Collector have selected a range books for any one interested in cigarette related collecting. These call all be found in the Alt-Stuff shop courtesy of Amazon.com.

Selected Cigarette Packet links 

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If you would like to nominate your own collection for an Alt-Collector feature, contact editor@alt-collector.com.  

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