Carter Hall - History?

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shortyeastcoast

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 28, 2013
188
0
A quick web/forums search came up pretty empty.
Anyone know the history of my beloved Carter Hall? This stuff is just brilliant.

 

papipeguy

Lifer
Jul 31, 2010
15,778
35
Bethlehem, Pa.
Here's the site for John Middleton, Inc. They make Carter Hall and have been around since the 1850's.
http://www.johnmiddletonco.com/en/cms/Home/default.aspx

 

wilson

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 17, 2013
719
1
I believe that Carter Hall was the most popular OTC in the new world when Sir Walter Raleigh landed. I have no references, but I'm pretty sure that this is so.

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
60,850
553,793
Wilson: you're wrong. There's cave paintings where men with beards are smoking Carter Hall.

 

ravkesef

Lifer
Aug 10, 2010
2,912
9,179
81
Cheshire, CT
Not only do the cave paintings depict them smoking Carter Hall, but the pipes are of relatively sophisticated design. The task before us is to discover the wood they used, as it may be a suitable replacement for briar.

 

judcole

Lifer
Sep 14, 2011
7,149
32,919
Detroit
Middleton didn't develop CH - they acquired it in the 1980's. A lot of the older blends were developed by companies that no longer exist. Middleton is now a subsidiary of Altria Group. John Middleton
I seem to remember reading somewhere that CH dates to the early 1950s. I can't find where I stumbled upon that. I think it was in something that John Patton posted on another forum that I no longer frequent.

 

phred

Lifer
Dec 11, 2012
1,754
4
I have to admit - every time you guys talk about Carter Hall, I think of Hawkman... :D

 

wilson

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 17, 2013
719
1
Carter Hall seems to have been originally produced by R J Reynolds. In 1987, Reynolds sold off its pipe tobaccos. Middleton purchased the brand:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19870405&id=I7cwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=j_sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4080,1829222
(Scroll down to the Prince Albert in a Can article.)
It appears that the trademark was filed in 1956 and registered in 1957

http://trademarks.justia.com/720/17/carter-hall-72017756.html
The oldest newspaper ads for Carter Hall that I could find were from the mid 50's, for example:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19561220&id=TwUwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xwAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1163,6498530
This doesn't prove much, except that my research skills are limited. However, one readily finds much older ads for Prince Albert, which came to market in 1907. For example, this newspaper ad from 1916:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1734&dat=19160712&id=23QbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AlEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6272,6049550
The lack of older Carter Hall ads is consistent with filing the trademark in 1956, but does not conclusively prove that it was not in production before that time.

 

papipeguy

Lifer
Jul 31, 2010
15,778
35
Bethlehem, Pa.
Is it possible that American Tobacco Co. made the original CH? I remember early in my career that I used to get orders from American for yellow iron oxide to color the filter tips on cigarettes. The buyer used to send me pouches of CH because he knew I was a pipe smoker. It was about 40 years ago so my memory is very vague.

 

wilson

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 17, 2013
719
1
Since Reynolds and American were one company, before they were broken up in an anti-trust action in 1907, I had thought to search for Carter Hall and American Tobacco, but came up completely empty. Which, again, is not definitive proof.
I also looked for antique or vintage tins, but all of the images I saw (and I did not look through every one, just a few that looked like they might be "old") all had the Reynolds name and their address with a 5 digit zip, which means they are after about 1963.
Clearly, I have spent too much time on this.
It is somewhat surprising that there is virtually no history of Carter Hall around. Except, of course, the paintings from Altamira -- unfortunately, these are not as clear as jiminks would lead us to believe!
Honestly, if Carter Hall does date from only the 1950's, it surprises me. I would have guessed that it was around far longer than that. Seems that Jud is correct on this one.

 

jguss

Lifer
Jul 7, 2013
2,412
6,215
Great research, Wilson, and spot on. From what I can tell Carter Hall was indeed originated by R J Reynolds, and introduced in late 1956. I found an ad from September 27 of that year offering Carter Hall and saying:
Carter Hall Tobacco Pocket Pouch

For pipe or cigarette smoker. It's new.
it was priced, by the way, at $0.19

 
May 31, 2012
4,295
34
Great work Wilson!

:puffpipe:

Your deductions are correct.
bjf78d00.png


:

:

A later memo states that production started August 13, 1956 - very rarely do we have an actual birthdate!

- now we can have Aug. 13 as Carter Hall day!

:

:

hjf78d00.png

...a little later, nationwide.
ptf06e00.png


 
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