Pipe Tobacco Tin Art

james80 · Nov 25, 2013

Reviewing a post yesterday, I noticed the artwork on the new Gaslight tin. It captured my imagination. It also got me thinking about the subject of tin art. Now the more cynical may think it to be a marketing ploy and, to much an extent, it is. That being said, we all market to some degree, whether it is ourselves, our businesses etc.
So what is your favourite tin art and why? For me, the Dunhill Early Morning Pipe tin art captured my imagination in my formative years. The art just seemed to capture the mood. I also like Nightcap for the same reason. Both these works need no words, you know what they are attempting to say to you.

dryseason91 · Nov 25, 2013

Dunhill does fine art - I'd add Elizabethan to the list. Larsen, MacBaren, Peterson, Esoterica all look great.

eaglerico · Nov 25, 2013

I really like the tin art on the seasonl Peterson tins. I am collecting them from different years and will eventually from the lids from them to hang up in the work shop as home made pipe art.

cosmicfolklore · Nov 25, 2013

Even though I didn't become a big fan of the Frog Morton tobaccos, I did like the tin (can) art. And, I kept the cans, but I hate that the labels become so deteriorated. It's like someone printed them out on a cheap laptop printer, and every time someone touches it, it comes off a little bit more. I would love to have the designs hanging on the wall in some way.

shayde · Nov 25, 2013

I agree I would love to have Frog Morton on the Town's tin art framed and hanging on my wall!

plateauguy · Nov 25, 2013

I really don't like Squadron Leader, but the tin art is great and so the tin is displayed in my cabinet. I also love to collect the old stuff.

msandoval858 · Nov 25, 2013

I've always been a fan of the creative label art that C&D uses on their tins.

fitzy · Nov 25, 2013

I'm with Eaglerico on this one. I collect all the Peterson seasonal tins. I display them on a shelf in my library.

jthomas04 · Nov 25, 2013

G.L. Pease's Old London Series of blends have some great art work. Navigator, Sextant, Lagonda, and yes, Gaslight are just a few.

jah76 · Nov 25, 2013

I actually think the Sutliff Tin art completes a nice package with the black labels and gold tops. Bosphorus Cruise springs immediately to mind.
Rattray's Red Rapparee also is catchy because of the contrast of colors IMO.

mso489 · Nov 25, 2013

I'd be amazed if there hasn't been a gallery show of pipe tin (and can and pouch) art, with the wrappers or labels

flattened out and framed. If there hasn't been, there surely should be. I find some of the Cornell-Diehl, G.L. Pease,

McClelland, and other tobacco blenders art striking and far above most commercial package design. Even the old

over-the-counter brands have some classic work. That Granger pointer dog is an icon of Americana. This art would

make a perfect framed collection for pipe smokers anywhere. Matted up and nicely framed (don't upstage the art

with too much frame) they would be perfection.

gtclark · Nov 25, 2013

I think it's amazing how tin art and tobacco names can influence one's perception of a particular blend. I've purchased a few tobaccos based upon the tin or the name alone, with mixed results. I'm reminded of Mark Twain's essay about switching the bands on cigars, and seeing his friends praise the cheap cigars with expensive bands, and criticize the expensive cigars with cheap bands as un-smokeable. I'm not saying a great tin can cover for terrible tobacco, but a great tin can add a certain mystique beyond the actual characteristics of the tobacco inside.
Case in point: C&D's "Haunted Bookshop". I've never seen burley blends compared to musty old books before, but the name seems to evoke these images in the smoker's mind. I'd wager if the blend had a different name, you would not see reviewers equating the scent and flavor of the tobacco to dusty, old books.

jeff394 · Nov 25, 2013

I bought a tin of Dan Tobacco Midnight Ride (against my better judgement) solely for its tin art. I'm not a fan of perique and knew I wouldn't be crazy for the tobacco, but I still kept the tin. Gave the tobacco away. I like the tin art of the 2013 Peterson Christmas blend, but not enough to pull the trigger on a tin yet.

misterlowercase · Nov 25, 2013

I agree that GLP features some fine art, and the new Gaslight is sublime with that luminous blue phosphorescence.
With quite a few contemporary makers it seems tin art is of secondary importance, there's some really boring and plain examples out there.
It's hard to beat the old tins from the golden age of lithography, there were many more brands and blends around back then and they were all competing for the same market, they had to stand out on the shelf and grab your eyes...
...here's a few favorites from the old school:

peckinpahhombre · Nov 25, 2013

I'm with Jeff:

stbruno70 · Nov 25, 2013

Great images of tin art here - thanks for posting.

dochudson · Nov 25, 2013

james80 · Nov 26, 2013

Some fantastic pictures

petes03 · Nov 26, 2013

I've always been find of McClelland tin art. It's what first got me to buy some of their blends, I'm almost ashamed to say! Sometimes I'm guilty of judging books by their covers, but fortunately, I loved McC's from the first smoke, and they make up a good deal of my blends to this day!

Pipe Tobacco Tin Art

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