1910 RJR Tobacco Pouch ...Intact!

[hawke]

After seeing the response of the 1954 Prince Albert Tins post I remembered I had a RJR Pouch as well. I took some pics of it as well to display here. Only one I have so it will stay as is on display with my Scripto Vu-Lighter Collection however its inspiring to see the comments such piece of history conjure up.

So, without further delay... :puffpipe:

 

[chiefbroom]

So what is the vintage? 1910? Or does that signify something else?

 

[papipeguy]

Very cool; and in my book that's vintage. It's probably a burley blend and not really special taste wise. Keep it as it is and a great piece of history.

 

[deuce26]

Very interesting. Where did you get it?

 

[chiefbroom]

I took a history course in the 70s that had William E. Leuchtenburg's Perils of Prosperity: 1914-32 (Chicago, 1958) on its required reading list. Great book! The first two paragraphs are set out in italics below. They made a powerful point that sticks with me still.
I posted in another thread about the WWII vet who owned an estate pipe I picked up on eBay. There was some discussion about the passing of that generation. I think every generation is indelibly marked by the living memory that was in existence during its formative years. I know a man ('43-68 Marine veteran of WWII, Korea, & Vietnam) who grew up on a farm outside of Nashville and has memories of sitting on the knee of a grandmother who had memories of being a young girl when Union troops rode into her yard and requisitioned food and horses. When I was in 8th grade, I blew taps at funerals organized by the VFW for WWI veterans. I remember riding in the backseats of cars to small-town and country cemeteries in NC Kansas and SC Nebraska listening to old men grow young telling stories of girls they met in France during the War. Of course, at the time I didn't think much about it.
In 1914 [i.e., 1910 plus four] the United State was not so far from the early years of the republic. There were still men living whose fathers had known Jefferson and John Adams and been acquainted with Longfellow. In prairie towns women remembered the day Ralph Waldo Emerson had alighted from the train to talk to the local Chautauqua. There were thousands of men still alive who had fought with Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville or had stood with George Thomas at Chickamauga, even a few veterans who had marched with Winfield Scott on the Halls of Montezuma. A small company of loyal Democrats who voted for Woodrow Wilson in 1912 had cast their first votes for Martin Van Buren or James K. Polk. Negroes walked the streets of Savannah and Charleston who had been born in slavery.
In railroad towns strung along the Burlington or the Great Northern, men sat in the sun who had fought the Nez Percés or the Sioux, who had scouted for Kit Carson and traded with Jim Bridger. In the Nevada hills, men with picks and burros still prospected for gold and silver; the last great strike had been made just eleven years before. Much of the land west of the Missouri was yet to be homesteaded. Arizona and New Mexico had been states for only two years. On the edges of modern, prosperous western towns, tribes of Indians still pitched their tents.

 

[hawke]

deuce26, Im not real sure but I suspect I got it with a "lot of lighters" on ebay. I repair and collect Scripto Vu Lighters. Ive written a couple eBooks on them (Repairing and Dating)but not enough posts yet to advertise, LOL. They sell consistently. I love the old lighters by Scripto and have a box full for parts and repairing. They dated from 1955 to 1976-1977. I could go on and on about them and their history...
I bought the Prince Albert tins in a box and sold some and just put the rest in the corner of my Man Cave. Upon starting pipe smoking they recently got my attention as did the 1910 RJR pouch. I never even considered smoking any of it! It would be quite stale was my thinking. Now Im intrigued and plan on hydrating a tin of the PA.
chiefbroom, Dating of the RJR: I think this quoted info below on cigarette tobacco tax stamps applies to pipe tobacco as well back in those periods. Before 1932 they used the exact year the tobacco was packaged I believe.

For the most common packs after 1932, dating is fairly easy until 1960.

From 1932 to 1955, a 1" wide DeWitt Clinton Internal Revenue tax stamp was used across the top of the pack. Dating started at 1932 with series 102, and went up to 1955 with the 1" series 125.

From 1956-59, the 3/4" series 125 DeWitt Clinton tax stamp was used.

From 1960-67, there were no federal tax stamps, nor were there any health warnings.

 

[anglesey]

I know what you mean chief, it's odd when you take time to consider. There's this picture of a young Edward VIII sitting on Victoria's knee that always gets me, a woman who was born during the era of George III and just after the defeat of Napoleon, cradling a man who would one day witness man landing on the moon.
As for the tobacco, I'm glad I don't own it, because I know curiosity would get to me, and I would smoke it.

 

[cortezattic]

According to the records at Ellis Island, that was about the time my grandfather arrived in this country.

Apparently immigrants had to declare how much cash they had in their possession. He came here with $25 in his pocket.

I remember Gramps rolling his own from a canvas bag -- Bull Durham. The version I tried in the late 60's wasn't

bad for bone dry tobacco.
Great pix, Hawke. Nice post Chief. :clap:

 

[mso489]

I trained with the Veterans Administration in Winston-Salem in the waning days of the tobacco

manufacturing there. Winston-Salem and Durham were two big tobacco cities. The smell of

leaf hung over the place, kind of sweet and kind of smokey. That was about 1974.

 

[apatim]

Nice piece of history! I did undergrad in Winston-Salem in the '70s and remember the smell of tobacco in the air. It was not a pleasant odor, though.

 

[hawke]

1910 in History:

February 8 – William D. Boyce founds the Boy Scouts of America.

March 8 – In France Raymonde de Laroche is awarded pilot's license #36 by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, becoming the first woman authorized to fly an airplane.

March 10 – Slavery in China, which has existed since the Shang dynasty, is now illegal.

March 18 – The first filmed version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein comes out. Considered to be the first horror movie, it stars actor Charles Ogle as the monster.

April 20 – Comet Halley is visible from Earth. It won't be seen again until 1986.

May 6 – George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.

May 12 – Second NAACP meeting is held in New York.

May 18 – The earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.

October – First publication of infrared photographs, by Professor Robert Williams Wood in the Royal Photographic Society's journal.

November 7 – The first air flight for the purpose of delivering commercial freight takes place in the United States of America. The flight, made by Wright Brothers pilot Philip Parmalee between Dayton, Ohio and Columbus, Ohio.

November 20 – Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero proclaims the elections of 1910 null and void, and calls for an armed revolution at 6 p.m. against the illegitimate presidency/dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz.

Late December – A form of pneumonic plague spreads through northeastern China, killing more than 40,000.

Henry Ford sells 10,000 automobiles.