Hello! I am currently doing some research concerning early tobacco containers and could use some help.

In the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, the title object is described like so.

"At two o'clock yesterday afternoon a small packet, wrapped in brown paper, was handed in by the postman. A cardboard box was inside, which was filled with coarse salt."

"The box is a half-pound box of honeydew tobacco and does not help us in any way."

"Lestrade went in and brought out a yellow cardboard box, with a piece of brown paper and some string."

"The box is a yellow, half-pound honeydew box, with nothing distinctive save two thumb marks at the left bottom corner."

Most depictions of this box are big ol' brown boxes, like most people would think of when imagining a cardboard box. I decided to see if I could find examples of a box like that described. Small, half-pound, yellow, cardboard, honeydew tobacco box with corners. I suspect that they are referring to a box that held loose tobacco, and not cigarettes or cigars. Also, while a date isn't given in the story, estimated dates range from 1882 to 1888.

I've found a few yellow honeydew tobacco brands that I think are from around that era, most prominently W.D. & H.O. Wills' Gold Flake Honey Dew. However, I still have some questions. I've done a fair amount of digging already, but would appreciate some help, even if it's in recommendations for further sources.

There seem to be very few cardboard tobacco boxes around today, period. At first I assumed that this was due to their flimsiness, in comparison to tins (and I still believe that's a factor). But everything I've read seems to suggest that tins were already the predominant container at that time, which makes me question just how widespread cardboard tobacco boxes were by then. I did see an article written in 1895 that may have cleared it up. It stated that since postage had to be affixed to any containers being shipped, tobacco companies were using cardboard boxes to enclose tins in order to keep the tins pristine. So, at what time did tins replace cardboard, if cardboard was even in the picture at all? And if cardboard was still being used in the 1880s, for what purposes?

Also, I'm having trouble nailing down dates. I bought a box for Compass Brand Golden Flaked Honey Dew, manufactured by Stephen Mitchell and son, that almost fits the description (it's a quarter-pound, so the size is off). Some of their boxes state that they won a prize at the 1889 Paris exhibition, but I can't determine if that relates to their Honey Dew brand specifically, or if the tobacco was around before that date. If there were any way I could get my hands on some advertisements from the 1880s to see what brands of honey dew tobacco were available, be it Mitchell, Wills or otherwise, that would be great. Or is there a better way of narrowing it down?

Thank you in advance for any help that you can provide!

 Hi Sumatra,

Will try and answer some of your questions. Of the 60 Arthur Conan Doyle stories, (who was also a pipe smoker) Holmes smokes a pipe in 54 of them and is recorded as liking "Shag" tobacco course-cut and with a pungent smell. He is also known to smoke different tobacco's at different times of the day and like most pipe smokers of the period would have purchased from regular supplier which would have been delivered wrapped in paper and the transferred to his tobacco jar/humidor. (See The Ultimate Pipe Book by Richard Hacker for more info).

Manufactures of tobacco, supplied retail outlets with loose tobacco in cardboard boxes, which the retailor would transfer to his storage jars in the shop. (See photo's of Singleton and Cole supplied boxes) These were from 1908 catalogue and continued to early 1920s.

Most manufacturers would have exhibited at the big shows particularly if they wanted to push a new brand and would record their medals on tins and boxes. 

"Honeydew" was a particular blend of tobacco which most manufacturers produced all with a slight variance in taste. Your Mitchell's tin was there "Compass" brand of honeydew.  

Also, publication "Tobacco Container's & Accessories by By Gage & Marsh, might help with your research.

bacco

Absolutely love seeing those images from the S&C catalogue,
thanks Bacco!
I love the sound of Heavy Dragoon, but my actual preference would've been Rich Dark Flake undoubtedly as it is my favorite style blend taste.

As for the Sherlockian conundrum, it may be impossible to accurately figure, but it's always fun to hunt and usually much interesting stuff gets picked up along the pathway.

I will wildly speculate that since the sailor who sent the box was in Belfast that it may have been local tobacco from there, perhaps?

Gallaher is best known for the Rich Dark Honeydew sort (heavily steam-pressed and nearly black) but they most likely also made the Golden variety as well. Although from a much later time period, a good friend in Ireland sent along a cardboard box of some of their cut plug, so even though packaging technologies had advanced, it seems that the cardboard still kept a place especially for bulk amounts, at least that seems to be the case with the Irish market,
here's the box:

Here's a Honeydew blend from Murray, but again, it is from a later period and it is a tin:

But there were other local makers active at the time too, as well as independent tobacconists with their own "house brands", as Bacco mentioned.

This directory of the tobacco trade in Great Britain and Ireland from 1888 gives a sense of just how many different manufacturers were engaged in the trade at the time:

archive.org/stream/b28082916#page/n0/mode/2up

From a little later,
here's the full year of the monthly Tobacco trade journal from 1896, which offers much insight, brand listings, adverts, and such...

books.google.com/books

Getting back on topic of packaging, the most ingenious invention came about in 1885, a patent design by William Blizzard Williamson --- a perfectly airtight tin suitable for keepsafe transit all across the farflung Empire -

"'This Patent Tin being perfectly air-tight is specially suitable for preserving Tobacco in fine condition in any climate'."
...is what Wills would say, who owned the patent a good few years before the design came into more general and widespread use,
this style of tin is generally known today amongst collectors as a "cutter top" or "knife lid".

In my opinion, it is the best tin design ever made and has yet to be topped.

I've smoked a good handful of those tins that I was lucky to find unopened, from the 1930's/40's/50's --- it always amazes me how well-preserved the baccy is after all those years, still moist and fragrant in most cases, it only turns to mummydust if rust pinholes penetrate and compromise the vaccuum,
and it's a wonderful blissful experience to open them...

Apologies for the rambling...

Here's another resource that's fun to look through, and it ties in with Bacco's lovely catalogue images.
It's a supplemental illustrated price list by Singleton & Cole from 1897,and although the scan blurs at the spine, causing some frustration, it's a wonderful thing to browse through...

archive.org/stream/b19974760M0938#page/n305/mode/2up

.

 Hi Bevand,

Glad you managed to get a copy of "Tobacco Container's & Accessories" and such a cheap price as well. Most of my manufacturers price lists have been obtained via Antique Fairs and from other collectors. Found my "Tobacco" 1888 at a book fair and "Cope's" found on line but both expensive. My S&C 1914 catalogue via another collector which was not cheap. However, they are great source for identifying and dating brands and company logo's.

Hi philofumo,

I enjoyed browsing that S & C 1897 catalogue and the range of items including shop fittings was tremendous. Have posted a few more pictures:

bacco