Smoke 3000 cigars and look what you could get!

[orpington]

I posted this on other more specific forums, but it is worth repeating on a more generalized forum.

From circa 1900 to 1906, you could save tags from cigars, two cigars to a tag, and redeem for various household items, including a Colt Lightning Model 1877 revolver with a 4 1/2” barrel and blued finish. A copy of the 72 page catalogue dating from 1902 is pictured. Redeem 1500 tags, or, smoke 3000 cigars, and this revolver is yours. Later editions of the catalogue demonstrate that inflation was prevalent, as in later years, it required 1800 tags, or 3600 cigars, to redeem for a Colt 1877 revolver.

Also pictured is a Colt 1877 revolver in the proper configuration dating from 1904; I await the Colt factory letter that hopefully shows this revolver shipped to a tobacco company.

 

[whughett]

I can picture gun clubs, social clubs ect running fund raisers for just such an item to auction off.
Those also appear to be small cigars which a heavy smoker would go thru several in a day. At its peak I was a two + pack a day man in cigarettes.

 

[chicharrones]

Super cool historical info there and super cool revolver.

I can't help but think that if I smoked that many cigars in a short enough time frame to win a gun, I might be using that gun on myself to "cure" my self-inflicted health problems.

 

[Bazoo]

That's pretty neat, thanks for sharing. I imagine a bar owner might accumulate enough to get a colt in a reasonable time period.

 

[Pat Riot]

That’s some cool history I did not know. Thank you @orpington

I used to smoke cigarettes, but only liked very few cigars. It would take me quite a while to get enough cigar tags for a revolver. I think in all my adult life I may have accumulated enough tags to get a cheap derringer or something.

 

[bangswitch]

My Dad smoked Raleigh cigarettes for many years, saved the coupons from every pack. The only thing of any note I remember him getting was lung cancer. Unfortunately, the coupons weren't redeemable for cancer insurance.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I got a Kool sail skiff when I was 10 by hanging out at the barbershop digging cigarette wrappers out of the trash. It wasn’t nearly as cool as the magazine picture made it look but at 10 it might as well have been the Queen Mary.

 

[.38 Special]

Funny, my favorite cigar is a mid-level Punch. At local tobacco shop prices, that Colt would cost me about 35 grand - though it would have been an enjoyable ten years.