Starting tomorrow, I’m going to get the formal living room cleaned and rearranged for the Christmas decorations to come out. The ATF tree will make an appearance again, but it will have a few improvements over last year. The quest for more themed ornaments has led to a few interesting conversations in public, including a lament on why Macy’s would have a cowboy-themed tree and not sell any gun ornaments.
I have a ton of craft gear to make some more tobacco-themed ornaments. If anyone has suggestions for cool names or designs for retro-looking cigarette or cigar packages, please share here. I’m in desperate need of some inspiration. I’ve got lots of art deco and victorian type stickers and jewels in my little craft box.
One of my favorites is the pack of “Tarletons” that I made up. There was apparently a real brand of cigarette called Tareyton, but I didn’t find any of their ads that inspired me to copy their look. Instead, I thought of the Tarleton twins in Gone with the Wind. I mixed a blue shade of paint, pulled out my blue and silver jewel stickers, and created a very elegant & shiny box loosely based on their jackets & the feel of this scene:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUzNiY0FgVE[/youtube]
That got me thinking that I might turn to more movies for some cigarette name & design inspiration. Got any suggestions? I’ve debated something Red Dawn-related since that’s the ultimate gunnie movie and it seems like it should be represented on the ultimate gunnie tree.
Quentin Tarentino uses the fictitious “Red Apple” brand cigarettes in his movies…
Not sure what era you’re seeking, but Finck’s has some designs that date back to 1893.
http://www.finckcigarcompany.com/
The era I’m seeking is pretty and/or fun. :)
I’ve definitely found some good ones from the 70s, even though I think most of them are horrible. I love some of the turn of the century designs, even though some have been too complicated for me to recreate. This year, I have new tools (i.e. crafts supplies bought for couch cushion change at the end of last year) that should give me more options when inspiration hits.
Here you go. This Wiki has about as many cigarette labels as I’ve ever seen.
http://www.cigarettespedia.com/index.php/Main_Page
Thanks for both links, guys. This will be fun to get some ideas.
I believe you’re thinking of Tareyton. They had the famous “I’d rather fight than switch” commercials, which were of course heavily lampooned.
Sorry, yes, I did. I accidentally changed it in my original list of “inspiration” names and forgot that I did. :) Will fix.
I don’t have any interest in tobacco and alcohol, being a Latter-day saint, but for a long time I’ve been amused by “Porter Rockwell Beer”; it’s motto is something to the effect of “You shouldn’t be married to one beer.”
Yes, the beer is in reference to past Mormon polygamy–which is probably why I find it so amusing. Ironically, Porter Rockwell, though he lived in that era, only had one wife. Less ironical, though, is that Porter Rockwell was also known to be a heavy drinker. (The history of that is complicated.)
Unfortunately, I can’t find a link for that beer, and to the best of my knowledge, it’s local to Utah.
Have you tried glass cigar tubes? I’m sure you could fit some Christmas lights in there.
How about miniature camels (the ones designed to go with Nativity scenes)? You could have them puffing on little cigarrettes!
You could use real smokes, put a red LED or Christmas light in the end (after removing some tabacco)…might want to remove the filter to make room for wires…