Tobacciana

Tobacciana is a term that is used to describe antique and vintage tobacco collectibles or smokers collectibles. This collectors field began after Tobacco was brought to Europe during the 1600s. The imported tobacco plants that they got from the Native Americans who traded it to the settlers and colonists. The first method of smoking began with smoking pipes (or peace pipes) that the Native Americans made. Some of these are extremely valuable and they are usually made of wood, bone and clay. Some were made of metal back then as well. One of the most valuable tobacco pipes are made out of meerschaum, which is a made from a rare white stone.

Later on, Cigars became popular, especially down south in Central America and South America. These came with collectible cigar accessories such as cigar boxes, cigar cutters, humidors and cigar lighters. There are many other items that make up collectible tobacciana and came along with cigars.

Later on, a new tobacco product came out called Cigarettes. These were smaller and thinner than Cigars and first became popular in the Crimean War. During this war, they would manually roll up their pipe tobacco in whatever decent paper they could find, which would be newsprint. The tobacciana collectibles that came along with cigarettes were plenty, including tobacco tins, tobacco cards, vintage signs and advertising, ashtrays, matchbooks and lighters. The Camel is one of the most famous cigarette companies that still exist today. They are famous for their Joe Camel character. Another iconic logo and brand is the Zig Zag's Zouave. Before the lighter was invented, detailed match holders or match safe were used.

Tobacciana collectors are most interested in the accessories and tools involved with smoking, not the tobacco and smoking itself. Cigarette lighters are a major collectible all by itself. Zippo is highly collectible and is basically a larger, re-fillable, high quality lighter with interesting designs and depictions on them. Ronson and Dunhill are brands that make high quality lighters as well. There are tons of different lighters involving various materials, figures and more - although the general design has not changed much from the 1900s throughout the 20th century. Like with all collectibles, condition and rarity are a big factor in determining values for tobacciana items.