Life — January 25, 1917 — page 2: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page is primarily a **tobacco advertisement** for Velvet pipe tobacco by Liggett & Myers, not political satire. The ad emphasizes that aging tobacco improves its quality—a key selling point for the product. The illustration shows two gentlemen in formal dress examining or discussing the tobacco product. The accompanying poem at top ("Velvet Joe") uses nostalgic language about friendship and time's passage to create emotional appeal. The advertisement claims Velvet uses "two years' natural aging of the choicest Kentucky Burley tobacco," positioning aging as the product's distinguishing feature. The price is listed as "10¢ Tins" or "One Pound Glass Humidors." This reflects early 20th-century advertising conventions: using aspirational masculine imagery and poetic language to market consumer goods.