Life, 1922-08-24 · page 36 of 36
Life — August 24, 1922 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire** — it's a straightforward **tobacco advertisement** from 1922 by Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. for Velvet pipe tobacco. The page features a portrait photograph of a man (identity unclear from the image alone) positioned to suggest authority or expertise. The ad's argument centers on Velvet's competitive advantage: two-year aging in wooden hogsheads, which allegedly mellows the tobacco by removing "bite and harshness." The advertising claim that Velvet is "the fastest growing brand" suggests competitive positioning in the pipe tobacco market. The emphasis on aging and natural improvement reflects early 20th-century marketing appeals to quality and tradition. This represents pre-regulation tobacco advertising, when health claims and product benefits could be stated without modern restrictions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Here's the reason why- EN wno know good pipe tobacco are ap- pealed to by Velvet’s aged- in-the-wood mellowness. Right after the Kentucky Burley heart leaf is sun- ripened, it is packed inside of wooden hogsheadstoage slowly for two full years. When we take the tobacco out, 7s different. Nature has improved it. Time has mellowed it. All the bite and harshness have evaporated. And the on/y way to make pipe tobacco so mild and mellow is by two years’ ageing in the wood. It is significant that Velvet isthe fastest growing brand. Liccerr & Myers Tosacco Co. the aged in the wood pipe fohacco MILD and ©1922 comicbooks.com