Life, 1923-12-06 · page 15 of 84
Life — December 6, 1923 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily an **advertisement**, not political satire. It's a 1920s-era tobacco company ad from The American Tobacco Co., promoting the "Humidor Sampler"—a mail-order assortment of 12 different pipe tobacco blends. The illustration at top shows men in what appears to be a **casual social setting**, likely meant to evoke camaraderie and masculine leisure. The ad uses appeals to connoisseurship, claiming these are the "world's finest smoking tobaccos" and suggesting pipe smokers are discerning gentlemen. The "10 days approval" offer and coupon-based marketing reflect early 20th-century direct mail tactics. There's no political commentary—this is straightforward commercial messaging targeting pipe-smoking men as an aspirational consumer demographic.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Accomplete assortment of the world’s finesb smoking tobaccos — sent to any smoker anywhere— on 10 days approval new idea for Pipe-Smokers: 12 famous tobaccos, packed in «handsome Humidor—shipped to you direct to help you find the soul-mate for ur pipe. a GUARANTEED BY Te Huarican Sobace Le OST men have written their John Hancocks on a lot of “dotted lines.” But, if you’re a pipe- smoker, we'll wager that you’ve ever signed a fairer, sweeter con- tract than the little coupon at the bottom of this page. Justa few strokes of your pen—and you can end your quest of years for perfect smoking tobacco—drawing lividends for life in unalloyed pipe- satisfaction. But we are getting ahead of our story, The average pipe - smoker is thegreatest little experi- menter in the world. He’s forever try- ing a “new one,” confi- dent that some day he’ll find the real affinity for his pipe. Knowing smokers as we do—and knowing tobaccos as we do—we felt that we'd be doing a friendly turn for everybody if we found a way to settle this question once and for all, to the satisfaction of every smoker. So we created the Humidor Sampler. Into a bright red lacquered humi- dor case, we have packed an assort- ment of twelve famous smoking tobaccos—covering the whole range of tobacco taste. To test these 12 tobaccos is to go the whole route in delightful pipe tobacco experience, trying out every good flavor and aroma known to pipe connoisseurs. There are myriads of different brands of smoking tobaccos on the market. But of them all, there are 12 distinctive blends which, in our opinion, stand in a class by them- selves for superlative individuality of flavor, aroma and smooth, sweet, even quality. These twelve decisive blends—the twelve “primary colors” of tobaccos —have been selected for the Humi- dor Sampler. When you have tried these twelve, you have tried the best; if your tobacco-ideal is to be found anywhere, it must be one of these, Ten-Day Approval Offer We are eager to send the Humidor assort- ment to any smoker, anywhere, on ten days’ approval. Send no money. Just sign and mail the coupon. That will bring you the Humidor assortment direct from our factories to your den, When the postman brings the package, deposit $1.50 with him, plus postage. If a ten-day try-out of these tobaccos doesn’t give you more real pipe pleasure than you've ever had before, besides revealing the one perfect tobacco for your taste—the cost is on us. Simply return the Humidor, and you'll get your $1.50 and the postage back pronto— and pleasantly. The coupon is your obedient servant; use it. Send No Money—Just Mail Coupon The American Tobacco Co., Inc. Marburg Branch, Dept 17, Baltimore, Md. Please send me, ——=—=—=—=S on 10 days’ ap- Co proval, one of SRE ie your Humidor —_——— Samplers of ae twelve different smoking tobaccos. 1 will pay postman $1.50 (plus postage) on receipt —with the understanding that if I am not satisfied I may return Humidor in 10 days and you agree to refund $1.50 and postage by return mail. Address Note:~If you expect to be out when post- man calls you may enclose $1.50 with coupon and Humidor will be sent to you postpaid. comicbooks.com