Life, 1925-09-24 · page 27 of 41
Life — September 24, 1925 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **tobacco advertisement**, not a cartoon or satire. It promotes Hudson's Bay Company pipe tobacco through Hargraft & Sons. The ad uses the company's historical prestige as its selling point: Hudson's Bay Company, founded in 1670, is described as "the world's oldest company" whose reputation guarantees quality. The engraving of the Nonsuch ship references the company's 1668 origins in the fur trade. The advertisement claims their tobacco is aged longer than competitors, sprayed with honey and rum, and available in three varieties: Imperial Mixture, Cut Plug, and Fort Garry. For modern readers: this reflects early 20th-century advertising that unabashedly promoted smoking as "luxurious" without health warnings. The appeal to historical tradition and craftsmanship—aging tobacco for years—mirrors modern premium product marketing, though the product itself (pipe tobacco) is now largely obsolete.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
: 25 H A R GRAF T A:T. BLomquisT The World’s Oldest Company Presents the World’s Finest Tobaccos Frankly speaking, Hudson's Bay Company pipe tobaccos are the finest that can be produced. They are guarded by the reputation of the world’s oldest company, whose creed and code since 1670 has been quality. The cream of the tobacco crops of four successive years is aged for four more years... longer than any tobacco known to us. It is sprayed with honey, rum—and skill. If words could only convey its flavor and fragrance, this paragraph would send you eager!y to your nearest tobac- conist fora package, And if he couldn't supply you,a request to Hargraft & Sons would bring it to you by the returning mail, Don't postpone the most luxurious pipe smoking you have ever known! PB T& SONS Hudsons Company Ses =I IMPERIAL MIXTURE CUT PLUG Besos FORT GARRY Rich and mellow Sww0et and mild Cotcmere fn Fill-flavored, cool The weyage of the Nenss in 1668—an early chapser in the history of the great Hudsen's Bay Til des deniii is sign identifies = comicbooks.com