Find many varieties of an authentic wood cigar box available at 1stDibs. Frequently made of
wood,
metal and
silver, every wood cigar box was constructed with great care. If you’re shopping for a wood cigar box, we have 95 options in-stock, while there are 6 modern editions to choose from as well. Whether you’re looking for an older or newer wood cigar box, there are earlier versions available from the 19th Century and newer variations made as recently as the 21st Century. A wood cigar box made by
Art Deco designers — as well as those associated with
Mid-Century Modern — is very popular. A well-made wood cigar box has long been a part of the offerings for many furniture designers and manufacturers, but those produced by
Albert Feinauer,
Barbour Silver Co. and
Hermès are consistently popular. You’ll find that an occasional wood cigar box may be too large for some spaces — a variety of smaller editions, measuring 3.23 across, are available at 1stDibs.
Cigars were not always packaged in what we now know as the antique cigar boxes and humidors that have over time become eye-catching decorative objects as well as collector’s items.
Outside the United States, cigar boxes are said to have originated in the 1840s when a German businessman, Hermann Dietrich Upmann of H. Upmann Cigars, bought a cigar factory and opened a bank in Havana, Cuba. Upmann reportedly handed out cedar cigar boxes branded with advertising for the bank as gifts to his banking clients. In the early 1860s, after years of cigars being shipped in big crates or barrels, cigar boxes became a requirement when the United States passed a law that mandated the use of boxes for tobacco producers, which was part of a broader effort to regulate the tobacco industry and generate revenue for the war effort. Humidors, which are moisture-controlled storage boxes that allow a cigar enthusiast to store, organize and preserve a larger collection of cigars, were very popular accessories during the early 1900s onward.
As the use of cigar boxes and humidors became widespread, all kinds of options materialized over the years, with particularly vibrant editions of these decorative objects emerging during the Art Nouveau, mid-century modern and other eras. Visionary designers like Isamu Noguchi popularized the idea of tobacco accessories as art with projects such as his decorative ashtrays.
Today, not unlike antique and vintage ashtrays, cigar boxes are more than practical objects. In fact, there are many uses for an old cigar box even after the cigars are gone. They can be used as planters, tissue boxes or can support your long-delayed effort to organize your sewing and craft supplies. During the Great Depression, an emptied cigar box — perhaps a walnut Art Deco-style cigar box with inlays in bronze and hand-carved decorative geometric patterns adorning its exterior — was occasionally repurposed as a jewelry box.
Antique and vintage cigar boxes — made of wood, metal or other materials — are valuable treasures in some corners of the collecting world, and in your home, they’re exquisite desk ornaments and colorful flourishes to add to your bookcase or mantel. On 1stDibs, find a variety of antique and vintage cigar boxes and other decorative boxes today.