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Bull Durham
tobacco
the 'cheapest luxury'
by Delbert Trew |
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Excerpts
from the 1971 Bottles and Relics Magazine reveal the history of Bull
Durham smoking tobacco selling for five cents a bag and billed as
"The Cheapest Luxury In The World."
The tobacco became famous after 1860 when the trademark was registered,
as almost every posed photo of a man showed the small round paper
tags hanging from a vest or shirt pocket. This product took center
stage in the West just like Arbuckle Coffee and Stetson hats. |
Bull
Durham Tobacco ghost sign in Ardmore, Oklahoma
TE photo, 2005 |
After
years of smoking pipes and chewing the old "rope and cable twists"
of tobacco almost any change was revolutionary. When James R. Green
of Durham Station, North Carolina began offering a finely chopped
tobacco, flue-cured for quality and mildness, his customers jumped
at the chance to try his new product.
When he packaged the tobacco in a soft white muslin sack with draw-strings,
all of which fit neatly into the average vest or shirt pocket it further
enhanced the product. As cigarettes made their debut, Mr. Green added
a small packed of cigarette papers to the bargain and the rest of
the story is history.
Times were hard and most smokers had to learn to roll their own "quirlies"
as called by the cowboys. The chore called for precise fingertip control,
a tender twist to each end to hold the tobacco inside, a quick lip-flick
to stick the paper then light up with a handy kitchen match.
Numerous old west paintings and illustrations focus on cowboys working
while smoking a quirlie. Masters of the trick bragged they could roll
a quirlie while riding a bucking bronc or sitting on their horse in
a 60 mph wind during a rainstorm.
During the 1870s when homesteaders were flooding the prairies, some
buyers and sellers would stop their horses at a wooden stake, roll
and light a quirlie and start their horses walking. When they both
finished their smoke they drove a stake denoting acres purchased.
All members of my family except mother and I smoked. I remember Kentucky
Twist, Old Hillside, Prince Albert, Lucky Strike and Camels. One distinct
memory is sitting at the table after supper and working the little
red machine, making cigarettes for my father. I also remember carrying
marbles to school in a Bull Durham sack.
Not only did the Bull Durham tags hanging from a pocket somehow distinguish
the person as a "real man" many a lonely cowboy's life was made better
when he met a visitor on the range and they shared the time with a
quirlie.
Those with little money bragged they could make 33 cigarettes out
of one five-cent sack of Bull Durham. The small books of cigarette
papers grew from about 30 to 100 as the tobacco companies competed
for customers.
Bull Durham had many imitators down through the years. All labels,
sacks, tags, and tax stamps are very collectible today as well as
paintings and advertisements about smoking.
So, the "quirlie, the makins or just roll-your-owns," can take their
rightful place among the many frontier relics and historical collections.
© Delbert Trew
"It's All Trew"
October 10, 2007 Column
E-mail: trewblue@centramedia.net.
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