35 Advertising Posters For Cigarette and Cigar in the Early 20th Century

In the early 20th century, advertising posters for cigarettes and cigars emerged as a dominant art form, blending commercial interest with the aesthetic movements of the time, such as Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Unlike the text-heavy ads of the previous century, these posters relied on bold visual storytelling and vibrant color lithography to capture the public's imagination.

Tobacco companies hired renowned illustrators to create iconic imagery that associated smoking with prestige and luxury. For cigars, posters often featured tropical landscapes or regal figures to emphasize the “exotic” and premium nature of the tobacco. Meanwhile, cigarette posters began to shift toward lifestyle branding, depicting the “New Woman” or the “Sophisticated Gentleman” to make smoking appear as an essential accessory for modern life.

These posters were not just advertisements, they were powerful cultural artifacts that utilized psychological triggers, such as social belonging, health claims, and romanticism, to cement tobacco’s place in the daily routine of the early 1900s.

Manufacture de cigares C. Müller & Co, Payerne, Switzerland, circa 1900

Cigarettes Saphir, circa 1900s

Cigarillos Paris, Fides, 1900

Los Cigarrillos Paris son los mejores, circa 1900s

Murad, The Turkish Cigarette, 1900

Papier à Cigarettes Bloc Suez, circa 1900s

Smoke Turkish Régie Cigarettes, circa 1900s

Cigarrillos París son los mejores, 1901

Cigarrillos Paris, circa 1901

Cigarrillos Paris, Montmartre, 1901

Cigarrillos Paris, Tabaco Habano, circa 1901

Mokka, 1901

Peacock Cigarettes, 1902

Cigarrillos Mauser, 1905

Van Nelle's Shag Tobacco, "The Rising Hope", 1905

Cigarrillos La Marina, circa 1907

Phänomen Gold Feinste Cigarette, 1909

Cigarettes Gerber, Zürich, 1910

Dobbelmann's Goldhair Cigaretten zijn de beste, 1910

Dubec Cigarettes, circa 1910

Koninklijke Trio sigaren, circa 1910s

Voilá, Le meilleur papier à cigarettes, circa 1910s

Yphandi Cigarettes, circa 1910s

Sefira Cigaretten, A. Constanin, Cigarettenfabrik, Hannover, 1912

Cigarettes Bastos, 1913

Egyptienne Luxury Cigarettes, Cork Tip, Convincingly Mild, 1913

Fatima Cigarettes, December 12, 1914

Salomé Cigarettes Orientales, Jean Sessler & Co., 1914

Helmar Turkish Cigarettes, 1915

Cigarillos Paris son los mejores, 1917

Riz La Croix cigarette papers, 1917

Je ne fume que le Nil, 1918

Murad, The Turkish Cigarette, 1918

Chesterfield Cigarettes, 1919

Les Cigarettes Mekka sont délicieuses, 1919