Classification of cigarette label collections Most cigarette label collection enthusiasts classify cigarette label collections according to their own preferences.

The first category: original development category

1. Proofing manuscript: It is a "cigarette label" draft sample jointly designed by the cigarette factory and the printing manufacturer for the cigarette brand, and it is not printed on the machine. Before the popularization of computers, manual drawing and manual plate making were mainly relied on. With the development of the times, cigarette label design and plate making are gradually completed by computers, resulting in modern and exquisite cigarette labels, which are mainly collected and preserved by professionals and people in the industry.

2. Proofing labels: The various cigarette labels that everyone collects now are actually evolved from the proofing labels. Proofing labels are several or hundreds of specially produced sample cigarette labels before the establishment of a certain brand, exclusively for the review and decision-making of leaders of tobacco production companies. The birth and launch of "sample" cigarette labels are strictly selected from dozens to hundreds of sample labels, and the last cigarette label will form the official product. The author believes that its collection value is higher than the "standard" in production, because collection pays attention to "the rare thing is the most valuable". Moreover, the proofing mark can tell everyone the production process of a certain cigarette mark, which has certain collection value and research significance. Proofing standards are mainly collected and preserved by professionals and people in the industry.

The second category: the early category before and after liberation

1. Old labels: mostly pinyin and foreign languages, and the patterns mainly reflect the social background and culture at that time. Most of the collections of this kind of objects are purchased through price, and rarely through exchange.

2. Early labels: mainly soft labels, referring to the cigarette labels from the period after the founding of the People's Republic of China to before the emergence of the China Tobacco Label. The characteristic is that there are many traditional Chinese characters, and there are public-private partnership signs and local state-owned signs.

3. China Tobacco Label: It means that the factory name on the cigarette box only prints "Produced by China Tobacco Industry Corporation". About 61 domestic cigarette factories use this name at the same time. From the establishment of China Tobacco Industry Corporation in 1963 to the dissolution of the company in 1968. There are about 1,000 kinds of cigarette labels. Because they are products of a special period, they are loved by collectors.

4. Cultural Revolution labels: mainly soft labels, cigarette labels produced during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1975. The main features are the chairman's quotations, inscriptions, revolutionary slogans, and cigarette labels with specific patterns during the Cultural Revolution.

5. Three no-labels: mostly soft labels. There is no tar content, no R, and no filter on the cigarette label, and the production period is from 1975 to the mid-1980s.

6. Discontinued labels (referring to cigarette factory product labels that have been discontinued): cigarette labels of the original cigarette factory products that were ordered to close, suspend, merge, and transfer by China Tobacco Corporation before 1986.

The third category: cigarette labels in production

1. Soft labels: mainly used for low-end cigarettes, with exquisite designs, including horizontal and vertical (vertical), but some You can also use medium to high grade cigarettes to keep your own style.

2. Card label: Mainly the 20, 16, 12-pack and hard-box cigarette cases currently produced.

3. Series labels: refers to a series of cigarette labels with the same name and brand, different patterns, different words, styles, and colors.

4. Barcode label: a cigarette label with a product barcode printed on it. It mainly displays registration marks, representing the country and industry respectively, such as 690 representing China and 1028 representing the tobacco industry. The last 5-digit code is the manufacturer's number. Generally, each manufacturer has 200 numbers. The last code has an anti-counterfeiting function.

5. Tar content label: Now cigarette products must be printed with words such as tar content and high, medium and low content. The tar content is printed on the side of the cigarette label. The use of the focus mark also symbolizes the beginning of integration with international standards.

6. Sleeve labels: more than 3 pieces with different patterns and one brand are called sleeve labels, commonly known as 3★1 or 10★1, etc., with more local scenery and people. It is difficult for ordinary collectors to collect this object.

7. Color sleeve labels: refers to cigarette labels with the same trademark name, text, and pattern, but with different colors. The number of color sleeve labels must be at least three.

8. Commemorative logos: They are mainly temporarily developed and designed by cigarette manufacturers to celebrate and commemorate meaningful events. They have certain commemorative significance, such as factory anniversary, various sports games, National Day, the return of Hong Kong and Macao, etc. . This standard generally has a small output and limited sales scope.

Category 4: “Fever Labels” or “Interesting Labels”

Mainly used by collectors and cigarette label associations to commemorate the founding of the association or celebrations, boldly designed and printed in small quantities Cigarette labels for enthusiasts to collect.

Category 5: Cigarette Cards, Sealing Strips, Advertising Pictures

1. Cigarette Cards: Also called pictures, they are art that manufacturers put in cigarette boxes for publicity. Pictures. There are figures, paintings, landscapes, etc.

2. Sealing strip: mainly used for sealing cigarette small boxes and sealing both ends of the carton, mostly used for soft box packaging.

3. Cigarette advertising paintings: For a long time, advertising paintings have been issued for publicity since humans began to produce cigarettes.

Category Six: Smoking Accessories

1. Pipes: In the pipe family, quality, materials, and shape are obvious signs of the status and grade of the pipe. Therefore, among the pipes made in the past dynasties, there are many with fine manufacturing and exquisite materials, gradually highlighting their unique art collection value.

2. Lighters: In addition to the wide variety of lighters on the market, cigarette factories have also begun to customize gift lighters for promotional activities, with high, medium and low-end products, becoming the objects of collection for collectors.

3. Snuff bottles and ashtrays: Exquisite snuff bottles have become treasured collections of collectors around the world. Ashtrays are made of pure gold, pure silver, crystal, colored glaze, glass and other special materials.

4. Tobacco gifts: Manufacturers began to design and produce gifts with factory names and brands printed on them. [Edit this paragraph] The value of cigarette labels: Cigarette labels have been around for hundreds of years. While they continue to expand and deepen their practical value, they also deeply reflect the characteristics of the times.

Cigarette labels from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China were mostly produced by foreign businessmen and feudal, bureaucratic or national capitalists. Because this type of mark is old and has only a small quantity in existence, the price is relatively high, generally around 100 to 500 yuan.

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, cigarette labels (factory names) were divided into state-owned, local state-owned, and public-private partnerships. There were many varieties and the paper quality was poor. They should generally cost between 20 yuan and 50 yuan. During this period, there was also a type of "Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea" labels. Since most of the products were donated to the Chinese People's Volunteers in Korea, very few of them were circulated in the country, so they were hard to come by. The auction price was generally more than 100 yuan.

The "Cultural Revolution" mark is a topic that is particularly valued by collectors. This topic is very popular because of the red sky, quotations, eight examples, and strong contemporary relevance. The price is also quite high, generally. They are all around 20 yuan to 100 yuan.

After the reform and opening up, cigarette labels became more brilliant and widespread. In addition to state-owned and collective factories, individual manufacturers have also launched one after another. For a time, high-quality products and defective products coexist, and fish eyes and pearls coexist. The "three noes" include no registered trademark, tar content, and smoke type model (also called flavor). , such as: flue-cured tobacco type, mixed type, external flavor type, cigar type, etc.), "Smoking is harmful to health" aphorisms and barcode cigarette labels are even more common in the world. At present, the price of this type of cigarette label is relatively low, which should be less than 5 yuan.

It is worth mentioning here that during the Revolutionary War, the cigarette labels produced in the liberated areas were extremely limited in existence due to environmental reasons. They were hard to find and hard to come by. Courageous and knowledgeable collectors will generally not let go of this kind of cigarette label easily.