Churchman’s Tortoiseshell Smoking Mixture

Tortoiseshell Smoking Mixture tin from the early years of the twentieth century

Tins like this are not uncommon. No doubt, once the contents had been used, the tin was useful for storing other things. It’s the sort of item you might find in a shed with assorted nuts and bolts in it.

But of course, the original content was tobacco and whilst we might ‘tut-tut’ these days it is from the past when life was different. If we go back 100 years, most men smoked and many would have had tins like this one.

It is not, of course, made of tortoiseshell. It is a ‘tin’ with tortoiseshell effect paint. This one is quite a large tin holding four ounces (¼lb) of the mixture.

The tin held a quarter of a pound of tobacco

The Churchman firm who made the tobacco were based in Ipswich and they had a long pedigree. Records suggest that the company began in 1790 and production of tobacco products continued until 1972.

We can’t find any mark on the tin to suggest who made it but we do think it dates from the early years of the 20^th century.

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Tags: early 20th century, Market Lavington, tin, tobacco