Dress Boxes

Dress Boxes

The Dress Box is the most common cigar box and normally contains 25 box pressed cigars.

Also known as a standard box, current box, labelled box or semi-plain box. The box is “dressed” with specific paper labels and trimmings. Semi-plain more correctly applies to pre-WW2 boxes, where the dressings did not cover the whole box.

Until the mid-1970s, the boxes were constructed from solid cedar, after which time it changed to cedar veneered plywood. The paper dressing forms the hinge of the box and the lid is fixed with a nail.

Some boxes have a brooch clasp in lieu of a nail. Currently used for some production cigars (mainly tubes) and some special release boxes. These boxes have thicker cedar plywood lids.

Cigars are usually in layers, but sometimes (albeit rarely) may be in foil bundles. Boxes of 25 are normally in 2 layers (12 bottom, 13 top), boxes of 20 are normally in 2 layers of 10, and boxes of 10 are normally in a single layer. Normally, tubed cigars are in 3 layers.