custom poker plaques

Western Travel, Cigars and Native American Images

Cigars were brought along during our first road trip through the American West. Our travel buddies were cigar smokers who, inspired by Clint Eastwood in “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” brought cigarillos along during our sojourn across the Mohave Desert. At night we camped out, and the cigars were companion accessories to the setting of cold nights out around the fire with the endless sky lit by a melee of diamond stars and surrounded by crisp, dry air delicately scented by the aroma of premium cigar smoke.

The American West has a great tradition of cigar consumption in the old saloons and on cattle drives. From the turn of the 19th century when cattle and railroad barons played poker and spun deals in St. Louis and San Francisco, to the turn of the 20th century when industrial giants like Henry Ford, J.P. Getty and Andrew Carnegie found themselves influencing the century that would see two world wars. The cigar was a companion in smoke-filled rooms and at secret poker tables. There was always a cigar-smoking gambler or two on stage coaches heading west, and after that aboard club cars on transcontinental trains from New York to Chicago to California. Cigars do indeed have a travel history in the American West.

“Cigar store Indians,” originally designed as plaques and statues representing Native Americans, became the symbol of tobacco and tobacco advertising during the early 19th and 20th centuries. These statues and plaques were most often used in stores, hotels and outside restaurants and bars to signal (often illiterate customers) the availability of tobacco, or that smoking was permitted inside the establishment. The complete, life-sized figures of “American Indians” were generally used by tobacco-shop owners, with smaller plaques used in general stores.

Images of Native Americans became connected with the sale of tobacco after American Indians introduced the plant to the Europeans who explored and settled in the Americas. Cigar store Indian statues first appeared in Europe, once tobacco was available there. The wooden carvings were based on images created by artists who matched descriptions, rather than first-hand viewings of actual Native Americans. The figures, which most often ended up looking like Europeans in Native American dress, were clothed in fringed buckskins, were draped in blankets and wore feathered headdresses. They did not actually resemble the members of any particular tribe. The sculptors carved chiefs, braves, princesses and maidens, sometimes with papooses. Most of the figures grasped tobacco or cigars in their hands or displayed leaves on their clothing. There were several artists in the United States who specialized in carving ship figureheads, architectural details and portrait busts, then turned to creating figures of American Indians full-time as demand increased. Names of note in this genre of carving are John Cromwell, Thomas Brooks, the Skillin family, and Samuel Robb, who operated studios in Northeastern cities and put out product catalogues.

Modern times have called for the image of the cigar store Indian to all but disappear, but the Native American will always be remembered as the source of our fine tobacco. When the occasion calls for a fine cigar, enjoy one--especially if you’re under western skies.

About the Author

For access to the best Fine Cigars and Cigar accessories available check out the great deals available only on the authors website - http://www.davidoffmadison.com

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Poker Chips-An Overview

Casino chips which are also known as checks are small discs used in place of money in casinos. These tokens can be made of various materials such as metals or clay. They are colored brightly in different colors. They come in different denominations as well and are mainly used in high stake game tables.

Plaques are similar to chips but different in certain ways for instance they are usually bigger in size than chips and are rectangular in shape etc. These tokens are used in place of money and are exchanged for money at the end of the games either at the game table or at the casino counter; outside the casinos they don’t have any value.

Poker Chips and tokens are used in place of money because they are more convenient and also because there is lesser chance of cheating and stealing with the usage of chips. Because their sizes and shapes are same it is easier to store and count. Sometimes they are not even counted they are simply weighed to find the value. It is convenient or casinos since it reduces the risk of casinos overpaying any customer.

History states that poker chips have always been used but no in the form we have it now. Very early poker players would use any kind of small thing as chips like coins or wooden tablets, even gold dust. Present day chips are made of clay like material that is not exactly clay. They are not painted rather different colored clay are molded together to have a colorful effect. These chips also have some design on them that is called the inlay.

Usually inlays are made of paper and are covered with plastic. The whole thing is then compressed together so that the inlay becomes a part of the chip and can not be pulled away. Ceramic chips later came into circulation and became popular immediately because of their low cost. They are actually made o plastic though they have a feel of clay. These chips weigh about 10 grams.

Each casino usually has a unique set of chips that are standardized. Different casinos have different security measures to prevent chips from being copied or replicated. Cheating or counterfeiting chips are not very common though not impossible. Casinos have at times replaced chip sets and identified fraudsters. Different materials are used to clean these chips like dry eraser, wiper fluid, mineral oil etc. These chips are an important part of any casino and without them casinos would seem incomplete.

About the Author

Fiona Jones is an expert author on home gaming accessories and creative hobby ideas.