Collecting things

CAMEL COLLECTORS PACKAGING

It may sound strange but there's actually a large market for collecting packaging.
Even standard. I've found a collector site that lists more than 180.000 different cigarette packs.
And of course the more limited availability it had, be it in time or numbers, the more sought after it is.
Metal tins are rare to be found under $5, commonly seen with asking prices from $10-40.
Paper or cardboard boxes with special design are often more expensive due to their more fragile nature.
And shop displays even higher, as most of them more often then not were just disposed off by the shops.

Special design packaging before the mid 1980's are fairly unusual.
This changed with the Joe Camel advertising.
After his ban in 1997 Camel launched a new effort in 1998 called "Mighty Tasty".
This is more than could be said about the adverts which were controversial and politically uncorrect even before that was an issue.
Scenes like a tribe of cannibal women cooking ''man stew''; a prisoner who escapes from his cell by fashioning a dummy from scores of Camel packs; a man and woman held captive by a lizard-like alien that keeps them happy by providing them with Camels; a maid who brazenly flicks her cigarette ash into the meal she is cooking for her stuffy rich employers, and a family racing to a bomb shelter as a giant meteor hurtles earthward, their arms overflowing with cartons of Camels.
This was replaced by a new campaign already in 1999, called Pleasure to Burn,
which eventually included several limited and seasonal products with the Exotic Blends and Flavors of The Exotic in special packaging, and by now more often than not presented in metal tins.

Hard Packs

A "side slide" Art Pack, not available for sale.
Designed by Rob Corradetti.

One from a series of ten
Joe - The Collector Packs

Regular front.
Holographic 3D effect on back.

Regular front.
Normal print custom back.

1994 - Joe's Place

(See also lighters and sales displays.)

1995 - Collector's series - 10 designs.

Ads from 1913, 1915, 2x1918, 1920, (missing 1921) 1926, 2x1927, 1934.
Same image and text on the back of all, exept for the year.

"Genuine Nights"
Argentinian issue.
20 packs

Same series in 10 packs

Night Collector's Music Genres.
These designs were also issued on Zippo.

More recent 2010 series from Argentina.
"Inspired by the city"

Sleeves

These are intended as protection for soft packs, but also fits on the hard packs for those that want to make their pack more recognizable, personalized or make a statement.
Sold in sets and used to be commonly seen around 2000 in markets where hard packs were not yet introduced, like Mexico and South America, now getting quite scarce.
Creative designs in high quality print, produced by JT International (Japan Tobacco Inc)

These were also used in "value packs" often combined with a lighter.