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               As a young boy Joe Hruby picked up all the cigar bands he could find on the streets of Cleveland.
               Joe Hruby was a young boy a long time ago when cigars were still in their peak years. Joe Hruby
               just passed away at the age of 93. Joe is probably the world's best known collector of cigar bands.
               He was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records with 229,000   different cigar bands. We're pretty
               sure that record still stands. As label enthusiasts we realize that cigar smoking, though still very
               much alive, has slowed from those peak years. Joe's passion for cigar bands never slowed down
               with the cigar smoking decline. We met Joe a few years ago. He was in his late 80's .Poor eyesight
               and the declining supply of new and different bands had slowed his wheeling and dealing in them.
               Despite that, his love of conversing about cigar bands never declined.  Mention cigar bands
               to Joe and you were in for an education. Joe's collection, as far as we know, is still in the family.
               Having them displayed in some museum somewhere would make Joe very happy. The top icon in
               the cigar band world is gone but his memory will live along with his collection for many years.

                            WE SAY FAREWELL TO THE ORIGINAL
                                  "LABEL SCOUT", MARK TROUT

                                                                                       MARK TROUT
                                                                      1940-2005

       If you didn't know Mark personally, chances are you know of his legend. For those of you
        who didn't know Mark, we hope this will enlighten you about his tremendous influence on
        the present day cigar box label movement. If we could somehow put the history of how
        cigar box label collecting got to where it is today, we would have to give a lot of the credit
        to the early vintage paper scouts. These scouts discovered the unusual color and beauty
        of many of these labels in time to save a lot of them from being taken to land fills after the
        golden age of cigar smoking. Buildings were being emptied for new tenants. Prominent
        among these scouts was a young man named Mark Trout, recently out of the Marine Corp.
        In 1968 Mark became a full time, all-ahead, full-bore paper scout. He started with a few
        boxes of postcards he retrieved from trash bins behind a stamp store where he worked
        for a very successful mail order stamp dealer. His boss would buy out entire stamp
        businesses and toss out the postcards because they didn't fit into his inventory.

        Mark was born in June, 1940 in New Jersey. This became an important factor. Mark
        was familiar with that area where a majority of cigar labels were found. That would be
        New Jersey, New York and the real mother lode in eastern Pennsylvania. Mark would
        haul postcards to the extravaganza swap meets in Pennsylvania. There he became
        introduced to the many hoards of vintage paper that were found in the "old country" and
        haul them across the states to the "new country", California. Mark would lay them out in
        the sun at the Rose Bowl swap meet in Pasadena. Thus began a thirty five plus years
        career of trading in old paper. Although cigar labels were a prominent part of his
        ever-changing inventory, Mark handled virtually tons of old paper including
        every known category of nostalgic paper. Mark's knowledge of history grew with
        each load of old paper he acquired and sold. His occupation was well-suited to his
        natural love of history. We can visualize Mark on many nights while on the road reading
        himself to sleep. He read so many letters from soldiers of the Civil War that he was
        able to publish a book of events of that period, "Invisible Siege" in 1969.

        Mark played the role of the happy go lucky man of the road but he couldn't hide
        his great intelligence from everyone. Those of us who knew him best realize he was
        one of the most interesting people we will ever have the pleasure of knowing. We can
        never forget his great sense of humor, the tremendous amount of energy he put into
        saving his beloved cigar labels and getting them to collectors wherever they may be.
        We are especially grateful to him here on the west coast. Fate brought Mark Trout to
        California or we probably never would have had the great collections and inventories
        out here to enjoy.

        God be gracious to our brother!
        Thank you, Mark.
        Rest with that great smile on your face.
           Sid Emerson