American Tobacco has an extensive selection of Lucky Strike Christmas memorabilia on display.

Santa smoking a cigarette?  That’s something you never see nowadays, but back in the day, Lucky Strike used the man in red to sell their smokes.  American Tobacco Director of Marketing & Events Valerie Ward recently put her collection of Christmas Lucky Strike memorabilia on display for the holidays at American Tobacco.

Ward has been collecting Lucky Strike memorabilia since 2010, with the hopes of eventually creating a museum of American Tobacco memorabilia on the downtown Durham campus.

The Christmas collection includes magazine ads, cardboard cut-outs and Lucky Strike cartons, known as “gift sleeves.”  Years ago bring a box of cigarettes as a hostess gift was as common as bringing a bottle of wine these days.

“The cardboard Santa/Lucky Strike store display and the Lucky Strike holiday cigarette gift cartons were my biggest finds,” said Ward of the collection.  “Unlike magazine ads, these are hard to come by.  The store display items were only meant for the season and the cigarette cartons were normally discarded after the cigarettes were smoked.”

Ward has been trolling ebay for the Lucky Strike pieces.

“I have a dedicated budget to make the purchases and have friends and family always scouting for Lucky Strike items,” said Ward.  “As you collect, you start to see trends.  I saw Santa/Christmas was a trend in the advertising and thought it would be a fun collection to bring out during the holidays.”

American Tobacco’s Lucky Strike Christmas collection is currently on display in the Reed Building outside the ATC offices.  The items are located in the hallway that runs behind Cuban Revolution.