These articles are presented here thanks to Anwer Ali Khan Cigar Box Cigars were originally sold in bundles covered with pigs' bladders (with a pod of vanilla to improve the smell); then came the use of large chests, holding up to10,000 cigars. But in 1830, the banking firm of H.Upmann started shipping back cigars, for the use of its directors in London, in sealed cedar boxes stamped with the bank's emblem. When the bank decided to go, full-scale, into the cigar business, the cedar box took off as a form of packaging for all the major Havana brands, and all hand made cigars (though small quantities today are sometimes packages in cardboard cartons, and single cigars of many brands come in aluminum tubes lined with cedar). Cedar helps to prevent cigars from drying out and furthers the maturing process. The idea of using colorful lithographic labels, now used for all handmade brands, wherever they come from, started when Ramon Allones, a Galician immigrant to Cuba, initiated it for the brand he started in 1837. As the industry grew in the mid-19th century, so did the need for clear brand identification. Labels or other illustrations also appear on the inside of the lids of many Havana and other brands. Boxes also usually have colorful decorative borders. The cedar box is sometimes referred to as a boite nature. Paper, usually colored, is normally glued to the interior of the box and is used to cover the cigars it contains. Finally, after being filled and checked, the box is nailed shut and tightly sealed with a green and white label (a custom dating from 1912) to guarantee that the cigars are genuine Havanas. The practice of using labels, usually printed in similar colors and with similar wording, to seal the box continues today for most handmade brands, Cuban or not. The form of packaging called 8-9-8 is used for some cigars in the Partagas and Ramon Allones brands. These boxes are polished, have curved edges, and contain 25 cigars, arranged in three layers with eight at the bottom, nine in the middle and eight on the top. Cigars with this sort of packaging are relatively expensive. Hecho en Cuba has been stamped on the underside of Cuban boxes since 1961, when it replaced the English inscription "Made in Havana--Cuba." Since 1985, they have also carried a factory code and Cubatabaco's logo, the latter being replaced with Habanos SA from late 1994. In 1989 the words "Totalmente a Mano" were added. Meaning "totally by Hand," they provide the only cast-iron clue that the cigars are genuinely handmade in the traditional Cuban manner. The factory code, on Havana cigars, is stamped in blue--using post revolutionary factory designations. Thus, for instance: JM stands for Jose Marti, formerly H. Upmann. FPG stands for Francisco Perez German, formerly Partagas. BM stands for Briones Montoto, formerly Romeo Y Julieta. FR stands fro Fernando Roig, formerly La Corona. EL stands for El Laguito. HM stands for Heroes del Moncada, formerly El Rey del Mundo Havana boxes also used to be stamped with the color of the cigars contained in them, but this practice has stopped, for the time being at least. Boxes, in the past, often read "claro," but this color classification was frequently inaccurate.