Some cigarette packets are far more difficult to acquire than cigarette cards, which makes the hobby so intriguing. 

Club Meetings

These used to be held twice a year in London, and members would bring their packets on show for sale and an auction taking place with a variety of packets, tins and advertising material always available. Details of the meetings were provided in the club magazine and were always well supported with between 70 and 100 members attending. For members who couldn't attend the London meeting, there was a postal auction held every quarter.

With COVID, things were paused and we are hoping to restart club meetings at some point in the future. More details to come at a later stage.

For those of you who might be interested in seeing an early club auction, our Club Facebook page hosts a video of one from the 1990s, please click on the link below. Clothing fashion might have changed since then but our passion hasn't! 

https://www.facebook.com/cigarettepacketcollectorsclub/videos/755279189067573


Our Club Auctions

The Club auctioneer runs our very popular and successful quarterly postal auctions, in addition to a live auction at each face-to-face club meeting. The live auction will hopefully restart once we restart our face-to-face club meeting.

Our club auctions are the most anticipated events that happen every quarter. These have been the hard work of Frank and Barbarann Smith, our longstanding club auctioneers. The Club would acquire collections from past members, or individuals who wanted to sell their items. These would be included in a club auction, with a printed auction brochure sent to all members. Members would send bids via post or email and winners would be notified following the auction to make payment and receive their winnings.

The auction would showcase packets from the UK and beyond. There is always spirited bidding on many packets from members vying to add them to their collections!

The Club postal auctions typically contain over 100 items, consisting of a mixture of:

1) Older and quite rare packets,
2) Live packets (unopened and with the original cigarettes intact),
3) Tins and boxes, cigarettes and tobacco,
4) Numbers of more modern packets, of varying nationalities,
5) Numbers of packet fronts, Advertising material, books, magazines, etc,
6) Sweet cigarette packets.

Items for sale come from a variety of sources, including members' duplicates, collections the Club itself has bought (typically on the passing of a collector), and collections being sold by collectors who are giving up collecting. Items are also accepted from non­-members.

Bidding in auctions, however, is only open to members, and auction lists are distributed to members with each club magazine. A bidding form is enclosed with every list, but bids are also accepted by telephone or e-mail. When selling on behalf of others, the Club takes 15% commission, based on the sale price. A maximum of 20 items per auction is accepted from any one individual. Some lots carry reserve prices, at the discretion of the seller, with an overall minimum bid of £5 per lot.

The auctions are very successful, attracting some 50 bidders each time, and around up to 500 bids. They give everybody in the Club an opportunity to buy items they might never find elsewhere, at prices to suit every pocket. At each Club meeting, some 50 lots are provided for auction by the Club, and anyone attending can offer items for sale in addition. The continuing success of the auctions depends very much on a steady stream of items coming forward for inclusion, of all sorts, so if you have anything you would like to sell, please contact our Club auctioneer:

Frank and Barbarann Smith
Robinwood
Sheep Street Lane
Etchingham
East Sussex
TN19 7AY
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 1580 819326
Email: langsmith_@hotmail.com

Club Magazine

Our current Editor, Daniel Sanford took over from advanced collector and longstanding Editor Barry Russell, who sadly passed away in the latter part of 2022. Barry was the heart and soul of the club and will be sorely missed. Dan takes over responsibilities of producing the quarterly club magazine. This hosts articles on packet collecting, the latest news in the collecting world and also an exchange and mart for members who might wish to sell or trade packets.

Facebook Page

The club has recently set up a Facebook page, please follow us on it by clicking HERE to access the page.


Membership currently stands at over 150 members and increasing. There are members from all over the world, including Europe, America, Australia, Brazil, Israel, China and many more.

Anyone wishing to join the club can read our page on 'How to join the club'