Vintage Dunhill Tobaccos Made in Germany

Vintage Dunhill tobaccos made in Germany are an oddity collectors occasionally run into while sorting through old tins: the bottom of a tin from a brand synonymous with London bears the words "Hergestellt in Deutschland" — "made in Germany." These tins are not counterfeits; Dunhill tobacco blends were produced under license in Germany for a long period.

The Firm Holding the License: Joh. Wilh. Von Eicken

The organization that undertook the production is Joh. Wilh. von Eicken, whose roots go back to 1770. Johann Wilhelm von Eicken began in the tobacco trade in Mülheim an der Ruhr; the firm bought a tobacco factory in Hamburg in 1886, on the eve of that city joining the customs union. The logic behind the Dunhill license rested on a similar customs calculation. During the Second World War the production facilities and the family residence were destroyed in the 1943 air raids; the firm was only able to return to tobacco production, with official permission, in 1948. The business, which moved its headquarters to Lübeck in 1982, remains in the same family's hands today, now in its eighth generation of leadership.