The earliest Gold Clip cigarettes were hand rolled. Ten were then bundled together and placed in a paper label without a foil inter-wrapper. These first generation one-piece paper bags didn't protect the fragile cigarettes, which tended to be crushed or broken when carried in a man's pocket. This disadvantage was partially corrected when a cardboard stiffener was inserted into the pack along with the cigarettes. Tobacco magnate James Duke is credited with having a picture printed on the card to promote repeat sales, but there is some evidence that it was competitor Major Lewis Ginter of the Allen & Ginter company responsible for the collectible insert cards. In the mid-1880's this early style package gave way to the more protective slide-and-shell container, which was made from a lightweight pasteboard. This packaging evolution kept the cigarettes in better condition, was convenient, and the reason that cigarette sales in the US jumped from millions to billions annually. By 1886 manufacturer Solomon Hess was using a modern two-piece slide-and-shell box for his Gold Clip Cigarettes.