The Alliance Cigarette Manufacturing Company was one of several small New York tobacco firms that made a lot of money during World War Two by taking advantage of a civilian cigarette shortage. The US government's Office of Price Administration (OPA) had set the price for a pack of cigarettes at 20 cents. This OPA decree created a loophole because this fixed cost was for existing brands only. The door was left open for manufacturers to charge whatever they wanted for any new cigarette brands they produced. By 1943 tobacco for making cigarettes was in short supply, but inexpensive pre-war pipe and cigar tobacco was plentiful. Alliance and the other cigar and pipe tobacco manufacturers knew that the harshness of this cheaper tobacco could be hidden with flavorings such as rum, maple, and coffee extract. These different war emergency brands, such as Presidential, Puffies, Lady Hamilton, Cambridge Arms, and Coffee Tone, sold for as much as forty cents a pack.