How were Mayo N300's packaged?

[peterb69]

This is actually 2 questions.

1) How were the Mayo N300's packaged? Were they in packs like the T206's or those lunch box looking tins?

2) Also, can anyone tell me what/when these Mayo cut plugs were for/from?

I assume it was to refill your lunch box tin but I have no idea.


Thanks

[peterb69]

Any ideas what the plugs are and from? There is a tax stamp but the date is ripped off. Also the tax stamp is from NH.

Thanks

[birdman42]

Hi, Peter,

From your questions I'm not sure how much you already know about this, so I'll start from zero. Pardon anything that sounds too basic.

Mayo Cut Plug was a brand of chewing tobacco. From the sample you showed (pretty cool, by the way), the user would cut a hunk off and chew on it until everyone around got disgusted, then they'd spit out a big squirt of foul-smelling dark-brown juice. (Unless they just let the juice run down their chin onto their shirt.)

The lunch-pail tins were an advertising gimmick, sort of like putting your logo on a shirt or sunglasses. AFAIK, the tins came packed with plugs of Mayo tobacco, but there was no need to refill the tins after they were empty--you could use one to take your lunch in, or store nails in, or hide money.

According to Jon Canfield (who's very knowledgeable about early tobacco packages and card packaging), the cards did come packed inside the tin.
http://www.baseballandtobacco.com/n300.htm

The P.H. Mayo Company, out of Richmond, was bought up by the American Tobacco Company in 1898, and that was the end of the insert cards. Anything with a dated tax stamp after then would not have come with a card inside.

Show your Mayos!

Bill

[mcap100176]

http://s345.photobucket.com/albums/p...%20Plug%20set/

[peterb69]

Thank you for that info