[Abravefan11]

1) It wasn't so much that ATC added additional factories that distributed the cards, but rather included the distribution of the cards with more brands as the set progressed. For example brands like Lenox and Uzit didn't include cards until the last of the T206's were printed. But they were distributed out of the same factory (No.30) as some of the first Sweet Caporal cards issued in the set. Some brands were added during the sets printing like Polar Bear that was a new factory. And towards the end ATC did shift the distribution of cards included in American Beauty, Piedmont and Sweet Caporal to factory 42.

2) The factory a brand was distributed out of wasn't necessarily where that product would be sold or the most popular. (Jon Canfield can speak about this much better than I.) Hindu's were issued out of factory No.649 in New York, but their popularity was throughout the south. Sovereign's were issued out of factory No.25 in Richmond, but were popular up north in areas like New York.

3) I have not seen a direct connection between a brand, where it was popular, and which players were selected to be included with that product. In many cases there are examples of the same groups of subjects being printed and distributed with multiple brands.