The "tobacco cards were used as package stiffeners" myth
I'm not sure why people use the claim that T206 cards and similar tobacco cards were used to help stiffen the cigarette packages.
Tobacco cards didn't begin distribution until the Duke cigarette company developed the sliding box packaging around 1886. Other manufacturers like Kinney, Allen & Ginter, and Godwin quickly followed suit.
The packages were already firm with the box. The cards were purely for advertising and marketing and served no physical value to the pack.
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