General Forum

Any thoughts on the idea of making "tobacco issued" cards a category of their own?

By the definition provided by tradingcarddb,com - they are not truly a "Major Release" 

"Major Release
National, pack-based or factory set release by a major card manufacturer."

"Food Issues" have their own category and  I propose that cards issued by Tobacco cards have their own category as well - the definition cold be simple as the Food Issues"

Food Issue
Cards released with and/or packaged with food products.

Tobacco Issue
Cards released with and/or packaged with tobacco products (Cigar, Chewing, Cigarette, etc....)

If not, I suggest they be listed as an Oddball as most of them do not meet the definition set forth on this site.

Your thoughts?.

I can appreciate the concept, but tobacco issues can also follow the guidlines of TCDB. T206, for example, was produced by the American Lithographic Company and distributed nationally by the American Tobacco Company across multiple brands (thus meeting the definition of a Major release).

On the other hand, the T213 set was also produced by the Ameican Lithographic Company  and distributed by the American Tobacco Company but only in  packs of Coupon Cigarettes which was a regional brand (Louisiana) only. Thus qualifying as a regional issue.

I'm not saying that it would be a bad idea to have a tobacco category (I collect many tobacco sets), but I don't think that they all should fall into the "oddball" category under the current definitions. 

I don't see it as being necessary. It wouldn't affect many years.  Only the first 17 years listed have tobacco cards, next 100 have no tobacco issues. The last tobacco issue we have in the database was 1915.  Many of the years, the only releases were tobacco releases.  If tobacco was the only release, wouldn't that make it Major by default. 

I agree with PartagasX, there are tobacco issued cards as late as the 40's and 50's especially for non-sport, soccer, and multi sport.  There's even a set from Doral (RJ Reynolds) in 2000 (50 states).  I dont think it would be a bad idea as a sub category..

Hate to disagree....but tobacco cards begin in 1880 and run through (at least) 1955. The ACC lists nearly 700 19th Century tobacco sets (modern "N" series) and nearly 500 20th Century tobacco sets ("T" series). That number only includes sets distributed by American tobacco companies. I'm sure there are least that many more sets produced by Britsh, Canadian, and other tobacco companies.

I do agree that a tobacco catagory is not required on TCDB though. It's a rabbit hole....candy and gum cards, grocery item cards, coffee cards, thread cards, sewing cards....etc. Many of those catagories have hundreds of sets listed in the ACC (and in this database). And what about non-sport, tobacco issues that are historical in nature (an already established TCDB sub-category), or transportation related,or military related? 

Although a catagory revamping would be a positive thing (IMHO), I don't think a "tobacco' catagory is the right answer. Most tobacco sets are already identifiable by the ACC in the set title (and ACC numbers are searchable). I could possibly see a "tobacco catagory" for sports sets, but I don't think it would work for non-sport.

Maybe the OP was referring to sports sets only, where subcategories are a strange, mixed bag of set types, subject matter, and distribution method.  The non-sport subcategories are strictly subject matter, if I'm not mistaken.  A transportation set goes under the same heading whether it's a large set sold in packs, a Japanese issue, a food issue, etc.  Not so in sports sets.  A baseball set could be a promo of a Japanese minor league food-issued reprint of a postcard team set.  But we're only able to pick one of those.  Adding tobacco there might make sense, as it would add to the chaos, but I don't think it would work in non-sport.

I just got two cards issued by Doral Cigarettes in 2004. 

The Tobacco cards in the early days WERE the major releases, as that's how the hobby as we know it really took off. (Discounting the regional issues as Chad mentioned)

Also, the fact that modern cards are said to come in packs is a direct reference to the fact that they used to come in packs of cigarettes.