Printing technology on matchbooks was rather crude – they were made to be a cheap as possible so they could be given away at little expense. And printing on fairly crude cardboard didn’t help matters.
Heavy smokers would go through a lot of matchbooks in those days – I think the ratio was about one matchbook per pack of cigarettes, so the hunt for matchbooks was an ongoing one.
These days we live in the era of the Bic lighter, which revolutionized smoking. Before the Bic and it’s knock-offs, lighters were a lot of trouble and required regular filling with fluid and flints. Reliability was on ongoing problem with non-disposable lighters.
This article was last modified on February 28, 2021
This article was first published on July 20, 2012
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