T231 Fans Cigarettes

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Posted By: Jon Canfield

As we all probably know by now, I am a collector of baseball related cigarette packs. I've been lucky enough to document and find examples of nearly every cigarette or tobacco pack that relates to baseball card distribution except for a few...

Recently, I was exchanging emails with a good friend of mine who has an amazing cigarette pack collection (unrelated to baseball or the distribution of cards) and I happened to ask him if he knew anything about Fans Cigarettes. To my great surprise, my friend knew some information on the company. He informed me that Fans were made in 1920 by the Tobacco Products Corp. and marketed in a slide and shell packet of ten cigarettes. In a 1984 issue of the Cigarette Pack Collector's Association club newsletter, nine packs belonging to the Richard Steiger collection were pictured, including Fans.

After learning this, I contacted Leon to find out if he had ever learned any information about Fans Cigarettes. Leon informed me that he had never been able to find any information on the company or the distribution of the cards. So, after some more digging, I was able to find this. Take in mind this is a flattened "outer shell" of a slide and shell cigarette pack. Dimensions would be similar to that of a normal slide and shell pack.