Tobacco: Advertising, Inserts & Anti-Smoking Playing Cards

Tobacco and smoking have been promoted, debated and taught through playing cards. Brands commissioned advertising packs and miniature insert cards, ran gift schemes that exchanged cigarette inserts for playing sets, and used pictorial patience or quartet formats for publicity. Health bodies and publishers also issued anti-smoking cards with warnings, cartoons and practical advice. Subjects range from brand marks and slogans to portraits, stylised courts and photographic series, with production spanning commercial studios and specialist printers. Maker credits, dates and context help show who made them, how they were printed and why.