Matchbooks | TheaterFire

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iambarrelrider@reddit

But if there is a zombie apocalypse I am getting a carton of cowboy killers.

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Things that belongs to my parents and now live next to my fireplace. My mom collected elephant related everything. The brass candlesticks are from when we lived in Turkey when I was little. And every time they went anywhere, they would grab a matchbook from that place and put it in the bowl. They didn't even smoke. My dad was Air Force so there's matchbooks from all over the world in there. Every now and then my wife and I pick a few out and see what the internet can tell us about that place (if anything). https://preview.redd.it/5wfd3akbhz4h1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bbf8621c934761b9e2aa669d29db1aa9d210a911

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WaterwingsDavid@reddit

My mom also loved elephants! I kept several items after she passed.

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happycj@reddit

My parents traveled everywhere and collected matchbooks since the early 1960s. Eventually, in the 1990s, we opened up every one of them, pulled out the matches, and stuck the matchbooks to a melamine board, clear coat them, and used them as the backsplash in the kitchen. When they moved in the 2000s, they went up in Dad's workshop on the walls. And now they hang in my house, on a set of cabinet doors in the craft room. Fantastic decades of memories with my family, right there on the cabinets!

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BaldBombshell@reddit

I'd love to see a picture.

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happycj@reddit

Here ya go! https://imgur.com/a/NgrYTPL

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WaterwingsDavid@reddit

Very cool!

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WaterwingsDavid@reddit

When i was cleaning out my mom's place after she had passed, I found a bunch of matchbooks she'd kept. I tossed most of them, except for a few that were from restaurants or other places I remembered from my childhood.

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grumpynetgeekintexas@reddit

My brother has been collecting for over 4 decades, he has three break room water jugs full of different matchbooks and he’s never smoked.

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WaterwingsDavid@reddit

Its interesting to hear the variety of things people collect.

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AuroraDF@reddit

I know someone that travelled the world for a long time and their souvenir from every single restaurant/bar they visited was a book of matches. They had so many. I wonder what happened to their collection. I'm assuming they're no longer with us. I doubt it's a collection your kids would keep!

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SignificantTransient@reddit

Most gas stations still have them on request. They're behind the counter now because of kids like me.

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ajn3323@reddit

My ex and I collected them. I always made it a point to stop at the bar of any restaurant we were at and ask… or when we are at a wedding or guests at a private club. When we split she put packed them all in with my stuff. Now I just make sure there are some in every bathroom!

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effiebaby@reddit

It's amazing how many people don't know this trick.

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JimmyJohn_5150@reddit

I have a gallon jar full of them somewhere. Always picked up a pack when I saw them in bars or restaurants. Found a bunch of them cleaning out my parents house after they both passed - hotels in exotic locales like Bakersfield, CA and Freer, TX.

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Servile-PastaLover@reddit

My parents went to my neighbor's son's bar mitzvah and got customized matchbooks with son's name/date on them. Brought them home to share with us. \[1975\] Nobody in our fam smoked.

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defiantnoodle@reddit

How are art schools surviving these days!!???? Nobody on the internet ever asks me to draw 'Cappy", or a pirate....

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MrRetrdO@reddit

I use wood matches to light my pipe. I taught the niece & nephew & 2nd BIL how to make Matchstick rockets using cardboard matches & aluminum foil.

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badpuffthaikitty@reddit

Refineries still hand them out at the gate. Cigarette lighters are banned on site.

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cs1013@reddit

I bought one for $1 at a brewery last week just for the nostalgia.

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hippiechick725@reddit

Keep some in the bathroom. Light a match in a smelly toilet.

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cwcharlton@reddit

My parents collected them, and I added to the collection... I have a large jar with hundreds of them, from restaraunts and weddings and hotels. So many of those places (and marriages!) don't exist any more.

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dropthemasq@reddit

Anybody else with beach skills? You can bend a flap backwards to make a protective tube for windy days. Bonus points if you can do it with the match attached!

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Tonto_HdG@reddit

I didn't smoke tobacco bach in those day. What I did smoke was usually passed around. On the beach you had your friends cup their hands around what you were trying to light. I started regular cigs as an adult and figured out how to light a match one handed by leaving it attached to the book.

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Possible_Shoulder_50@reddit

I liked the ones that had the lines printed inside for name and phone number.

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Tonto_HdG@reddit

I don't remember those, but that was a trick I used. I had my number pre-written in books and if a hot drunk gal asked for a light, I'd tell her she could keep the book. If I remember right, it worked once.

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Rude_Mobile_1991@reddit

Too many murderers were caught by dropping one next to the victim. Big Murder got rid of them

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Sorry-Government920@reddit

I would always pull the lever on cigarette machines to see I would spit out a book of matches

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Junior_Lavishness_96@reddit

My parents had a big fishbowl full of matchbooks.

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EnderAlexander@reddit

Was it next to the bowl of keys? 😋

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AndYouDidThatBecause@reddit

Next to the pineapple

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ZweitenMal@reddit

I was in a very chic bookstore in Long Island City (a neighborhood in New York) tonight, and they had a basket of matchbooks decorated with vintage book covers at the register. They were $4.

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loCAtek@reddit

Remember that ol' superstition? 'Don't light three on a match!' Gas station clerk here, we haven't given out matches in forever, however we do sell cigarettes. I guess the company makes more money selling lighters, but that doesn't stop people from asking for matches still. What I hate are folks who ask to use a lighter for free - they'll say, "I'll just use it once and bring it right back!" Now that lighter has less butane in it for the paying customer or worse; old habits kick in and they pocket the lighter and leave.

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ozSillen@reddit

Don't light three because it gives the enemy enough time to shoot you in the head.

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That-Grape-5491@reddit

You could shoot them like bottlecaps. I taught my college roommates how. We would have epic matchbook fights between the 5 of us.

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Possible_Shoulder_50@reddit

Sounds fun. Is there a tutorial anywhere? 😎

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That-Grape-5491@reddit

If you can snap your fingers, you can shoot matchbooks. Put the long side on your thumb, and the short side with the match heads on your middle finger. Snap your fingers, matchbook will fly.

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PhilDGrowler@reddit

We gave them as part of our wedding favors in 2002. I still have a few books.

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thirtyone-charlie@reddit

In the bathroom at home. Haha

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Rocketjen@reddit

I still grab one anytime I see them. Never a smoker but great for candles and outside fires.

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Ok_Entrepreneur_8509@reddit

I was showing the kiddos the Back to the Future movies and it is an important plot point that the matchbook from Biff's casino changes after the timeline is altered. I had to stop and explain what a matchbook was, why they would be in a bowl in a casino, and why it might have a name of some random business on it after the change. I think it was the most confusing thing in the movie for them.

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jbellafi@reddit

I have a decades old collection. Probably 30 years old. So I started using the matches (mainly for lighting candles) but it was weirdly emotional for me bc it felt like I was now on the downward slope of life by doing that instead of continuing to collect. A strange realization!

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Antsygrl1@reddit

Hahaha I'm at work on break and my husband's lighter died today and he stole mine, so I have been using matches all day. I hate the smell. He says he has to have an actual lighter in case he wants to smoke weed. I'm dying of laughter. Dude literally smokes weed once a week.

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OneManLost@reddit

Sure do! Just recently I found my old collection I started in the late 80s, lol https://preview.redd.it/nr1rkmtegz4h1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce9ee69ea43f6124018f053bfc131accca509180

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit

Do you remember the bar trick of snapping fingers and flipping a matchbook with a lit match sticking up sliding down the bar?

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Celtic159@reddit (OP)

Baller move.

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Roscoe-is-my-dog@reddit

And an ashtray on every restaurant table.

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Celtic159@reddit (OP)

The foil ones at McDonald's.

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NeverEverMaybe0_0@reddit

I *really* don't miss that.

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Ckn-bns-jns@reddit

My dad had a Pep Boys one like this in the garage growing up. https://preview.redd.it/fzwe22fvez4h1.jpeg?width=236&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92eea3ead5dc1d75b1afb254b74cfa3e54fb0cac

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itwillmakesenselater@reddit

My oldest brother had a collection of matcbooks from various restaurants and bars in our area.

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