Fast Five: Modern tobacco card brands that get my attention

This one is a quick idea for a new department here on The Buzz ... Fast Five -- a quick list under a simple topic that might offer a basic starting point for a themed collection. It's a basic list of five items that could be fun for a starting collector or a new way to add to a stash that might already seemingly include everything when it comes to cardboard. For some of you, it's probably common sense. For others of you out there, it's something to think about.

This time? Five modern tobacco-inspired brands that always catch my attention. Why go here? Because we're getting a new take on Topps 206 (at right) coming from Topps later this week.

THE MAINSTAY FOR ME ...
Topps' Allen & Ginter baseball card set has been a go-to for me in various forms since its first set in 2006 with that debut carefully following the design of the 1887 Allen & Ginter World's Champions multi-sport set that included baseball players alongside other athletes on cards inserted into cigarette packs. (If you don't know, that's basically the origin of trading cards ... something printed on cardboard used to help stiffen cigarette packs -- i.e. tobacco cards.) Ginter includes one mini card in the same size as the originals -- 1 7/16 by 2 5/8 inches -- and also has framed autos and Relics that are those size, too. Those things have stayed the same as modern takes on a retro design of that feel have been the evolutionary feature since. Do you recognize the 2006 card up top? You might not as it was a mini promo card found inside a promo Rip Card sent to dealers to show one of the interesting features of the brand.

Keep reading for four more making up the list this time.

I MISS THE MINIS
When Gypsy Queen arrived from Topps in 2011, it was another relatively faithful re-creation of an 1880s brand -- the 1887-90 N175 Goodwin & Co. Gypsy Queen baseball cards -- and the formula has largely remained the same over the years except for one big (little) jarring change in my mind ... it punted the minis beginning in 2017. This one often included a box of mini parallels atop of minis in packs for hobby boxes and those also were the home for other hits, too, in past years. This one has improved in recent years but for me it's one that will always be about the mini parallels.

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PEAK OF A THREE-YEAR RUN
Panini America took on the tobacco-card approach in a three-year run of Golden Age sets from 2012 to 2014 that included a number of baseball stars but also a ton of "newsmakers" from the past up to the 1970s -- the newer celebs and historical figures being a unique edge over other sets here. Mini cards are one per pack here with a number of varying parallel backs -- a staple of these types of sets -- with some of the surprises in the sets including The Three Stooges, Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and The Bad News Bears. There's no MLB licensing on the baseball side but the rest is pretty solid, though the base card designs are funky at times.

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BEFORE TOPPS 206s ... 
Topps' original T206 run -- or Topps 206 -- began with three series of cards back in 2002 (that one didn't make my list ... it's fine but I just like others better) and then it continued with a reboot in packs again in 2009 and 2010 (again, not on my list but fine). The releases in between them, though? A favorite of mine -- the two-series Topps 205 set that used the design of the old T205 baseball cards from 1911. The formula here is basically the same as other Topps tobacco-style sets -- a mini per pack, basic cards, framed hits (autos, Relics, buybacks) -- but with the biggest change here being the gold-bordered design and other touches unique to the original. The box prices on Series 2 seriously overpower what might be found inside -- the best rookies in that one are bombs -- but there are some highlights if you get lucky.

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THE FIRST YEAR REIGNS
Upper Deck got in on the retro/tobacco card trend with Goodwin Champions in 2009 and had the advantage of being able to include some other names you might know well on cardboard but won't find elsewhere. Not all of the cards were as iconic as this Michael Jordan mini from that first year, but it's a brand that's been full of surprises ever since. The only drawback in my mind? Not enough minis in some years, especially if you're a retail buyer.

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What would you want to see in a future Fast Five? Let Buzz know on Twitter or email.

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