Lighting a match to burn incense or start the grill feels satisfying. The sound, the smell and the flash of light together take me back to childhood. In a family of may smokers, this is a sound I was very familiar with. The lighting of a cigarette usually coincided with a stress-free time, people visiting, lounging around after a festive meal waiting for chai and snacks to show up from the kitchen where the women were gathered. I can't recall any ads on the matchboxes I was familiar with from back then. The ones I have at home look mundane too. I can see why matchboxes could be a nice collectible.
They are some of the many young people who are embracing phillumeny—the hobby of collecting matchbooks, matchboxes and other match-related items—and displaying their collections at home and online. It’s a resurgence of an interest which harks back to a time when matches were ubiquitous as smoking and advertising tools.
There are matchbook illustrations and prints; matchbooks branded “Match My Freak,” after Tinashe’s popular song; and custom matches for homes or events. On Etsy, searches for matchbook or matchbox art are up 92% in the last three months compared with the same time last year, a representative for the company said.
Simpler times when things were tactile and no electronic or mechanical devices were needed to get a job done. Those of us who lived in such times have a reason to feel nostalgic, even those who were born in the trailing end of those times might want to cling to a memory that have only heard about.
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