Ultra Pro Tobacco & Mini Card Protection Guide

Tobacco/Mini Protection

Tobacco cards have their roots in the earliest days of collecting and are among the most popular vintage options. Although much newer than tobacco cards, mini cards have been around for several decades and present an intriguing alternative for collectors. New products featuring mini and tobacco cards have become very popular and some of the top card products today include inserts or base cards in this form. Although they add a fun element to card collecting, problems can arise when you try to find a way to protect these small cards. Standard-sized card protection is not a great choice, especially for premium cards, because they are simply too big.

Ultra Pro has several options available that should help collectors protect these specialty cards.

Ultra Pro Tobacco & Mini Pages, Toploaders & Sleeves

First, for those base and common tobacco cards, there are specific card pages from Ultra Pro that are sized to fit the narrow collectibles. While mini cards are normally just a bit smaller than standard cards, tobacco cards would not do well when house in standard card pages. Previously, due to the popularity of 1975 Topps Mini Baseball, Ultra pro made mini card pages, but they abandoned the line. Based on the popularity of current Topps Mini products, Ultra Pro has started producing those pages again.

9-Pocket Platinum Series Mini

Part of the extensive Ultra Pro line of card pages, the 15-pocket tobacco pages offer an inexpensive way to house a large quantity of tobacco cards.

15-Pocket Platinum Series Tobacco

• Holds 15 tobacco cards.
• Fits up to 1-1/2" X 2-1/2" cards.
• Features UV protection.

Next, for instances where you want added protection, there are toploaders available for individual tobacco cards as well. Just like the regular Ultra Pro Toploaders, the tobacco toploaders are made of PVC, so the packages come with soft sleeves already included. These toploaders are ideal for standard thickness, 25PT cards. Those looking to protect thicker tobacco cards should refer to the tobacco inserts below.

• Contains 10 toploaders and 10 soft sleeves.
• Fits up to 1-15/32" X 2-11/16" cards.
• Ideal for most vintage tobacco cards, as well as Goodwin Champions, Allen & Ginter and Gypsy Queen.

Mini Card Soft Sleeves

Ultra Pro One Touch Magnetic Inserts

Lastly, for those rare and valuable cards, especially autographs, Ultra Pro offers special card inserts that allow tobacco and mini cards to fit into the One-Touch Magnetic Cases. Outside of the added protection of the magnetic case, there is also the UV protection, which is a great added value.

The inserts are meant to frame the smaller cards for better display in the magnetic cases. Also, multiple inserts can be stacked to accommodate thicker cards. The inserts are meant to fit tightly, so cards that are not properly cut will have a hard time fitting. Ultra Pro suggests using light sand paper to clean up the card and allow it to fit in the insert, but that would fall to the individual preference of each collector. Also, the inserts are acid-free and composed of non-PVC materials, so they are safe for longterm storage and display. The corners of the inserts feature the same diamond cut-outs found in the magnetic cases. This insures that the card corners will stay sharp, because the corners are not able to make contact with anything.

As an added benefit, these inserts can be a great option for the many thick relic and autograph cards that fall between the magnetic case sizes. Say, for instance, that a card you own is too big for a 130PT magnetic case, but too small for a 180PT magnetic case. Simply house the card in the 180PT case and include the appropriate amount of inserts necessary to achieve a tight fit. The insert would be applied behind the card so that the card front would not be obscurred. The Mini Card Insert would be the most ideal for this because they are much thinner and would obstruct the least amount of the card back.

Mini Card Insert

As you can see in the images below, the mini cards are minimally smaller than standard cards, so the insert is not as noticeable. Try to ignore Bobby Parnell's face.

• Contains (5) 1mm inserts.
• Fits up to 2-1/4" X 3-1/8" cards.
• Can be used with 35PT to 180PT One-Touch Magnetic cases.
• Ideal for Topps Mini Baseball.

Tobacco Card Insert

Tobacco cards, on the other hand, are considerably smaller, so the insert is quite large.

• Contains 3 inserts, including (1) 2mm insert and (2) 1mm inserts.
• Fits up to 1-1/2" X 2-3/4" cards.
• Can be used with 35PT to 180PT One-Touch Magnetic cases.
• Ideal for most vintage tobacco cards, as well as Goodwin Champions, Allen & Ginter and Gypsy Queen.

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