The Match Game: Will restaurants continue to give away free matches?

That’s right, boys and girls: Once upon a time, men and women were allowed to smoke in restaurants and bars. They smoked with such unhealthy abandon, in fact, that restaurants put their names and logos on attractive glass ashtrays and put them on every table in the dining room (where they were frequently stolen). They gave away free matches, too!

Some restaurants still do. Matchbooks — imprinted with a restaurant’s name, address and phone number — have long been considered an inexpensive but effective marketing tool. After all, even nonsmokers use matches to light household items like candles, pilot lights, barbecue grills, incense, bongs and dynamite.