For your consideration, an antique Little Giant tobacco plug cutter. The cutter is in great condition. It is made of cast iron with no damage or repairs but was cleaned and painted before I acquired it.  I believe the original color was black. The top of the base is marked LITTLE GIANT in the casting. The base has two mounting screw holes one on each end. The cutter still works perfectly, and the blade is sharp. The very  unique feature of this tobacco plug cutter is the cam action handle that controls the guillotine blade. Near the blade it is marked 1/2-inch increments to measure the length of the tobacco being cut.  The plug cutter measures overall 12 1/4" in length by 6 1/2" in height by 3 1/2" in width and weighs _______.

Plug tobacco was a type of solid brick/bar chewing and smoking tobacco and was the way tobacco was sold in the day. When a large “brick” of pressed tobacco was produced, instead of cutting it into flakes or slices, the manufacturer would cut it into smaller "bars" or "cubes". Plug tobacco was what tobacco lovers would buy before manufacturers put tobacco in little cans or pouches. The tobacco came in plugs or bars, if the customer did not want to buy a whole bar, they could buy a couple of inches at a time. These smaller pieces would sell for five to ten cents in the country store. Tobacco cutters were used in stores to cut bars of pressed tobacco into sections to be either chewed or smoked. To make the measuring and cutting easier, tobacco companies supplied the stores with plug tobacco cutters. These cutters were made of iron and consisted of a rounded area that housed the blade, a lever that moved the blade, and a base with rule marks for cutting precise amounts. Since the tobacco company supplied the device free of charge, they might put a little bit of advertising on the plug cutter as well.

Plug cutters were common from the 1800s through the 1940s and came in many different styles and shapes. The cutters were usually screwed down to the front counter.