Red Dead Redemption 2 hides 144 Cigarette Cards across houses, train stations, camps, shops, and landmarks. Finding one in a place Arthur had no reason to search is satisfying. Finding the last missing card in a 12-card set can feel less charming after hours of riding between abandoned buildings.
The collection has a built-in shortcut. Every pack of Premium Cigarettes contains a random card, and general stores will keep selling packs as long as Arthur has money and room in his satchel. Players can therefore explore for the cards, buy them, or combine both methods.
Start Smoking and Other Hobbies
Meet Phineas T. Ramsbottom outside Flatneck Station. He explains his collection and gives Arthur a mailing address. The stranger mission asks for all 12 complete sets, but the Total Completion menu is much kinder: only one full set of 12 cards needs to be mailed for the Cigarette Cards requirement.
Cards found before meeting Phineas still count. Open the satchel's Documents section to see each set and the missing numbers. Never sell the only copy of a card that has not been mailed. Duplicate cards can safely be sold to a Fence for a little money back.
All 12 Cigarette Card Sets
- Famous Gunslingers: legendary shooters and lawmen from the frontier.
- Artists, Writers and Poets: cultural figures whose work reached the nineteenth-century public.
- Vistas of America: towns, landmarks, and landscapes from across the country.
- Gems of Beauty: actresses, performers, and celebrated women of the period.
- Flora of America: flowers, trees, and plants that also appear around the game world.
- Stars of the Stage: performers from theater, vaudeville, and popular entertainment.
- Fauna of America: animals found in the wild, including several species Arthur can hunt.
- Marvels of Travel: ships, trains, coaches, and other ways people crossed the world.
- World Champions: athletes, fighters, and competitors known for physical feats.
- Amazing Inventions: machines and devices that changed everyday life.
- Horses: famous breeds and individual animals.
- Prominent Americans: political, military, and public figures.
Each set contains 12 numbered cards. Fixed copies exist in the world, but a Premium Cigarette pack can award any card from any set. Duplicates are normal, especially when the collection is close to complete.
The Fast Premium Cigarette Method
Go to a general store, open the catalog, and buy Premium Cigarettes. Arthur receives the card as soon as the pack is purchased; he does not need to smoke anything. Keep buying until the satchel reaches its cigarette limit, open the satchel, discard the cigarettes, and return to the catalog.
- Bring about $2,000 if the goal is all 144 cards. Luck, Honor discounts, cards already found, and money recovered from duplicates can move the final cost in either direction.
- Use a store with a Fence nearby, such as Saint Denis, when possible. Selling duplicates between buying sessions makes the expense easier to absorb.
- Save before a long buying session. If the final stretch produces an awful run of duplicates, reloading gives the random draw another chance.
- Check the collection after each full satchel. Once only a few cards are missing, stop buying and use their fixed world locations.
The method is repetitive, but it can finish the entire mission in a fraction of the time needed to visit 144 locations. Gold from treasure maps easily funds it. Players pursuing only 100 percent should stop as soon as one complete set is ready to mail.
Prepare Before Spending the Money
Do the buying run after Arthur has enough cash to finish it without constant trips back to camp. One or two treasure hunts provide a comfortable budget, and higher Honor lowers store prices. A larger satchel also means fewer pauses to discard cigarettes, although the method works with the basic inventory.
Keep the Premium Cigarettes highlighted in the satchel so they can be discarded quickly when the limit is reached. Do not throw away regular provisions or valuables just to create space; the card is awarded when the pack is purchased, and only the cigarettes need to leave. When cash runs low, sell duplicate cards and any gold bars at the Fence, then return to the store.
The Cheaper Hybrid Method
Collect cards naturally through Chapters 2 and 3. Search occupied houses only when the story takes Arthur inside, inspect train platforms and stations, and pick up Premium Cigarettes from camps and loot. This builds several sets without turning the game into a card route.
After the story has filled most of the collection, buy packs until the missing list becomes short. Then visit the fixed locations for the last few cards. Every named card has a guaranteed place in the world, so the final copy never depends entirely on luck.
This approach keeps the fun of discovery and removes the worst endgame problem. Random packs are excellent when almost every draw is new. They become expensive when only three or four numbers are missing from a pool of 144.
Mailing Sets and Collecting Rewards
Take a complete set to any post office and mail it to Phineas. Rewards arrive through the mail after time passes. The first completed set gives Arthur the Vintage Civil War Handcuffs, a unique crafting material used for the Alligator Tooth Talisman.
Each of the 12 sets pays its own combination of cash, tonics, crafting materials, or other supplies. Mailing all 12 finishes Smoking and Other Hobbies and adds a final $200 reward. Duplicate cards left over after the mission can still be sold to a Fence.
Mail sets as soon as they are complete. This protects the progress, clears the full set from the satchel, and starts returning some of the money spent on Premium Cigarettes. The collection menu will continue to show which individual cards have been discovered.
What Counts Toward 100 Percent
The official Total Completion tracker asks for one complete Cigarette Card set, not all 144 cards. Meet Phineas, finish any set of 12, and mail it. Once the set registers and the reward process begins, the Cigarette Cards line can be cleared.
All 12 sets are for players finishing the stranger mission, filling the Compendium, or chasing every collectible. There is no deadline and no card becomes permanently unavailable. The fastest plan is simple in practice: explore until the collection stops growing naturally, buy packs while most draws are useful, and use fixed locations to clean up the stubborn final cards.
