Post 9/11, but before matches were a big NO NO...
I was bringing 8 or so books from Tucson to Vegas (old ones, feature books!) and packed them into my check-on. While I was waiting to board I was approached by a TSA Agent. He verified my ID and showed me the matchbooks, saying that they were pulled from my check-on, but there were few enough to allow me to carry them on! Wow!
Jim