Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus./N.Z. prison) a packet of tobacco; modern prison-issued packs weigh 1oz (28g) .

1870		Australasian (Melbourne) 31 Dec. 15/1: In the house occupied by the prisoners was found a quantity of tobacco [...] addressed to different prisoners in Pentridge. [...] Some of the packets of tobacco were thus addressed: — 6 figs to Dad, 6 do. for Lolly Ginger, 6 for Up Long, 12 for Jack the Lagger, 6 for Luggar Jack, [...] 12 for Cox, tailor’s shop; 6 figs Darky Kelly.
1878		J.H. Nicholson ‘Bunkum in Parvo’ in Opal Fever 110: We might stop for a fortnight and twiddle our thumbs, / And cadge figs of backy from shearers and others.
1900		Truth (Brisbane) 16 Sept. 3/5: The gaol in Adelaide (S.A.) was considered [...] by far the best, ‘plenty of good tucker and a quarter of a fig (plug) of baccy a day’.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 24: You weren't allowed tobacco, of course, and I had decided to try and give it up [...] Mike managed to slip in a whole fig and matches and papers, so I gave up trying to give it up.
1973		J. Justin Prisoner 29: ‘A fig?’ ‘A packet of boob – prison, to you – tobacco.’.
1980		K. Berry First Offender 152: ‘I got six figs for that load of rubbish.’ Fig was a curious word, an Americanism that had somehow filtered into N.Z. [sic] penal institutions and survived. [...] There was no other word for the cellophane packet that contained around fifty grammes of offcuts and substandard tobacco supplied by the companies. Nobody spoke of a packet of tobacco – it was always a fig .
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 248: fig (n) Packet of prison tobacco. A US tobacco-grower’s term in the 1830s.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 68/1: fig n. a one or two-ounce packet of prison tobacco.