I remember the day that someone put a lit one in my hand and dared me to take a puff. It was down at Willow Creek Park and I think I was in junior high school. But I was too scared. Both of my mom's parents smoked and each of them literally dropped dead of heart attacks at ages 65 and 70, respectively.
Mom never smoked, but my father did. Salems. Not a lot, just a few cigarettes a day. He told me that he started in the Army during World War II; they even put cigarettes in the K-ration boxes. If you smoked, you were entitled to more work breaks – and that's how he started.
I remember that he would smoke a few cigarettes when he took my brothers and I fishing. It was kind of shocking and I worried that he would get cancer someday.
In later years, he would sneak a few puffs on the side of the house. I think he did it just to have something that he could keep from Mom, although I don't think she was fooled one bit with his ever-present candy mints. When he finally stopped driving and was stuck at home, I went out and bought him his Salems. An eventual heart attack finally made him quit. He never had cancer, but the damage to his body and heart had been done.
For a while in the 1980s, a woman I dated smoked for a while. Guess what brand? Salems!
All of this is just a lead up to the ad below, which ran in the Lorain Journal on November 5, 1953. The ad positions Philip Morris as "The cigarette that takes the FEAR out of smoking!"
But the fear isn't about dying; it's the fear of 'irritating vapors.' The exclusive ingredient Di-GL in Philip Morris Cigarettes apparently prevents those vapors, leaving only the 'rich flavor and aroma.' The ad copy even notes, "Only Philip Morris offers you this record of safety."
It would be another ten years or so before the US Surgeon General would issue his warning about smoking.
Today, it's hard to believe people still smoke. Many people at my work – people that I like – still smoke, and head outside several times an hour for a smoke break. I feel kind of sorry for them, and I'm glad that I never got started.
But I gotta admit, I liked the smell of Salems.
8 comments:
I remember that my mother smoked when I was little.Probably under 10.Then I remember her not smoking anymore.It was like one day she smoked and the next she didn't.She probably gradually weaned herself but to a kid everything just seems different.Anyways I was happy that "mommy" didn't stink up the house anymore.
My grandfather smoked, my mom smoked, my aunt's and uncles smoked, so it's no surprise that I took up the habit. I started at sixteen, and stopped at forty-one, a pack every day, and the good Lord took the craving away; I laid down my pack and my lighter, and never picked them up again (although I currently own four disposable lighters, which I use for singeing thread and material).
At the time I quit, I was spending nearly six hundred bucks a year for cigarettes; it would be around two thousand dollars today.
I quit 6 years ago at 46 years old. I also thank the Lord that the cravings went away, but it took a year or two, especially after dinner cravings. I suppose I started smoking because my friends were doing it and of course I had to be cool too.
I've never smoked a cigarette. A few see-gars while playing poker with the boys. Well, not even real see-gars. They were Swishwer Sweets. Tipped, of course, but the foul taste in my mouth that lasted for days discouraged any habit.
Dad smoked a couple packs a day. He said he started when he was 12 and smoked for a half century. A variety of brands. It was a habit I despised as I grew older. We made finally made a deal: He finally quit smoking, cold turkey and for good, in return for me keeping my hair short and my beard neatly trimmed. He's been gone 30+ years but I'm still sticking to the bargain.
All in all, though, 2nd-hand, I probably smoked a half-pack a day for the first 20 years of my life.
A friend of mine from Lorain was on assistance (SSI) and even with a meager pension from her deceased husband she could barely make ends meet. I used to take her grocery shopping every so often to get caught up on food. But she could not give up those damn cigarettes and she smoked a lot. She dropped dead of a heart attack when she got to work about 4 years ago.
Dennis:
I had a good friend who was constantly broke but spent $$$ a week on smokes and liters of Coke. He refused to give either of them up despite the cost and health risks. It aggravated me no end, but then I was never addicted to anything like that, either.
Ended up killing him at 59 y.o.
I never smoked either- well, only once. I grew up on South Jefferson Blvd. on the east side, and I credit Maynard Bliss for saving me from a lifetime of smoking. Maynard was sort of the bad kid in our year. He lived across the street from me. One day, walking the half mile or so to Longfellow Junior High School, Maynard pulled out some cigarettes and made me smoke all the way to school. I got so sick that, for years, the mere smell of tobacco smoke would make me sick to my stomach, and that got me through the age where most people started smoking. So, thank you, Maynard, wherever you might be; you did me a giant favor.
Two pack a day smoker. I got Pneumonia and ended up in the hospital. Put the cigarettes down and haven't had one since. That was 17 years ago. Don't ever have an urge.
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