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.
