Woodbine cigarettes

[wwcrazy 10]

oooo woodbines, takes me back to my childhood, they were my dads smokes. I can smell them now.

[buck 11]

I don't recall the machines but in the early 50's my dad smoked Woodbine and Mum smoked ParkDrive,little cigs with no tips, they must have killed the throat,did you ever smoke Craven'A'?

I have an old tin sign that say's " For your throat's sake Smoke Craven 'A' they never vary - from the picture it looks like they have tips on.

Craven A were "posh" cigarettes with cork tips to stop the paper sticking to your lip, but they were not filtered. They were considered effeminate at the time. Real men smoked Capstan full strength or Senior Service with no tip. Woodbines were tiny and smoked out in less than five minutes. Old guys used to finish them off with a pin when they got too small to hold with their fingers. Park Drives were the same size but tasted desperate. Everybody smoked. You couldn't see the screen at the pictures sometimes for the smoke. Everybody smoked and died young. We used to blame the works chimney stacks for it.

[buck 11]

Remember 'Players Weights' and 'Turf' both priced the same as Woodbine's and Park Drive

They were awful. Toward the end of the war when you couldn't find a woodbine to save your life Weights and Turf were about all you could along with a disaster called Pasha made with turkish tobacco. I should have stopped then, but soldiered on till I joined the navy and got all the cigs I could buy duty free. I'vr been quit for years, but the craving comes back now and then. I don't give in to it though. Emphysema reminds me of what I did wrong.

[BLITZER 10]

I’ve never heard of Meadow Gold, but thinking about the different brands during the second world war brings to mind State Express 333, State Express 555, Sobranie, Passing Cloud, Joysticks (twice the length of ordinary cigs), Woodbines (at one time only available in tens and not in twenties), Park Drive (at one time only available in twenties and not tens), Players Weights, Turf, Sweet Afton (an Irish brand), Sweet Caporal (Canadian version okay, French version absolute crap), Lucky Strike (toasted tobacco), Camel (toasted tobacco), Nosegay (really awful), Players Medium Navy Cut, Capstan Medium, Capstan Full Strength and all the Co-operative Society’s own brands which were produced from their factory in Manchester. And let’s not forget Senior Service, Black Cat (4 extra free), Craven A (which tasted awful if you lit the cork tip while lighting up in a darkened cinema), Stuyvesant and — to bring it to a close — the best of the lot if you were in the RN, and that was the monthly allowance of ‘Tickler’, a roll your own tobacco straight from Virginia and without any mix of the Empire’s tobaccos! At Pompey we could get Tickler machine-rolled with HM Barracks, Portsmouth printed on the cigarette papers.

 

You've just about mentioned all the brands of years ago Peterw,but was'nt it Kensitas that gave "4 for your friends"? I remember in the Navy during WW2

receiving free packets of "Cape to Cairo" and "Martin's" . I'd rather have smoked dried horse manure! I too remember "Tickler tobacco,it was 9p for a sealed half pound tin,and there was also a similar tin for pipe smokers. Duty free cigarettes were a better buy,for me anyway,with 20 players,or Senior Service or Capstan for 6d(two and a half pence). There were also duty free

Woobines(bigger than the normal civvy ones) and they were 20 for 4d(one and a half pence). You may think that was cheap, and by todays prices,they

certainly are,but our pay was crap too. I stopped smoking 45 years ago,one of the best decisions I ever made.

[TonyRevitt 10]

Not only forgot Three Castles, also forgot Cadets and Kensitas. But it was a long time ago! Searching my memory, was there not a time when Three Castles was printed on the packet as Three Caftles?

 

And Churchmans, with two for your friends

[Heeley tyke 10]

It was in the late 40s, early 50s when I started smoking.

Cigs were in short supply and you smoked what you could get.

Players Airman were popular but Senior Service were very hard to get.

Turf, Nosegay and Bar One were absolutely awful. There was a novelty cig called Joystick that was twice as long as an ordinary cig. Another was Royalty that was twice as thick.

For a short time I smoked a pipe and my favourite tobacco was Baby's Bottom.

It came in a tin with a pic of a kiddie's bottom on it and the slogan, "As smooth as a Baby's Bottom!"

 

I stopped smoking in 1985 after a heavy cold and lost the taste for them altogether. I was fortunate as I would never have stopped otherwise.

[mikeG 16]

In the early 60's I'd often bus it into Sheffield on a Saturday morning with 1 or 2 mates. Few coffees, look in the record shops etc. There was a tobacconists not far from Barkers Pool that sold Blue Book I think they were called. In a pack of 10, you got 2 virginia, 2 turkish, 2 french, 2 sobranie and 2 something else. Made a change. I think Balkan Sobranie were the nicest I've tasted. Gave up 9 years ago.

[flyer 10]

Nobody seems to remember "Pasha" came out during the war

[Heeley tyke 10]

Nobody seems to remember "Pasha" came out during the war

 

 

Gawwddd... Pasha and Grand Turk.... Yuk!!!

 

I remember there was a film being shown in the forties called "The Mask of Dimitrios"

In the plot, the actor, Sydney Greenstreet, walks into a Turkish bar and asks for twenty Pasha.

The derision of the audience echoed round the cinema!

[mickr 10]

Did anyone mention Du Maurier (spelling??) My headmistress at Huntsmans Gardens school - Miss Hoyle - used to have a box on her desk and chain-smoke them. Late 50's.

[Heeley tyke 10]

My grandfather smoked Greys from as far back as I can remember.

I also remember him smoking Passing Clouds. They came in a pinkish packet and they were oval shaped.

[Nigel Womersle 10]

Was it Kensitas that had two extra fags in them and stated 'two extra for your friends?' I remember Domino cigarettes too, also Lucky Black Cat.