The cigarette book: the history and culture of smoking

325 Pages·2010·11.05 MB·English

by  Harrald, Chris;Watkins, Fletcher

The Cigarette Book
The History and Culture of Smoking
Chris Harrald
Fletcher Watkins
Copyright © 2010 by Chris Harrald and Fletcher Watkins
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the ex-
press written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews
or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 555 Eighth Avenue,
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Harrald, Chris.
The cigarette book: the history and culture of smoking / Chris Harrald and Fletcher Watkins.
p. cm.
9781616080730
1. Smoking--Social aspects. 2. Tobacco--Social aspects. 3. Cigarettes. I. Watkins, Fletcher. II.
Title.
GT3020.H33 2010
394.1’4--dc22
2010022148
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgements
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Acknowledgements
Forpermissiontousecopyrightmaterial,gratefulacknowledgement ismadetothefollowing:
For material from Lucky Jim (1954) by Kingsley Amis, to Orion Publishing; for extracts
fromherwriting,toBerylBainbridgeandtoJohnson&Alcock;forextractsfromherwriting,
to Lynn Barber; for the extract from My Last Breath (1982) by Luis Buñuel, published by
Jonathan Cape, to the Random House Group Ltd; for the extract from Of Cigarettes, High
Heels and Other Interesting Things (2008) by Marcel Danesi, to Palgrave Macmillan; for
the extract from The Woman Who Walked into Doors (1996) by Roddy Doyle, published by
Jonathan Cape, to the Random House Group Ltd; for the extract from The Philanthropist
(1970) by Christopher Hampton, to Faber and Faber; for ‘Be prepared’, to Tom Lehrer; for
the extract from Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930), to the Estate of Siegfried Sassoon;
for the extract from his article on journalism and smoking, to Ian Jack; for the extract from
TheSingingDetective (1986)byDennisPotter,toFaberandFaber;forextracts fromTheButt
(2008) and other cigarette-related writing, to Will Self; for material from Kenneth Tynan: A
Life(2003)byDominicShellard,toYaleUniversityPress;for‘Smoke!Smoke!Smoke!(That
Cigarette)’ and ‘So round, so firm, so fully packed’ by Merle Travis, to Warner Chappell; for
extracts from The Road Home (2007) by Rose Tremain, to the William Morris Agency.
Every effort has been made to trace or contact copyright holders. The publisher will be
pleased to make good in future editions or reprints any omissions or corrections brought to
their attention.
ThanksalsofortheirhelptoDavidHewsonandSuzanneFisher,andtoDavidFabricantand
Chris Mullen for assistance with images.
One day the last cigarette on earth will be smoked. One final puff will be sent heaven-bound,
leavingalingering,evanescentsmoke-ring.Thennothingbutpure,clearspace.Theperfection
of a safe and rational universe.
And the wise of this world will rejoice.
Because logic demands that mankind is rid of this pernicious poison.
Wasn’t that well-known logician Adolf Hitler the most virulent opponent of cigarette
smoking in the last century? Logic also tells us cigarettes are bad for our health … hence per-
haps the diseased visions of Pablo Picasso who smoked cigarettes until his death at the age of
ninety-two.
No, this is sophistry. All smokers know that cigarettes are dangerous. Each one is a dance
with death – and the defiant smoker will say that therein lies its charm.
So each puff is an existential gesture, an assertion of choice and life in the face of death.
They would mock the warning on the packet that Smoking Causes Fatal Diseases with the
rejoinder that life causes fatal diseases. No, these too are silly actuarial calculations masquer-
ading as philosophy.
Thetruthisthatcigarettesarepleasurable.It’sastrangepleasurebutapleasurenonetheless.
There is no other reason for this devotion to the illogical absurdity of the cigarette. Kissed as
ever by the corrective of pain but a pleasure nonetheless.
A pleasure in the choreography of smoking the cigarette, pleasure in the aesthetics of the
packaging,pleasureinallthecultural resonances ofthecigarette overthelastcentury.Innov-
els, in art, in films, in sex, in politics, in war. The ubiquity of the cigarette is astounding.
But soon it will be no more.
So this book is a simple valediction, a miscellany of curios and soon-to-be-lost facts before
that perfect tube of delight is plucked from the smiling face of the earth.
A
Aardvark
The UK cigarette advertising restrictions that came in during the 1970s drove advertising
agenciestonewheightsofingenuity.Ina1983poster,Winston’sagency,J.WalterThompson,
showed a surprised public an unusual piece of taxidermy. The headline read:
We’re not allowed to tell you anything about Winston cigarettes, so here’s a
stuffed aardvark.
ThesamecampaignshowedaChinesecookingimplementforcefullyembeddedinachocol-
ate cake. This time the line was:
We’renotallowedtotellyouanythingaboutWinstoncigarettes,sohere’sawok
in the Black Forest.
This was advertising surrealism fighting back against government censorship. For the two
triumphant examples of this See Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut.
Adieux
On1January1971,at11.59p.m.,ontheJohnnyCarsonShowandtheMervGriffinShow,the
Marlboro cowboys rode across TV screens and into the sunset, the last cigarette commercial
tobeshownintheUS.Thedatehadbeenextendedadaytoallowthetelevision networksone
last cash windfall from cigarette advertising in New Year’s Day football games.
CBS and ABC networks said the ban resulted in a 50 per cent drop in advertising revenue.
Lostrevenueisindependentlyestimatedat$220m.UndertheFairnessDoctrine,anti-smoking
advertising was also removed from the air.
Johnny Carson (1925 – 75) often had a cigarette in his hand during early years of the show.
He stopped smoking on air as the deleterious effects of smoking became known. He died of
emphysema, following a massive heart attack brought on by his chain-smoking.
The last televised cigarette ad in the UKran on31July 1965.It was a 60-second commer-
cial for Rothman International. The televisionadvertising ban came into effect the following
day, 1 August. By the following year, cigarette consumption had surged to 6 billion cigar-
ettes.
Tara Parker-Pope, Cigarettes: Anatomy of an Industry, New York, 2001
Advertising
Cigarettes are inseparably intertwined with advertising and are the most spectacular proof of
its efficacy. Across the world cigarette companies have made their advertising agencies rich,
while the advertising agencies have made the cigarette companies even richer.
It is with the launch of Camel in 1913, and R. J. Reynolds’s singleminded high-budget
plugging of the brand that the idea of an ‘advertising campaign’ was born. The word ‘cam-
paign’ with its implications of battles and war was highly appropriate to the fierce competi-
tion that was soon to consume the tobacco companies.
It could be said that, however successful the advertising, much of it amounted to no more
than hyperbole and ingenious suggestion. Yet there is a profound skill in playing with words
in a way that catches people’s imaginations.
‘It’s toasted,’ claimed Lucky, to enormous effect, splendidly ignoring the fact that so was
thetobaccoofeveryotherbrand.GeorgeJ.Whelan,aleadingdistributoroftobaccoproducts
inthe1920s,andformercigarettemanufacturer,observed:‘Thereisnosecretaboutcigarette
making. Anyone can analyze a Camel and manufacture it.’ But that wasn’t the point. ‘The
users would say it was not the same.’ Such is the power of advertising.
‘The public must be given ideas as to what it should like, and it is quite
surprising sometimes how the public is sold on what might look [. . .] like
the brainchild of a demented person . . . ’
An analyst writing in Advertising and Selling in 1936 observed:
You know a large part of the public doesn’t really know what it wants. Our big
task in recent years has been to dig up new likes or dislikes which we think
might strike the public’s fancy, and sell them to the public. We have dealt with
diet, weight, coughs, mildness, quality of tobacco, nerves, toasting tobacco,
youthful inspirations and a host of other subjects. The public must be given
ideas as to what it should like, and it is quite surprising sometimes how the