Third of UK Teenagers Who Vape Will Go On to Start Smoking, Research Shows

THE GUARDIAN: Findings suggest e-cigarettes increasingly act as ‘gateway’ to nicotine for children, undermining earlier falling rates

A third of UK teenagers who vape will go on to start smoking tobacco, research shows, meaning they are as likely to smoke as their peers were in the 1970s.

A long-term intergenerational study found that the likelihood of starting to smoke among people aged 17 in 2018 was about 1.5% if they did not vape compared with 33% if they did.

The findings suggest that e-cigarettes are increasingly acting as a “gateway” to nicotine cigarettes for children, undermining falling rates of teen smoking over the past 50 years. » | Rachel Hall | Tuesday, July 29, 2025

This is what I have been saying all along. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out. Real cigarettes are often super unappealing to young children—when I was a child, I couldn’t bear the smell of smoke and avoided people smoking!—but those vapes are a different story altogether. They come in all manner of appealing flavours—strawberry, apricot, blackcurrant, chocolate, etc.—so how would they not be appealing to children. Once children get into the habit of enjoying puffing away on an e-cigarette, when they mature, they will naturally be tempted to graduate to the real thing: cigarettes. Smoking is here to stay! And that killjoy Starmer will never be able to enforce a generational smoking ban. For starters, who on earth is going to be able to police it? Our police forces can’t control theft from supermarkets, still less will they ever be able to enforce a smoking ban. – © Mark Alexander

Smoke Signals: From Charli XCX’s Nuptials to The Bear, Cigarettes Are Everywhere

THE GUARDIAN: Fags are back in fashion, as a ‘soft rebellion’ at weddings, on stage and on screen, despite awareness of the cancer risk

Coffee and chocolates traditionally signal the end of a meal at a wedding. But now many couples are ditching the sweet stuff and doling out cigarettes instead. Bowls and trays piled high with fags have become the new party favour.

Last weekend, guests at Charli xcx’s nuptials were served Vogue Essence Bleue slim cigarettes from silver trays, and social media is peppered with wedding receptions featuring tiered dessert stands laden with smoking paraphernalia and dedicated “smoking stations”.

It can be an expensive addition to any wedding bill, considering the average cost for a packet of 20 cigarettes is now £14.

Many modern brides take their inspiration from Mary-Kate Olsen, the child star turned fashion designer for The Row. In 2015, Olsen doled out mini bowls of cigarettes during her wedding to her now ex-husband Olivier Sarkozy. » | Chloe Mac Donnell | Friday, July 25, 2025

Sanity returns, pleasure is back! Killjoys eat you hearts out! Starmer! Time to ditch your nanny-state, anti-smoking policies and bans! People want to ditch their straightjackets and have some enjoyment again. Pleasure is in fashion again. It had to happen. It just did. – © Mark Alexander

Smokers Turn to Black Market because Quitting Products Too Expensive | The Business | ABC NEWS

Jul 21, 2025 | The consumption of illicit tobacco is growing, as more tobacconists pop up across the country, and revenue is lost from the legal excise. It's causing debate between politicians as experts warn Australia needs to crack down on the trade. In 2023, it was estimated that illegal tobacco consumption may account for close to 30 per cent of the total tobacco market in Australia, although these estimates by the legal tobacco industry are disputed. And despite sectors of government agreeing Australia has a problem with the illegal trade, there's mixed messaging about how to tackle the problem. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has ruled out lowering the tax excise on cigarettes, which will rise again in September, while NSW Premier Chris Minns has a different view and thinks the tax should be reduced. University of Sydney public health professor Becky Freeman says if the government was to lower the tobacco excise, it would send the wrong message. Instead, she thinks the number of outlets that sell tobacco products should be reduced.

As of July 1, NSW and Victoria introduced tobacco licensing laws, giving businesses until October and February respectively to apply for a licence to sell cigarettes. Experts say more needs to done to tackle the growing trade.


Australian politicians are as short-sighted and clueless as European politicians! Can’t they see the damage they are doing to people’s health by encouraging them to smoke black market cigarettes and tobacco because of cost? The quality of the tobacco on the black market is unregulated and the long-term health consequences of smoking it is likely to be be far worse than if they were able to afford to smoke government-regulated, quality-controlled tobacco and cigarettes manufactured at home. Moreover, the more expensive governments make tobacco products, the more likely people are to find alternative sources of enjoyment and pleasure. And that is precisely what is happening nowadays here in the West.

The best way to bring down smoking rates without causing resentment and distortions in the market is through information of the health dangers associated with smoking tobacco, not through extortionate taxation and government coercion. In any case, people do far worse things than enjoy the smoking of a cigarette.

We don’t live in utopia; rather, we live in the real world. And in the real world, people do all sorts of things, and consume all sorts of products, which are not conducive to perfect health. As Margaret Thatcher said: “The desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom.” – © Mark Alexander

France Says au revoir to Public Smoking

THE OBSERVER: This week’s restrictions are the latest step towards the country’s target of creating a tobacco-free generation by 2032

A loosely dangled cigarette would once have been de rigueur for anyone spending a summer’s day at a beach or park in France.

So what? Now it is evidence. A ban on smoking in outdoor spaces is not just a health intervention. It’s a milestone in a 50-year cultural shift that has seen

• tobacco consumption fall across France;
• smoking restrictions extend deeply into public life; and
• the French people fall out of love with Gauloises and Gitanes.

Continue reading » | Xavier Greenwood | Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Quel dommage ! France will never be the same again! – © Mark Alexander

France Implements Smoking Ban at Beaches and Parks in Step towards ‘Tobacco-free Generation’

THE GUARDIAN: Under new rules anyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park from Sunday will be breaking the law

Anyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park in France will be breaking the law from Sunday under new rules aimed at protecting children from the dangers of passive smoking.

Bus shelters and areas in the immediate vicinity of libraries, swimming pools and schools will also be affected by the ban, which is coming into force one day after its publication in the official government gazette on Saturday.

The rule is being imposed one week before the beginning of the school holidays in France in a bid to immediately protect children from smoke on the beach.

However, to the disappointment of some anti-tobacco activists, the ban does not cover the terraces of bars and restaurants where many French still happily smoke.

They are also unhappy that the ban does not apply to electronic cigarettes. » | Agence France-Presse | Sunday, June 29, 2025

The fun-loving French, the very people from whom we have borrowed the term joie de vivre, have been turned into Puritans! As a fun holiday destination, France must surely be a country to avoid now. When I was a smoker, I used to love a drag on the beach! That was one of the highlights of my day out.

Over the years, people have complained bitterly of being ruled by men, they have complained of patriarchy. Now, because of the influence of women in politics, one would be forgiven for concluding that the system is being turned into a paedocracy!

Once upon a time, children had to fit in to an adults’ world; now, the opposite is the case: adults have to fit in to a children’s world.

France has just lost its allure. – © Mark Alexander

LIBÉRATION : Fumer à la plage, au parc, sous un Abribus ou près des écoles interdit dès ce dimanche : Le décret annoncé par le gouvernement pour étendre l’interdiction, avec l’objectif de protéger les enfants, est effectif à partir d’aujourd’hui. Les terrasses des cafés et restaurants, tout comme le vapotage, ne sont pas concernés. »

France to Ban Smoking in Public Spaces, New Restrictions Take Effect

Jun 28, 2025 | Starting Sunday, France enforces a sweeping ban on smoking in many public spaces. The new measures prohibit lighting up on beaches, in public parks, at bus stops, on outdoor train platforms, and in streets surrounding schools and sports venues. The policy aims to curb smoking rates and protect public health, but it has also sparked debate among smokers and civil liberty advocates.

I used to be a fan of Macron’s. But Macron is destroying what it means to be French. Get rid of him! Kick him out of office! This isn’t the France I knew and loved. Macron and his henchmen are destroying the very essence of what it means to be French. – © Mark Alexander

Smoking

MARK ALEXANDER: The war on smoking and smokers is being waged continuously. One would be forgiven for concluding that our useless politicians have nothing better or more important to think about or concern themselves with. Would that we had politicians like Helmut Schmidt or Winston Churchill today!

This war on smoking is regrettable, and one day these stupid politicians will come to see the folly of their ways. Making cigarettes so expensive and making it impossible to smoke everywhere is the most ridiculous of things. Even the French have succumbed to this stupidity! And the heavy-smoking Germans, too!

Why do I say these things? It is simple. Anyone who has ever worked with young people will know that young people will always seek out their pleasures and kicks. If they cannot get their kicks one way, they will seek them out some other way. This is one of the hallmarks of youth. Is there any wonder that we now have so many young people hooked on e-cigarettes? Is there any wonder that we now have so many people hooked on ketamine? Is there any wonder why we now have so many young people hooked on cocaine, or on marijuana? Banning cigarettes, Sir Keir, is not going to make young people hale and healthy and/or virtuous. What it will do is drive cigarette smoking underground and it will push young people into the arms of drug dealers. How stupid politicians these days are! How naïve!

On a positive note, I quit smoking more than three years ago. In fact, the last cigarette I smoked was the day after my birthday, on April 10th 2022. My quitting has been extremely successful, but my waistline has expanded accordingly.

My advice is this: Giving up smoking is easier than you think. If I can do it, you can too. I had been a pack-a-day smoker. (And I loved every one of the cigarettes I smoked throughout my life.) Smoking fine cigarettes is one of life’s great pleasures. The people who complain about smoking and smokers are a PITA! When it comes to being cool and sexy, nothing compares to a cigarette.

If you want to give up smoking, fear not, it will be easier than you think. Though you do need determination. But expect to put on weight.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

The War on Smokers: Freedom under Fire | A Nation of Taxpayers

Jun 19, 2025 | Podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by the TPA's Benjamin Elks and Simon Clark, Director of Forest, the lobby group for smokers' rights. They discuss smoking, freedom and the ongoing persecution of smokers and vapers.

Smoking - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry | DW Documentary | Reupload

Dec 13, 2024 | Smoking has an image problem, because everyone knows: it can kill you. That’s why tobacco multinationals are increasingly focused on e-cigarettes, enticing consumers with bright colors and fruity flavors. The target group: young people.

The World Health Organization says smoking results in the death of eight million people every year. That’s one reason why you’ll now often hear tobacco companies promoting the switch to e-cigarettes, with claims that these are less harmful to our health. It’s first and foremost young people who believe the industry’s promises, thereby taking the first step on the road to addiction. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance. And although it may taste better than tobacco, puffing on a vape is still going to get you hooked in precisely the same way as smoking a regular cigarette. The film investigates the cynicism of an industry that not only accepts this, but also deliberately aims for it.

Big Nicotine - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry /TEMPS PRESENT / Laurent Burkhalter & Philippe Mach / 2024 / RTS Radio television Suisse

The Allure of Smoking Rises Again

THE ATLANTIC: The cool factor of cigarettes has proved hard to shake.

The allure of smoking has proved hard to stamp out. Despite the fact that cigarette use is at an 80-year-low in America, smoking has, unfortunately, become cool again. At the New York Fashion Week show in February, some models accessorized their runway outfits with a cigarette. A clip of the TikTok influencer Addison Rae smoking two cigarettes is cut into her latest music video, which has more than 4 million views. The pop star Charli XCX, who was recently gifted a bouquet of cigarettes for her birthday, sparked one during her performance in Manchester last month, and has said that her brat starter pack would include “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.”

All of this is despite the fact that anyone born after 1964, when the surgeon general pronounced that smoking causes cancer, should know the habit is just about the worst thing you can do if you want to live a long, healthy life. And many people grasped that much earlier: The Atlantic contributor James Parton wrote back in 1868 that “it does not pay to smoke.” When he quit tobacco, he had fewer headaches, enjoyed exercise more, and held a “better opinion of myself” (though I admit that his prescribed method for kicking the habit—drinking a “good stiff glass of whiskey and water” instead of reaching for a pipe—hasn’t held up very well). » | Nicholas Florko | Thursday, December 5, 2024

Related video – Tucker's take (and mine) here.

Tucker’s Impassioned Cigarette Rant

Feb 26, 2025

Tucker, this is a great video. What you say is all so true. I agree with you 💯. Smoking a cigarette is one of life's great pleasures. It looks sexy, it tastes great, and it makes a well-dressed man look elegant. I'm with you all the way. I used to smoke a pack-a-day until about three years ago. But then I quit. Since quitting, I have gained weight — smoking kept me on the slim side — and I have been denied one of life's great pleasures. These days, smoking is the root of all evil for so many people. But even though millions of people have given up smoking, they are no healthier at all. In fact, I would say that one of the main reasons why there is so much obesity about and so much type-2 diabetes is because people eat junk food now instead of smoking cigarettes. – © Mark Alexander

Hong Kong Airport Smoking Room

Jun 9, 2015

Cocking a snook at political correctness! 😀 – © Mark Alexander

And If It’s Not a Kiss You Want, but a Smoke, Go for That, Too! Don’t Let the Killjoys or Puritans Spoil Yor Fun! Fight Them with All Your Might! Beat Them Down!

Jul 11, 2022

Hollyoaks Star Paul Danan Dies Aged 46

THE TELEGRAPH: Actor, who also appeared on Celebrity Love Island, collapsed last year after his vape addiction caused respiratory failure

Paul Danan, the Hollyoaks star, has died after a health battle from “obsessive vaping”.

The actor’s management confirmed the 46-year-old’s death on Thursday morning.

Danan, who featured in the Channel 4 soap from 1997 to 2001, last year revealed that he collapsed after his vape addiction caused respiratory failure.

He was rushed to hospital and eventually revived with CPR, where doctors told him he needed to quit.

Speaking at the time, he said vaping had “pushed him over the edge” as he wrongly thought it was a “safer way to smoke”. » | Tom McArdle | Thursday, January 16, 2025

Smoking conventional cigarettes is, in my opinion, far safer than vaping. Politicians and quacks have been very wrong and totally irresponsible to push vaping as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes. They are pushing a product which we know far too little about.

It is clear to me, and it should be clear to you, that e-cigarettes are bound to be unhealthier than cigarettes, and for several reasons. Firstly, they are full of plastics – imagine inhaling all that gunge into your lungs! Secondly, people who vape do so incessantly! They hold their e-cigarettes constantly in their hands and puff on them forevermore. This is not how a normal smoker smokes. When you smoke a cigarette, you smoke it, enjoy it, inhale the smoke, get the pleasure, and then stub it out. Then, for a not too heavy smoker, time elapses before you light another one. The people I have observed vaping do so constantly.

This poor actor clearly bought into the lies that politicians and quacks have fed him. May the poor man rest in peace.

This war on conventional cigarette-smoking needs to stop. Of course it is better not to smoke in an ideal world. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world. People seek out their pleasures and their kicks. And when cigarettes are now so expensive and when it has become virtually impossible to smoke anywhere but in one’s own home, they turn to other sources of pleasure. And most of those sources of pleasure are even unhealthier than cigarette-smoking.

This social engineering must stop. The health of the nation is at stake. – © Mark Alexander

Drinking and Smoking among Teens Drops, but This Surprising Vice Is on the Uptick

Fox News medical contributor Nicole Saphier joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to weigh in on a new survey that says over two-thirds of U.S. teenagers don’t drink, smoke or use marijuana.

Biden FDA Moves Forward with Rule to Lower Nicotine in Cigarettes, a ‘Gift’ to Cartels, Critic Says

NEW YORK POST: WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is moving forward with plans to mandate lower nicotine levels in cigarettes in the final days of President Biden’s term, according to a new report, which critics say could cause Americans to smoke more and fuel organized crime cartels.

The plan, which is touted as a way to reduce the ability of cigarettes to hook casual users, cleared a regulatory review last week by the Food and Drug Administration, the agency told Fox News.

But opponents argue that the change could cause current smokers to use more cigarettes to compensate for the lower nicotine levels, negatively impacting their health, and that the plan could open an opportunity for black-market sales of standard-strength cigarettes.

“Biden’s ban is a gift with a bow and balloons to organized crime cartels with it, whether it’s cartels, Chinese organized crime, or Russian mafia,” Rich Marianos, a former assistant director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told Fox News.

It’s unclear if the FDA will issue a proposed rule outlining the looming regulation before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20. » | Steven Nelson | Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Why can’t politicians stop meddling? Whay can’t they leave things alone? Why do they always feel that they have to do something? They usually make things worse. – © Mark Alexander

Single Cigarette Takes 20 Minutes Off Life Expectancy, Study Finds

THE GUARDIAN: Figure is nearly double an estimate from 2000 and means a pack of 20 cigarettes costs a person seven hours on average

Smokers are being urged to kick the habit for 2025 after a fresh assessment of the harms of cigarettes found they shorten life expectancy even more than doctors thought.

Researchers at University College London found that on average a single cigarette takes about 20 minutes off a person’s life, meaning that a typical pack of 20 cigarettes can shorten a person’s life by nearly seven hours.

According to the analysis, if a smoker on 10 cigarettes a day quits on 1 January, they could prevent the loss of a full day of life by 8 January. They could boost their life expectancy by a week if they quit until 5 February and a whole month if they stop until 5 August. By the end of the year, they could have avoided losing 50 days of life, the assessment found.

“People generally know that smoking is harmful but tend to underestimate just how much,” said Dr Sarah Jackson, a principal research fellow at UCL’s alcohol and tobacco research group. “On average, smokers who don’t quit lose around a decade of life. That’s 10 years of precious time, life moments, and milestones with loved ones.” » | Ian Sample, Science editor | Monday, December 30, 2024

Such NONSENSE! Such TOSH! Were this to be true, with the number of cigarettes I smoked throughout my life (before I quit), I should have died probably before I was ever born! These people don’t know what cr** to come up with next in order to frighten people into giving up the very, very pleasurable habit — NOT ADDICTION! — of smoking.

Are these so-called scientists totally unaware that the obesity across the western world that we can observe today, and the horrendous rates of type-2 diabetes, are probably caused in no small part because people have been brainwashed into thinking that cigarette smoking is the cause of all ills, the Devil incarnate, the bête noire of our times. IT IS NOT!

I do not advocate cigarette smoking. Not at all! It is always generally better not to smoke than to do so. However, it is not the root cause of all health issues. I smoked for almost all of my adult life, yet I still have a full head of hair in its natural colour, a full mouthful of teeth, unwrinkled skin, excellent eyesight — I can read a book to this day WITHOUT the aid of spectacles when I want to — my gums are healthy, I do not suffer from type-2 diabetes, either. And my hearing is excellent!

I quit smoking nearly three years ago. And the ONE THING I have noticed since quitting is that I have gained weight. And this, despite NOT eating more. In fact, if anything, I eat less. Moreover, I have an excellent diet: I eat few carbohydrates and virtually no sugar, only perhaps as the odd treat.

Are these so-called “scientists” not aware that people who smoke, or people who have been smokers, are far less likely ever to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease? There is also some evidence — though it is kept very quiet for obvious reasons — that smokers are far less likely to contract Alzheimer’s disease!

Furthermore, are these “scientists” oblivious to the life-enhancing effect(s) of getting some pleasure in life? If you want to shorten a man's life, deprive him of all pleasures!

So please, Y’all! Quit the CRAP! – © Mark Alexander

England May Not Be ‘Smoke-free’ until 2039, Cancer Charity Warns

THE GUARDIAN: Government plan to reduce smoking rates in danger of falling a decade behind schedule

England will not be “smoke-free” until 2039, missing a key public health target by almost a decade, an analysis has found.

While smoking rates are in decline they are not falling fast enough to realise the government’s ambition of England being smoke-free” by 2030, according to Cancer Research UK (CRUK).

And stark socioeconomic inequalities in smoking – with poorer people much more likely to light up than the well-off – will continue for decades to come, its research shows. » | Denis Campbell, Health policy editor | Monday, November 4, 2024

England will never be, and should never be, smoke-free! Why? Because if it could ever be done, it would be replaced by something far, far worse. These politicians and do-gooders don’t understand ONE BASIC THING about human psychology. It is this: People WILL get their kicks from somehere! If these ill-informed people think that all people are just going to go to work each day, go home, and then go to bed without having any of the pleasures of life, then they are greatly mistaken.

As for cancer, it is a terrible disease. I have known several people who have died from it. They were NOT smokers! Whilst it is true that smoking can cause cancer, especially lung cancer, according to trustworthy sources on the Internet, it is only between 5 and 10% of HEAVY SMOKERS who contract it. Eliminating smoking will not eliminate cancer!

Further, taxing cigarettes to the hilt, thus making them too expensive for people to be able to afford to smoke government-controlled cigarettes only pushes people to buy them on the black market. I am told that the black market for cigarettes in the United Kingdom is thriving! It certainly is in Australia.

Just in case anyone thinks that my opinions are biased because I am myself a smoker, please think again! I quit smoking on April 10th 2022. That is almost two years and seven months ago. I haven’t smoked a cigarette since that day. But I am on the side of smokers because over the years, I have derived untold pleasure from smoking cigarettes. I always smoked out of choice, NOT out of addiction! I have bever been addicted to anything. Not even cigarettes.

I wish these joyless people would just give up their social engineering. They try and say that smoking is now predominantly a working-class habit. TOSH! How many people in the working class can afford to smoke these days? With current prices in the UK, it is only the super-privileged who can afford to smoke. For the less well-off, they must be rolling their own, or something.

By the way, when governments make cigarettes extremely expensive, they are doing something deleterious to the health of smokers. And for one simple reason: Governments have no control over the quality of the cigarettes being illegally imported from Asia and the Far East. In years to come, governments will be finding that the health of smokers will be worse than if they had been smoking legal, quality-controlled cigarettes. This, if anything, will place a burden on the health service in years to come.

Moreover, it is stupid to encourage vaping as a replacement of smoking. In the not-too-distant future, they will find that vaping is more injurious to health than smoking cigarettes. Governments need to meddle less in people’s lifestyle choices, they need to stop sweating the little things. Instead, they need to concentrate on the important things. That is what proper governments should do. – © Mark Alexander

Disposable vapes ban could push some users back to smoking, ministers told: Defra report warns there could be ‘health disbenefits’ with 29% of vapers reverting or relapsing to cigarettes »

'Pack of Cigs and a Bic Lighter': Why Are Celebs Glamorising Smoking Again? »

'Pack of Cigs and a Bic Lighter': Why Are Celebs Glamorising Smoking Again?

Christian Cowan's show at New York fashion week in February featured models smoking on the runway | GETTY IMAGES
BBC: rat summer might be over as we grapple with how dark it is at 4pm, but the concept of being a brat – “pack of cigs and a Bic lighter”, according to the singer Charli XCX – lives on.

There's Rosalia gifting Charli XCX a bouquet of cigarettes on her birthday, Addison Rae smoking not one but two at the same time in her music video Aquamarine, and the actor Paul Mescal saying he refused to give up smoking when getting into shape for Gladiator II.

…

Despite this, singers, actors and influencers seem to be bringing smoking back into vogue - quite literally, with cigarettes making a return as on the New York Fashion Week runways earlier this year as accessories.

So, why are cigarettes being glamorised again?

Lucy, a 20-year-old university student, says she took up smoking recently because "it's just what everyone does".

Almost all her friends also smoke and she says it's more than just a habit, it's an aesthetic.

"I definitely think everyone trying to be brat has influenced people to start smoking because Charli herself says you have to have a pack of cigs if you really want to embody the vibe." » | Yasmin Rufo, BBC News | Sunday, November 3, 2024

EAT your HEARTS OUT Keir Starmer and Chris Whitty! Smoking is making a comeback! None too soon, either! As unhealthy as smoking might be, it is infinitely healthier than the alternatives of drugs. And far healthier than those unhealthy and uncool vapes, too. And then there's all the rest of the poisons that people injest today — just for kicks. People will always look for kicks, especially the young.

Starmer, you haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of outlawing smoking. Especially for the young. Smoking is pleasurable, cool, sexy, and alluring. After all, who wants to watch a love story from Hollywood with the main characters sharing a vape? It doesn't quite cut it, does it?

In spite of any laws that might be passed in Parliement, smoking will not be killed off. Smoking cigarettes will live on long after our do-gooding politicians will be kicking up daisies! Long live pleasure! Long live freedom! Long live the right to choose! — © Mark Alexander

Related stuff here.

Chesterfield Cigarettes in World War II | Tobaccoland at War | Industrial Film

Jan 21, 2017 | Chesterfield Cigarettes presents “Tobaccoland USA at War,” a black-and-white circa 1943 “new kind of pictorial adventure” examining tobacco production in such states as Tennessee, Virginia, and the Carolinas — areas that have made “Chesterfield synonymous with American smoking pleasure.” We visit the offices of Liggett & Myers Tobacco, Inc. (Chesterfield’s parent company) in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina starting at mark 01:04 and view production lines and tobacco fields, meeting some of the “fine families” who grow the product. We watch as families work together in the fields (mark 02:25) and later processed. There’s a look inside a farm’s curing barn starting at mark 03:21where the product is later sold at auction — a process shown starting at mark 04:40. The film continues as the plant undergoes a “new” and “scientific” process, shown starting at mark 06:37, which restores to the tobacco leaves the precise amount of moisture needed for a perfect flavor. Eventually, the final product — Chesterfield cigarettes — roll off an assembly line at mark 08:44.

Released during World War II, the promotional film makes note that Chesterfield cigarettes are enjoyed by “fighting men” around the world and is “one of the few comforts” of home as we see a filmed scene of soldiers in a bunker pausing for a smoke (mark 09:25). Starting at mark 09:55 the film visits “the fighting fronts” and a group of US Marines in combat at land and at sea, followed by scenes aboard a US Coast Guard vessel (mark 11:23) and US Navy ship (mark 12:27), as well as the Merchant Marines. Through various battle scenes, the narrator reminds the viewer that American servicemen gain its strength not only from its weaponry but also from support from the home front. As scenes from the Army Air Force fill the screen starting at mark 14:56, the narrator says that “with each pounding the enemy is weakened” And while fathers and sons are away from home, families at home continue to tend to the farms — and the tobacco crops — to continue to meet the demand for Chesterfied’s. …


Not so much an ad, more a propaganda film really! 😊 Don’t be a wussy! Smoke a Chesterfield! Light up! Inhale deeply! Wait a few seconds! Exhale! Oh, the pleasure! 😊 – © Mark Alexander