WWII tobacco

mseddon

I've been reading a great deal about WWII. While it is clear the cigarette manufactures got to the troops en masse, it is also clear that a fair number of pipe smokers also served. I've even read there were pipe tobacco rations that could be had. Anyone have an idea about what folks might have been smoking 1940-1945?

KA9FFJ

@mseddon Good question. I could probably do extensive research on the subject, but @motie2 or possibly @PappyJoe could answer this question off the top of their heads. I do know back in the early 50s my uncle and grandpa smoked pipes but I never noticed the tobacco...

ghostsofpompeii

@mseddon I'm not sure but I'd be willing to wager that it just might be something like Velvet since it was advertised as both a cigarette tobacco as well as pipe tobacco. That way it covered the bases for either smoker.

KA9FFJ

@ghostsofpompeii You're probably right. I do seem to remember a red flat pocket tin they used to carry...

PappyJoe

@KA9FFJ - Damn! We're old, but not that old!. I wasn't born even born until 1953 and I think @motie2 is only about 8 years older than me.

motie2

Only seven years older...... 1946

At my age every year counts....

buflosab

Just lightly researching the question, I kept seeing Prince Albert mentioned.My first guess would have been Sir Walter Raleigh.

Charles

My dad remembered Prince Albert as the popular tobacco during the war.  He worked in the family restaurant business with my grandfather who also recalled the same during the great war as he as a soldier in that one.  It came in a red can and was also used for rolling cigarettes.  Prince Albert also included rolling papers in those tins.  

KA9FFJ

@PappyJoe 1948...

CACooper

An eBay search in tobacciana will yield hundreds of adverts from the war years. PA, SWR, Model, Velvet, H&H, etc. The classic pipe tobaccos of the era, pre Captain Black. The ‘40’s Prince Albert ads are especially nice. Top 3 cigarettes back then were Camel, Lucky Strike and Chesterfield. More doctors smoke Camels! LS/MFT. ABC! Always Buy Chesterfield! Ahh...The good old days.

Woodsman

I was  very young but I seem to remember a tobacco my mother mentioned called "Rum and Maple". According to old magazines from the WWII era, Lucky Strike had exchanged their Red Ball emblem with a Green Ball and the ad said "Lucky goes to war."

motie2

When I began pipe smoking in my first pipe life in the 1960's, I went through the following drug store purchases:

Middleton Cherry Blend
John Rolfe
Rum and Maple
Sail Green
Sail Yellow
Holiday
Sir Walter Raleigh
Carter Hall
Klompen Kloggin (sp?)
Half and Half
Amphora Red
and others I can't remember, before I discovered English blends and Vapers.

mseddon

Great thoughts, folks! Thanks. I'm betting Prince Albert would have made an appearance. I've commented elsewhere on its ubiquity on historical archaeological sites in the west. The metal tin was even used to hold claim papers for miners who were staking claims. I've found them tucked into stone cairns out in the middle of nowhere in Nevada.

RockyMountainBriar

My father served during WWII and we have many Velvet tobacco cans around the garage.  He smoked a pipe some, and he definitely rolled his own.  I remember when I was young (12ish) I rolled some cigs for him with an old Brown & Williamson rolling machine and Velvet tobacco.  Man I loved.....and love the smell of fresh tobacco in the tin.  I also have an old (empty) tin of MacBarren's Mixture Scottish Blend, which was in my Uncle Jim's estate stuff (he was my dad's twin brother).  I'm pretty sure he would have been the one to smoke it, didn't leave me any though

judandhispipe

Also around were blends like Country Doctor, Revelation, Barking Dog, Union Leader, Briggs, Model,Blue Boar, etc.

KA9FFJ

@motie2 I thought sure I would have seen Flying Dutchman on that list...

motie2

Nah, never had it. Don't know why..... maybe I've forgotten. Dunno. Know it was available, of course.

I only bought one or two pouches of each before moving on. Then an older classmate introduced me to English/Latakia and Vaper blends and..... no more OTC's.

motie2

How World War II American POWs Grew, Cured, and Smoked Pipe Tobacco in Captivity

https://www.smokingpipes.com/smokingpipesblog/single.cfm/post/how-world-war-american-pows-grew-cured-and-smoked-pipe-tobacco-captivity

Hitz53

Regarding Lucky Strike going to war. Before the War the package was green with a white outlined red ball in which the words Lucky Strike were written. When the War started the green dye/ink was considered valuable for the War effort and the company decided to make the package white with a red ball. The ball was never green.
I have no idea if the soldiers, sailors, or Marines received a pipe tobacco ration. I do know that K-rations contained a small package (about 5 or so) in the rations.

motie2

“Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet.”

(SUBTEXT: Guys prefer gals who smell like ashtrays over fat chicks.)

bluecow

MacArthur was supposed to have smoked Harkness D

O.P.Smith USMC  S.W.R.

nonpareil

The green pigment on the Lucky tins used copper and so was needed for the war effort.

RockyMountainBriar

@nonpareil
Thank you for the tie-in, I was wondering what green ink/pigment would have been used for.

mapletop

The link below is a you tube video of a guy opening and evaluating eating and smoking the contents of a 1943 K ration, (73 years).

If your are only interested in the tobacco portion skip to the 14 minute mark

https://youtu.be/vz5Y2Zg5w84

https://taskandpurpose.com/history/watch-guy-smoke-74-year-old-cigarettes-world-war-ii-mre/