INFO REQ: How does one identify WWI Mf'd Cigarettes?

[Quark]

How would one tell ww I cigarette packs from latter ones?

[RustyCanteen]

What do you mean by later?

 

For one thing they were filterless, but you should be able to date them by the tax stamp. Some common brands marketed to soldiers were Lucky Strike and Murad.

[world war I nerd]

"Fatima's" is another well known brand of "tailor mades" as the Doughboys called ready made cigarettes, which were just becoming popular.

 

They also would have smoked French, British and German made brands.

 

Tobacco was also part of the Doughboys ration. each Doughboy was supposed to receive a certain number of cigarettes or so many ounces of smoking or chewing tobacco each week.

 

Cigarettes were shipped to the AEF in sealed tins to prevent them from becoming contaminated with gas. I remember reading about the men of one division, who were left behind to assist with unloading the divisions equipment from the cargo ship that carried them across the Atlantic. They were unloading sealed tins of cigarettes and they were trying to load them in such a way that they would fall out of the cargo net on to the deck and break open so they could fill their pockets with the scattered smokes.

[Quark]

What do you mean by later?

 

For one thing they were filterless, but you should be able to date them by the tax stamp. Some common brands marketed to soldiers were Lucky Strike and Murad.

 

Post WW1. Did they have the blue tax stamp only? Or some times have a armed forces label type like the ww2 ones?

[Umac]

Do not forget "CAMEL" it was there in 1918 and still here in 2014.

[USCapturephotos]

I love this shot. Thanks for sharing!

Paul

[gwb123]

Now there is a soldier who is enjoying his R+R. Timeless photo!

[RustyCanteen]

I have never seen any that were definitely labeled for military use only (speaking of WWI packaging), but I would not be surprised if the master cartons bore the marks.

 

This is a WWI era (empty) package of Murads though.

 

[world war I nerd]

An ad for Chesterfields

[Quark]

Thanks for all the replies guys!

[RustyCanteen]

I sat down tonight to read my set of 'The Stars & Stripes" and took a few photos of the 'Murad' and 'Lucky Strike' ads in them.

 

[RustyCanteen]

And the Murad ones, which seem a little more patriotically themed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RustyCanteen]

Of course not every soldier smoked them, some preferred to roll their own too.

[RustyCanteen]

And from September 1918, announcing that the FULL production of Bull Durham would be set aside for military use:

 

 

[RustyCanteen]

September 1918:

I'm actually a little surprised they only hauled 1 1/2 tons of razor blades given their extreme importance.

[world war I nerd]

Thanks RC, you saved me the trouble of doing that as it was also on my list of things to do one day.

[RustyCanteen]

Thanks RC, you saved me the trouble of doing that as it was also on my list of things to do one day.

 

Man-handling the S&S for scans or photos is none too fun is it?

[world war I nerd]

Few collectors take the time to peruse the pages of the Stars and Stripes newspaper which are now available online as they contain a wealth of information concerning AEF General Orders regarding changes to the Doughboy's uniforms, shoes, insignia, etc.

 

The various issues also contain a load of misc. information, such as that on the issue of cigarettes and tobacco which RC posted.

[Quark]

Few collectors take the time to peruse the pages of the Stars and Stripes newspaper which are now available online as they contain a wealth of information concerning AEF General Orders regarding changes to the Doughboy's uniforms, shoes, insignia, etc.

 

The various issues also contain a load of misc. information, such as that on the issue of cigarettes and tobacco which RC posted.

 

Thanks WWI nerd! Really excited about that news!

[Backtheattack]

Interesting informations. Where can I find the early Stars and Stripes newspapers? Didn`t find them.

[world war I nerd]

Go to this linkhttp: //memory.loc.gov/ammem/sgphtml/sashtml/sashome.html:

 

Then click "search". When the page loads, type in the year and month or the year month and date.

 

The Stars and Stripes was published weekly from Feb. 8, 1918 to June 13, 1919.

[world war I nerd]

Sorry, some how a semi-colon got added to the above link, hopefully this one will work ... If it doesn't Google " stars and stripes newspaper 1918" and click on the first listing whose URL number begins with "memory.loc.gov"

 

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sgphtml/sashtml/sashome.html

[gwb123]

Bull Durham was pretty impressed with themselves it seems. After all, tons of their products evaded the U-Boats that were specifically hunting for them! LOL!

[world war I nerd]

Somewhere in a diary, letter or memoir, I read about a curious French Piolu, who observed a number of American enlisted soldiers with what he thought was a medal hanging by a string, dangling from the breast pocket of their service coats. Unfamiliar with American insignia he assumed there must be some significance attached to the badge that so many Yanks wore. When he finally asked a Doughboy what it represented, he was surprised to find out that the circular cardboard tag stamped with Bull Durham's logo, tied onto the drawstring of every sack was nothing more than part of the tobacco's packaging.

[Major Z]

Am I the only one that finds it odd that American advertisements really emphasized the Turkish forms of tobacco during this time period? We were after all at war with the Ottoman Empire, and a large part of their power base was in what we now call Turkey. Strange!