More and more smokers are becoming social pariahs. They have to stand on the street in the rain outside restaurants, bars, pubs and even their own cars (if their kids are inside). And while I don’t mind this, being a non-smoker, it does strike me as strange that in years gone by smoking was seen not only as cool and sophisticated but acceptable for all ages.

Boys smoking, 1949

Man smoking through his tear duct after having an operation on his nose, 1938

Smoking billboard for Camel cigarettes, Times Square 1948

Lighting each other’s cigarettes 1932

Monkey smoking in an Amsterdam zoo, 1958

Cigarette machine delivering lit cigarettes, 1930s

Smoking boy in a playground, 1950s
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Isn’t it weird that in the 1920s smoking was considered healthy, espeically for women, because it helped controlling weight?
Time changes things…
Smoking is the Red Menace of the 21st. century. In the 1960’s, we all smoked cigarettes while fearing the Russians. Now we’re all rushin’ while fearing cigarette smoke.
And I wonder if we ever had anything to fear.
Recently I watched a 1953 episode of The Loretta Young Show, in which the husband is confined to an iron lung, at home. Husband and wife are having a long midnight conversation–and she lights a cigarette for him and holds it so he can smoke. I was gob-smacked!
Yeah everyone smoked back then, funny how it was advertised to soothe your throat or help you, rather than kill you.
That 1930s pic! lit cigs that dispense in a wooden box, haha.
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Governments must take a final Decision forbid smoking as a UN resolution,I am a smoker since fourteen ,but I will stop if everybody dose.
Great thank you for sharing the amazing article.
Stupidly smoked for 10 years. Quit at age 29 cold turkey. Hate cigarettes. Can’t stand to smell them!!