I’m a fan of outdated motion pictures, and currently, I’ve observed that everybody in them smokes like a chimney. Cigarettes and the smoking behavior had been common within the first half of the twentieth century, so motion pictures mirrored that. Somebody at all times had a sublime holder, a tabletop field of cigarettes, or a slim, elegant case in a handbag or pocket. Smoking is now not as widespread because it was then, however these things are nonetheless a success with movie followers and classic fanatics.
By the Numbers
Smoking charges have gone approach down because the early 1900s, with extra folks involved concerning the well being impacts of tobacco use. Charges of smoking in women and men have declined, and this Gallup ballot exhibits the general charges throughout completely different many years. From a excessive of 41% of respondents within the first Gallup survey in 1944, reported cigarette use is at a file low of 11% in 2024. Naturally, which means fewer persons are buying equipment that go along with the behavior, like lighters and ashtrays. Nonetheless, collectors should not at all times people who smoke—many identical to the classic look of all of the extras.
The Historical past of Holders
Cigarette holders grew to become common with ladies for each perform and type. A holder stored a smoker’s fingers from turning yellow from the tobacco and rolling papers. It was additionally useful in retaining smoke away from gloves, hair, eyes, and enamel. Holders had been a method to preserve what some referred to as a messy behavior from ruining an outfit or a youthful look.
If a girl needed to take up smoking, which had beforehand been primarily for males, they most well-liked to look good doing it. When ladies had been first selecting up the smoking behavior, there have been no filter-tip cigarettes, so holders stored tobacco flakes from being caught in enamel or messing up lipstick and clothes.
A Behavior Turns into a Type Selection
Smoking is addictive, there is no such thing as a doubt about that, however within the early 1900s, when the bath gin was flowing, and ladies had been stepping away from the background in society, and changing into extra unbiased. They selected smoking as a visual signal of “I do what I would like,” which went together with the flapper development, the ladies’s suffrage motion, and a normal sense of empowerment that was simply starting. Even a routine behavior isn’t at all times a possibility to be fashionable; nevertheless, some ladies regarded for tactics to glam it up a bit.
Cigarette holders throughout this time had been typically ornately carved, or made out of Bakelite, antlers, or animal bones to resemble ivory. Different touches embrace crystals and colours to match purses and sneakers. The final word in luxurious could be a holder made with touches of 14KT gold, with or with out a monogram
Holders We All Keep in mind
Holly Golightly, the enduring heroine of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” was the final word in glamour and magnificence. Her most-remembered look is a sublime updo, night gloves, the right “little black gown,” and a protracted cigarette holder. The film was launched in 1960, when the holders weren’t as widespread as they’d been, however she made it a part of her signature look of chic fashion.
Whereas ladies used them greater than males, some gents had been nonetheless followers of the look, notably President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The very image of a rich, aristocratic chief, FDR was typically photographed with a cigarette perched at a jaunty angle and clamped between his lips with a slender holder.
A Cigarette on the Prepared
Whereas holders had been typically simply ornamental touches, there have been different methods of carrying them round. James Dean may need had a pack rolled up within the sleeve of a T-shirt for the macho “Insurgent With no Trigger” look. Many males (and ladies) carried their smokes round in elegant instances, slightly than crumpled cellophane packs. Correct etiquette meant it was an act of fine manners to supply a cigarette from a case in the event you had been with somebody at a classy cocktail occasion or simply sitting right down to dinner and drinks. Instances had been typically polished silver or gold and included monograms.
Girls carried their very own instances, normally smaller, with extra female touches. In a position to slot in small clutch night baggage, a girl may carry a couple of cigarettes, powder, and a bit lippy to the touch up their look.
Within the Nineteen Fifties, when well being issues about smoking first surfaced, tobacco firms began to fabricate filter-tip cigarettes as a method to promote a “safer cigarette,” so the holders weren’t seen as crucial anymore.
Not everybody walked round with a pocket or pack of Fortunate Strikes on the prepared, however in lots of properties, a tabletop field of cigarettes was an ordinary function, very like a sweet dish or a fruit bowl. Householders would typically match them to the décor of a room and set them on a sideboard or a espresso desk. No mid-century trendy ceremonial dinner was full with out a bar cart with a cocktail shaker, a set of matching highball glasses, and a field of smokes on the desk.
Accumulating Tobacco Equipment
In a front room, a small, tasteful field was prone to maintain cigarettes, however in a person’s workplace or den, the look may be extra masculine and fewer frilly. Type decisions apart, collectors like these things as they’ll simply repurpose them to hold bank cards, enterprise playing cards, or pens and pencils on a desktop.
Snuff, free tobacco that some use to chew on, can also be much less common than it as soon as was, however collectors nonetheless like classic snuff bins as knickknacks round the home as ornamental touches.
Whereas giving up the behavior of smoking might be troublesome, the well being advantages can’t be denied, and you’ll nonetheless have the instances and bins round to present a classic contact to any room. Vintage outlets and classic markets are good locations to hunt up instances or bins, and with fewer people who smoke, collectors of tobacconalia can typically discover a good discount on a classic piece of smoking historical past.
Brenda Kelley Kim lives within the Boston space. She is the writer of Sink or Swim: Tales From the Deep Finish of All over the place and writes a weekly syndicated column for The Marblehead Weekly Information/Essex Media Group. When not writing or strolling her snorty pug, Penny, she enjoys yard gross sales, flea markets, and badminton.
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