Hi everybody,
Just thinking back to the mid 1950's when I was a wean of 7 years old, I used to get set to the shop to get 5 Woodbine cigarettes for my uncle Wullie Glasgow a bookies runner, what always stuck in my mind was this packet of fags was open at the top. You could see the 5 fags with no cover on the top of them[ can somebody verify that please]. also in Glasgow in the 1950's what was the first tipped cigarette to give gift tokens, was it Embassy or was there another one before that ?.
Yep Danny i can verify that you could get 5 woodbine in a pack but i thought there was a bit of silver paper covering the top of the cigs. I myself remember getting sent to the shop for them for my mum, my dad on the other hand smoked capstan/senior service.
JosieStuksis wrote:Yep Danny i can verify that you could get 5 woodbine in a pack but i thought there was a bit of silver paper covering the top of the cigs. I myself remember getting sent to the shop for them for my mum, my dad on the other hand smoked capstan/senior service.
Hi Josie,
Thanks for your reply to my Woodbines question, I think you're right a wee bit of silver paper [a wee bit in the middle ?] so the fags never fell out ? and as Big Bonnies was in my street there was a wee shop [Andy's] next to a close and on the oother side was Cathy's who sold fruit , veg, spuds etc. The boys from Bonnies [some girls too] used to go into Andy's and buy a single Woodbine at dinner [lunch] time and cadged a light from Andy, I did myself and thought I was really with it till my Da caught me one day [say no more ha ha]. Thanks for the reply again Josie. Take care and God Bless.
Most cigarette manufacturers gave away coupons in the 20's and 30's but in a bid to outdo their rivals, they started giving away bigger and bigger prizes until they all finally agreed to stop the coupons. This agreement expired in 1956 and that year Kensitas started to give away coupons again. W.D & H.O Wills brought out their Embassy brand with coupons in 1962.
Yes, I remember Woodbine because my Dad smoked them, too...But do any of you remember Pasha that were sold during the war...If you wanted to buy five Woodbine then you had to buy five Pasha as well...They had a terrible smell to them..Now that I think of it, maybe they were Turkish cigarettes..When I started to smoke, probably at the age of fourteen, we used to buy "loosies" from a wee shop on Errol Street for I think a few pennies a piece...Smoked for about ten years and when I met my husband he hated the smell of smoke off of me so I gave them up...Best thing I ever did..By then I was here in the US and cigarettes were only 25 cents a pack of twenty..then I smoked Newport which was a menthol cigarette...Still being made here.
Jimbo wrote:Most cigarette manufacturers gave away coupons in the 20's and 30's but in a bid to outdo their rivals, they started giving away bigger and bigger prizes until they all finally agreed to stop the coupons. This agreement expired in 1956 and that year Kensitas started to give away coupons again. W.D & H.O Wills brought out their Embassy brand with coupons in 1962.
Brilliant , thanks for that info Jimbo, I remember Kensitas now. Isn't it funny how you forget things till somebody else mentions them, thanks again Jimbo mate, take care and God Bless.
rosedoyle wrote:I still have my mother's Embassy coupon teaset, all intact. Nice pink design..
Hi Rose, hey that's great you still have your Ma's teaset, great thing yon Embassy coupons, when I started work and got a wage every Friday I would go up the Toon and buy a packet of Lucky Strikes [American brand ] and tried to impress the lassies and pop one of the fags out of the top with flicking my fingernail against the bottom of the pack [just like the American film stars did] but 9 times out of 10 it never worked and I was left looking like a right eejit with a big red face, oh to be young again Rose ha ha. Take care Rose and God Bless.
margaretmcgettigan wrote:Yes, I remember Woodbine because my Dad smoked them, too...But do any of you remember Pasha that were sold during the war...If you wanted to buy five Woodbine then you had to buy five Pasha as well...They had a terrible smell to them..Now that I think of it, maybe they were Turkish cigarettes..When I started to smoke, probably at the age of fourteen, we used to buy "loosies" from a wee shop on Errol Street for I think a few pennies a piece...Smoked for about ten years and when I met my husband he hated the smell of smoke off of me so I gave them up...Best thing I ever did..By then I was here in the US and cigarettes were only 25 cents a pack of twenty..then I smoked Newport which was a menthol cigarette...Still being made here.
Hi Margaret, thanks for your reply yes I heard of "pasha" fags but never saw them as I was born in 1948 but I heard my uncles talking about them. Loosies that was the term given to the single cigarettes, I remember now. so when did you go to the states Margaret ?, Iv'e been there 4 times but that was a few weeks at a time in New York state and Pensylvania and New Jersey all for St Patrick's day celebrations. Take care and God Bless.
