Are cigarettes bad for you? Thomas Edison & Philip Morris disagree…

September 24, 2018 by · Leave a Comment 

We recently found a rather interesting half-page notice in a Boston Evening Transcript, July 9, 1914, in which the Philip Morris company pushed back on an article from a few months prior in which Thomas Edison is quoted as saying he believes cigarettes to be bad for one’s health. I don’t know about you, but the ad comes of a bit self-serving. Of course time would prove Edison to have actually been more gracious than what truth would eventually reveal.

Cigarettes… Fitness you can…

February 25, 2016 by · 2 Comments 

While pairing the concept of superior athleticism with cigarette smoking as an advertising ploy would come across ridiculous in today’s “enlightened” culture, there was a time when this was not the case. In fact, professional athletes promoting cigarettes (see the ad from a NYT, October 1, 1941 shown below) was as common in early-to-mid 1900’s as the same promoting energy and “health” drinks is today. I wonder if our children’s children will look back on today wondering how we could have been (dare I say) duped by such connections. Are health drinks really healthy? Time will likely tell.Blog-2-25-2016-Joe-DiMagio-Camel-ad

Cigarettes do not cause cancer…

December 18, 2010 by · 1 Comment 

Hindsight means everything when it comes to history, and browsing through the pages of newspapers from years ago can often turn up reports which now are almost humorous in their inaccuracy. One item: “Clears Cigarettes As Cancer Source”, which appeared in  the July 10, 1928 issue of the “New York Times“, provides some interesting reading in light modern scientific research about the effects of cigarette smoking and cancer.

How times have changed…

February 6, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

In recent years, particularly near the Christmas holiday, there are many reports of organizations soliciting drives for various needs for soldiers overseas, often including toiletry items, nonperishable foods, bottled water, and other needed staples.

Such drives were common in World War II as well. Note the report in the “Beacon” newspaper from the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Oct. 1, 1943. I doubt today there would be a “Smokes for Buddies” rally to send two million cigarettes to our soldiers overseas.

No smoking in the court of King James…

May 9, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

tabacco_king_jamesThe Gazette of the United States from Philadelphia, Nov. 24, 1790, includes an interesting item on a treatise of King James I, who was way ahead of his time in opposing smoking.

He considered it a: “…heinous sin…” and those who used it were: “…guilty of great vanitie & uncleannesse–of sinful and shameful lust…”. He considered it: “…harmfull to the brain–dangerous to the lungs–and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible stygian smoake of the pit that is bottomlesse.”

See the photo for the full text.