Perhaps my American friends do not know what Rothmans is, or was.
They were THE #1 smoke in Canada ...and unlike the US we had 2 sizes, King Size and Regular Size made by all tobacco companies.
We also had two sizes of packaging, small 20 and large 25. So each brand name cigarette had 4 possible choices. Then you would have the same thing in light and extra light, also with 4 outcomes each...and a menthol version. Maybe 15 different companies with 3 or 4 brand names each X4 made for some full shelves and options.
So if you asked for a pack of Rothmans back in the day you would get a stare while awaiting the rest of the request.
Rothmans was a big sponsor of sporting events throughout the land.
Cigarettes or any tobacco products are no longer visible on shelves anywhere in Canada.
Nat Sherman would be perplexed.
I think if this actually appeared in this day and age an army of government bureaucrat's would appear, fines would be in the gazillions, top story in the news, activists in the streets.
My limited knowledge of Rothmans stems from their sponsorship of Williams F1 efforts....
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Should smoking be prohibited altogether worldwide? Why not create Smoke Shops so smokers can enjoy having a smoke after work?
Like the catchy tune in Disney's Annette serial that aired on the Mickey Mouse Club in 1958, "Meetin' at the malt shop after school"; smoke shops should be permitted today just as liqueur shops are!
Though I've never smoked most of my relatives did and all lived well beyond the age of 65. Smokers should have to pay additional health care coverage but is it a Democracy when the government takes away the freedom from an individual?
Item: My house doctor smokes but she takes great care helping me control my Type II dibetes and is specialized in the proper treatment of same. Besides, I miss the Marlboro Man's commercials on TV! Didn't Camel run advertisements in magazines that featured a locomotive engineer in the 40s and 50s?
Was a smoker for about 30 years - quitting 32 years ago, my Father and his sister were smokers and both died from what is today called COPD. To date, I am older than either were when they died. My mother was also a smoker and had had Rhumatic Fever as a child which damaged her heart - she died of a heart attact when she contracted the flu in 1968.
It took me 6 years after my fathers death to actually quit. You can't quit for anybody but yourself and only you can decide when that will be, if ever.
As a society we have come a long way from the tobacco advertising of the 1940's & 50's. If smoking were 'outlawed' one would be playing right into the hands of organized crime, just like Prohibition did and like the 'War on Drugs' is doing today. Like it or not, there are people that will smoke to their dying breath, just like my father did.
BaltACD: Gads, memory loss, and on Friday no less! My paternal father was a long time heavy smoker but also hit the bottle (hard stuff) suffering a fatal heart attack in 1972 at age 55. My stepfather, also a "life long" smoker died of lung cancer in 1988 at age 59. My mother quit litterly overnight in 1955 and lived to be in her mid 80s and I've lost friends who smoked, several due to being life long smokers.
Indeed, smoking is a major health issue today but like the Red Neck bumper stickers that became popular when gun control was first considered: When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
What to do?
Nice photo BaltACD. F1 racing suffered after big tobacco was kicked out.
Rothmans was also Benson and Hedges, Dunhill, Philip Morris, Silk Cut
They sponsored a $1 Million purse horse race "The International" at Toronto's Woodbine racetrack.
Those were some salad days I tell ya.
If anyone cares! The 2017 F1 Season begins tonight (March 25) at Midnight on NBC Sports Network from Australia.
MiningmanNice photo BaltACD. F1 racing suffered after big tobacco was kicked out. Rothmans was also Benson and Hedges, Dunhill, Philip Morris, Silk Cut They sponsored a $1 Million purse horse race "The International" at Toronto's Woodbine racetrack. Those were some salad days I tell ya.
Between the loss of tobacco sponsorship and Bernie Ecclestone's seeking out Muslim countires to hold GP's thereby blunting the value and investment in alcahol sponsorships it has put F1 on a very tenious financial footing - with Manor F1 being the most recent team to call it quits in F1 for financial reasons.
Nothing like Government and Religion stamping out fun.
How about accepting there are adult pleasures
Best of intentions "oft go awry" or 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions"
Anyone remember the "Winston Cup?" You know, the old days of NASCAR racing?
The "Winston" comes from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco brand of "Winston" cigarettes, the title "Winston Cup" being dropped with the major Reynolds sponsorship of the racing, smoking being SO politically uncorrrect.
In a sneaky way, the title lives on. Ever see that cartoon movie "Cars?" NASCAR fans watching it all get a little giggle out of the big racing trophy being referred to as the "Piston Cup!" Uh-uh, yeah, WE know...
And veering into the political, which we're not supposed to do, trust me on this point, tobacco products may be villified, cursed, and condemned, but they'll never be banned. Why? The politicians are just as addicted to the tobacco tax money as smokers are to the nicotine.
'Snuff said.
L to R: Damon Hill and Ayrton Senna
Miningman Nice photo BaltACD. F1 racing suffered after big tobacco was kicked out. Rothmans was also Benson and Hedges, Dunhill, Philip Morris, Silk Cut They sponsored a $1 Million purse horse race "The International" at Toronto's Woodbine racetrack. Those were some salad days I tell ya.
And remeber the smoking and non-smoking days with coaches? And section sleepers? I recall on some runs smoking was allowed only in the large lavatory rooms on 12 and 1 Pulllman sleepers, and presumabliy in the drawing room. And the men's room had a large bench independent of the facilities, on which smoker could sit. Usually upholstered in brown or deep red leather.
....and when sex is banned man will finally get the global population explosion under control once and for all....but don't forget to take out the trash first....and don't smoke in the woods....remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires!
Getting back to a railroad theme, and concerning that TOFC Miningman lead off with, I wish they'd bring back those colorful billboard reefers they had decades ago, and which at this point I'm sure most of use have no first-hand memories.
I've got a fine reference work on the same and man, some of those cars were gorgeous!
Ain't gonna happen though. The closest we can get nowadays is the "Tropicana" train.
I think the only way you'd see a revival of the tradition would be in regards to shipping containers owned be a specific manufacturer rather than a shipping company. but since we have a definite disparity between the number of shipping containers coming in vs. those going back it's unlikely those shippers would be willing to take on the expense.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Firelock76Anyone remember the "Winston Cup?" You know, the old days of NASCAR racing?
You mean like, after NASCAR sold out the Grand National series and gave naming rights to coffin nails? Hell yes, I was upset. I loved watching stock car racing back in the days when you could actually see some real stock cars entered by privateers, before we got the witless Cars of Tomorrow and restrictor plates and so on.
I clearly remember Buddy Baker taking the first lap of Talladega at over 200mph (202 and a fraction, if I remember right) in that winged and nosed Dodge. THAT was the wave of the future, right there, from the country that could put men on the moon. Yes, I know they run that fast in the last few years ... but we're well into the Jetsons Century ... we had double-deck trains that could run almost twice that fast by then.
I also remember when a sprint cup was what you'd win doing dirt-track racing with funny-looking shoe-like cars with wings on top. And when the idea that a Red Bull competitor would have its name on the top stock-car series would be laughable -- in fact, when the idea of high-priced "energy drinks" (instead of Coke or, a bit later, Jolt Cola) being something sensible people would fall for was laughable.
Don't get me going on Formula 1. Although I do love the technology. Why don't they bring back CanAm -- now THAT was racing!
Will the graffiti era, er, excuse me, urban expressive art or whatever, ever end? The media keeps championing and adoring these criminals.
Maybe I'm a crank or a stuffy fool but it's embarrasing to be a railfan sometimes these days. Take your grandchildren to see that crap plastered all over. No thanks.
I do not remember billboard reefers, perhaps the odd Sante Fe one from my youth. There was quite an era when railroads used their rolling stock as a rolling advertisement. That was quite nice and colourful.
Today most are just reporting marks with graffiti 1/3 the way up.
Hey RME, I bet you miss the NASCAR pit crew fights as much as we do!
They just cleaned it up too much.
Then there's the real old NASCAR days as remembered by Smoky Yunick...
"The women was there, and they was willin', and we didn't think about the Ten Commandments too much."
Becky, that's a great idea about painting up containers, but you're right, it's not going to happen. Too many of those things make one-way trips, apparantly the shipping companys don't want most of them back.
In case anyone's interested, that book on billboard reefers I mentioned is called "Billboard Refrigerator Cars," it's by Richard H. Henderson and Edward S. Kaminski. Published by Signature Press of Wilton CA. www.signaturepress.com At $60 it's not cheap, hey it's a specialized pub after all, but it's the definative work on the subject and I'm not sorry I bought it. Fascinating work!
A while back I corresponded with the authors with some questions concerning billboard reefers and they were both very gracious and responded. True gentlemen!
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Get the Classic Trains twice-monthly newsletter