During World War II American soldiers on the front line(s) had cigarettes included with their pre-packaged combat rations. I am uncertain whether pipe tobacco was also included, but disassembled cigarettes are pipe tobacco in "emergencies." Cigar smokers? How was their need serviced?

They weren't.

We still had the 4 packs in our rations in 1970.Also up until WW2 Lucky Strikes were green.The pack turned white during the war + stayed that way. I assume the green ink was needed for the war effort.

Cigarettes, default currency of immediate post war Germany, would buy you anything. My father sketched allied troops in return for cigarettes, which were traded for essentials. He claimed he did a portrait of Montgomery, when he was seeking permission to do his thing.

Grizz

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
We still had the 4 packs in our rations in 1970.Also up until WW2 Lucky Strikes were green.The pack turned white during the war + stayed that way. I assume the green ink was needed for the war effort.

4 packs of cigars? All I ever saw was cigs. I seem to remember Lucky Strikes, Camels, and Chesterfields as the main ones.

We had access to surplus rations in Boy Scouts and there was always a scramble to fish out those cigarettes before the Scoutmaster could confiscate them.

The cigarettes stayed until just before the C-rations were replaced with MREs. We immediately began to call the MREs "Meal, Ready to Excrete". The next thing to go was the toothpick or, more correctly, the Interdental Stimulator. Then some of the coffee packs ended up getting replaced with herbal tea. Up till that time every meal had coffee. Meat and potatoes type meals were replaced with stuff like Tortillas, Trans Fat Free, Veggie Crumbles w/Pasta in Taco Style Sauce, and Lemon Pepper Tuna. It used to be that some meals included cocoa but much of that has been replaced with things like French Vanilla Cappuccino Drink Mix and Carbohydrate Fortified Beverage Powder. A second class of "vegetarian" menus was also added. It all makes sense though if you want to have a kinder and gentler army. Who knows, maybe years from now the smokes will come back as marijuana cigarettes.

My recollections are from my Vietnam service in 1966-67 - 410 days, but who's counting?

We originally had C-Rations from long term storage - think Korean war vintage. The USMC never gets rid of anything! These did have the 4 packs included. Later we received more current C's that did not have the cigarette packs as I recall. And during my reserve service from 1976-1986 none of the C's had cigarettes.

Interesting note: During RVN there was a product designated "Sustainment Pack". This was a cardboard box approximately 36" square. It was designed for issue to small units such as squad or platoon level and contained a varied assortment of items unavailable in the field, such as writing paper, pens and whatnot. It also contained a few cartons of cigarettes, usually one of which was a menthol brand such as Salem or Kool - menthols were very popular among the Viets. Also included was chewing tobacco, in both plug and shredded form.

On my entire tour, during which time I once went 90 days without a hot meal, eating strictly C's and supplementing with local items, I only recall opening one or possibly two of the sustainment packs. It was like Christmas when we opened it and split the contents.

Semper Fi

Grizzly,cigarettes were still the fault currency a few years ago,probably still are.About 20 years ago my sister + her husband were in the missionary service in Bosnia + Czeck. They had a hard time receiving services,anything from trask pick up to getting a plumber,etc.I mailed her a couple of cartons of Marlboros + the results were amazing.The only snag was on the value you posted on the package because that is what they fined/taxed you for when you picked up your par avion parcels.

Okay, cigars were not included in any front line rations. So how did cigars reach soldiers in the front lines? Since service was - often enough - for long periods, carrying even a box of cigars in pack wouldn't last. And there would have been little to no opportunity to buy or trade with members of units who had a stash.

Until he was 23 my father smoked cigars. He was a captain in the in the army medical corps until discharge as a major. During the invasion of Leyte, he couldn't trade scotch for cigars. Real armchairs - yes. A real camp bed with mattress - yes. Lanterns - yes. A double layered wall tent - yes. But no cigars. His rueful quip was that MacArthur had cornered the market.

The scotch my father had was made following the recipe of my mother's father who had been a well-respected bootlegger. Dad was able to make his own because of unlimited quantities of ethanol available to him.
*****
Regarding the color change of Lucky Strike cover packaging, the color green included titanium in its mixture. When titanium became war essential, that was that. "Lucky Strike green has gone to war."

1975 was the last year cigarettes were packed in Accessory packs but I can tell you they were issuing those meals for years after that. The meals came with an expiration date stamped on the side of each case but they could be inspected and reinspected and stamped with revised dates. The result was that the meals could last for several years and cigarette containing rations were still in the system until a year or two before MREs began to get issued in 1981. That fits with my recollection.

"Typical commercial brands issued in the cigarette ration were: Camel,
Chesterfield, Kent, Kool, Lucky Strike, Marlboro, Pall Mall, Salem, or
Winston. Due to health concerns, cigarettes were eliminated from the
accessory packs in 1975"

Yeah,Uncle Sugar was tired of the law suits coming because the D.I's would say "Smoke em' if you got em'".Like it was their fault. Lawyers.

quote:

1975 was the last year cigarettes were packed in Accessory packs

By that time they'd been replaced by Pot.

Grizz

Believe me,it was there long before that.

Too young for WWII but after the war in a baseball game hitting a HR ,Triple etc would get a huge number of cigs to a veterans hospital .A good way to get them addicted ! Do I remember that cigarettes had to be paid for by the soldiers ?

Submitted merely as a contribution to the opening dialogue......Your experience may vary.

USMC 1967 / 1971. West Pac.

Cigarettes were a part of all field rats I was issued. I can remember field ops where packages of cigarettes were available at the end of the chow line.

Tobacco was available...anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

You better believe it. I quit smoking years ago but I still remember the calming effect.Miss it sometimes too until I remember the end result.

I ate my first C rat in 1977 but never saw any cigs. We called MREs "Meals Rejected by Ethiopians." Also had some LRPs in the late 70s.

Yeah,the last I got was in 1970.They quit putting them in shortly after that.

Until I got my first C rat, I always thought a P-38 was a WWII fighter plane made famous by Richard Bong.

No, a P38 was a little thingy that you wore on your dog tag chain as they seemed to forget to put them in about half of the cartons.

I still carry a P-38 on my key ring. So do ALL of my sons.'If it works for daddy,it's real.'

Consider this, even before WWII officially started the Germans new and officially had policies against smoking, especially enforced against pregnant German women. THEY NEW SMOKING CAUSED CANCER.
However American Tobacco companies had the FIX IN. SO Cigarettes were INCLUDED in All soldiers meal packs....

Wonder if they were as big a pain in the ass as the new and improved, self-righteous ex smokers in America? FYI, no, I do not smoke.

wasbeeman,I agree. I smoked for many years + one of the things that really chapped my ass was how the ex-smokers would hold hypocritical court on current smokers.I swore I would never do that + I have'nt.

When I went to college in 1959, cigarette companies had hustlers giving out four packs at places where students hung out. Talk about getting away with murder! Try that now. Do you suppose once they take over the pot industry they might try the same thing?

Personally, I'm hoping for the scotch makers to catch on to that.

Just returned from Africa last month. My wife and I have been thinking of all the wonderful and hopeful people we met. Especially the kids in the school we visited in Zimbabwe. Yes things are really, really tough there as many of you know but not deserving of our leaders total disrespect. IMHO

quote:

Originally posted by nobull00:
When I went to college in 1959, cigarette companies had hustlers giving out four packs at places where students hung out. Talk about getting away with murder! Try that now. Do you suppose once they take over the pot industry they might try the same thing?

Personally, I'm hoping for the scotch makers to catch on to that.

Just returned from Africa last month. My wife and I have been thinking of all the wonderful and hopeful people we met. Especially the kids in the school we visited in Zimbabwe. Yes things are really, really tough there as many of you know but not deserving of our leaders total disrespect. IMHO

I disagree. All of the black-ruled countries have had enough money pumped into them to sink a battleship. All it has done is bloat the swiss accounts of the "leaders". "Shithole" is an accurate description and professional whiners and beggars is another. Would you like to talk a bit about Liberia? A country created especially for freed slaves where they could prosper and rise to their true potential through self government and industry. It, of course, devolved into just another African shithole of corruption and lawlessness. Despite their civil wars and racism, they stay afloat through infusions of American tax payer dollars. What, exactly, is your definition of a shithole?

Everything you say is true, They know that but they're still trying. They don't need nor does any other country need, our president rubbing their nose in it.
What do you think our enemies will do with dumpsters' words?

Just stumbled on an interesting article in Legion magazine about the Canadian equivalent. Sitting at the doctor's office. When cigarettes were issued during WW l, there were already health concerns and strong opposition, including the WCTU.


Grizz

quote:

Originally posted by nobull00:
Everything you say is true, They know that but they're still trying. They don't need nor does any other country need, our president rubbing their nose in it.
What do you think our enemies will do with dumpsters' words?

"...they know that but are still trying..." ROFLMAO exactly what are they trying? To continue to breed like rats? Knowing that the touchy-feelies in the rest of the world will send them medicine and food that they cannot provide for themselves so they can raise many, many fat healthy babies that can start breeding at an earlier age? To continue to whine and beg money that will disappear long before it reaches the poor and needy? To continue practicing overt tribalism, genocide, and "ethnic cleansings". Just exactly what are they trying?
You gave your whole plot away when you just couldn't wait to trash the President of the United States. I guess its snowflake logic for you to call the President "dumpster" while whining about him calling shithole countries shitholes.

You just think you know me.

Just thought I'd test the waters.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Grizzly,cigarettes were still the fault currency a few years ago,probably still are.About 20 years ago my sister + her husband were in the missionary service in Bosnia + Czeck. They had a hard time receiving services,anything from trask pick up to getting a plumber,etc.I mailed her a couple of cartons of Marlboros + the results were amazing.The only snag was on the value you posted on the package because that is what they fined/taxed you for when you picked up your par avion parcels.

In 1997 in Czech Republic? No way. Cigarettes were available everywhere (american, french, local, whatever) as everything else.

Yes, in Bosnia during the war and after, that is a different story and very different place.

Jiri

A missionary complaining about trash pick up and availability of a plumber???????

In 1961 I was assigned to a small site in Turkey. Trabazon, where they just had a jet slide off the runway. The go between who handled our relations with the locals told us new guys to be sure and carry Salem cigarettes with us. We used them as bribes. Worked really well.

I can only relate what my sister told me when serving overseas + I did send pkgs that made a difference.

So cigars were immaculately conceived for my dad, Samuel Fuller, Dutch Cota, et al.?

The "C" rats I was given in BCT in late 1971 also included a "4-pack" of cigs as well. As a non-smoker, I would trade them for a can of "eggs and ham" or "peaches".

I think the practice of including cigs ended with MREs.

BH63

Yeah,the 4 pack cigarettes ended long ago but God when I smoked in 1970 they were a blessing in the pack

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
Just stumbled on an interesting article in Legion magazine about the Canadian equivalent. Sitting at the doctor's office. When cigarettes were issued during WW l, there were already health concerns and strong opposition, including the WCTU.


Grizz

It didn't take long after tobacco first reached Europe that some serious thinkers in the medical community were condemning its use.

Added to that,our boys brought he cigarette habit back from France after WW1. There were cigarettes here already but it really took of after the boys came home.Prior to,the smoke was either cigar or pipe.Sometimes I miss all 3.Maybe someday when my days are numbered I'll have another smoke;yeah that's how addictive it is.+ I said maybe.