Candy Cigarettes


I see these all the time in the late 60's and early 70's at my drug store that I grew up from.







I remember these things back in my youth around 7 to 11 years of age and I usually enjoyed them on a weekly basis until I got braces on my teeth at 12 years old. I really missed them for a better part of my youth and by time six months shy of my 16th birthday -- I had my braces removed and went on a 18 months retainer and I couldn't chew gum then. So, my days of chewing gum in this format was history!

Did anyone here enjoyed having Candy Cigarettes?


Pall Mall were my Favorites ... because of packaging and color!






I remember seeing kids back then doing this -- usually on a Friday of where it is the last day of the school week when School was over and kids are awaiting for the bus. Many adults including my Mom didn't like this at all; but kids did it anyway just for fun. My grandmother was shocked seeing me with a candy cigarette in my mouth and my mother reassured her that I'm having a candy cig that was a bubble gum in disguise and was happy to know that.





It was kind of cool -- but some parents did not like this at all and that's kind of killed it in the early 80's when half of the drug stores stopped carrying these things.

I'm resuming this thread in about 3-5 days from now and think of new subjects to share here -- please feel free to share your stories of things of the past.

I recall cinnamon toothpicks being banned at my elementary school because of fears of the oil getting in people's eyes (not to mention the toothpicks). That just made us more likely to have them.

What are you talking about?! I used to love candy cigarettes as a kid and I only ended up being a heavy smoker for 20 years, so it's not like they did me any harm.

Oh, wait...hang on.

My Dad had one for his 66 Mustang and my brother who bought that car from my Dad ... still use it today!

I remember them, and tried them a few times; but, they always tasted like chalk. My mom smoked and I hated the smell of it; so, I never had any inclination to light up. My dad had smoked a pipe, off and on. He took it u again around the time I was in junior high and his tobacco smelled better; but, by that point I had seen medical evidence, especially photos of smoker's lungs and never wanted to try. He gave it up relatively quickly and never took it up again. Even then, he didn't smoke a pipe regularly. Just once in a while. Sad thing was, de died of pulmonary fibrosis, despite never being a heavy or regular smoker. The root cause is unknown and could be related to any number of things, from exposure to something in the Air Force (he was an aircraft maintenance sergeant, on the B-36 bomber, which meant lubricants and old school insulation), his childhood on a farm (though I doubt they used many pesticides, in the 30s and early 40s, on my grandfather's farm), to his school classroom, as a teacher (or even later pesticides, while work for DeKalb, in the summer, running de-tasseling crews).

My Dad did smoke a pipe for two years until my Mom told him to stop; he usually smoke it after Dinner during the Fall and Winter Months. His Pipe Smoke was surprisingly pleasant and he had to go outside to do so because his wife says so. I have a Great Uncle, Uncle on my Mom side of the Family, and finally my Dad's Older Brother did so too. He was the worst Pipe Smoker and his smoke was everywhere and it's lingers for more than 6 to 8 days after he leaves our home. He actually uses cheap tobacco and it's was very inferior brand and my Dad mentioned that to me when I was much older. 

I even had a Great Aunt that smoked them too and she only smoke them at her home and never at our home because my Mother forbid her doing so. We rarely visit her at her home when I was growing up and she died of throat cancer when I was entering in Junior High.