What Happened To Cigarette Holders?

These days, smoking is considered a disgusting and dangerous habit that is to be avoided. In fact, even the federal government has been spending decades trying to convince Americans to kick the habit or not start it to begin with. Similarly, private enterprises, such as the American Cancer Society, are all about seeing smoking become a thing of the past.

A century ago, things were considerably different. Almost any well-respected gentleman or lady smoked, as The Guardian reports, and by 1950, half of the population of the industrialized world had a fondness for cancer sticks. Before we learned about the health hazards of smoking, even doctors smoked — sometimes in the operating room, according to Working Nurse.

For a time, the ultimate fashion accessory for a woman (and sometimes a man) who smoked was the cigarette holder, as seen above. However, right about the same time that smoking, in general, started decreasing in popularity, so, too, did the cigarette holder. Today, they're still sold, albeit mostly as either cosplay props or art pieces.

So ingrained into the public consciousness was the idea that women shouldn't smoke that by the turn of the 20th century, some cities even had laws against it. Notably, a woman was arrested in New York City in 1908 for smoking in public (per an article in Tobacco Control). After World War I, some of the barriers between men and women started to fall here and there. For example, women started wearing pants, playing sports, and cutting their hair. And the tobacco industry saw dollar signs in this social trend: they set about to convince women and men that it was OK to smoke.

As Truth Initiative reports, the industry went after marketing cigarettes to women with reckless abandon, often tying their marketing to the concept of liberating or — at the very least — helping women. For example, in the early 1920s, Lucky Strike played on the fears of women about their weight by suggesting that a smoke was preferable to a snack: "Reach for a lucky instead of a sweet," the slogan read. Similarly, in 1929, the American Tobacco Company organized a protest of sorts, where women marched through the heart of New York City carrying "freedom torches," which were cigarettes (per Truth Initiative). A few decades later, in the late 1960s, Virginia Slims latched onto the ideas of women's liberation, a major social movement at the time, via the slogan, "You've come a long way, baby!"

As mentioned above, cigarette holders provided benefits for both men and women, and although they were largely used by women, some male smokers used them too. For example, "gonzo journalist" Hunter S. Thompson (pictured above) was rarely seen or photographed without a cigarette holder in his mouth and a smoking cigarette at the end. As TarGard notes, he used it strictly as a filter. Similarly, according to the Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, believed to be a pack-a-day smoker, was rarely seen without a cigarette plugged firmly into the end of his cigarette holder. Other well-known men who were oft seen with a cigarette holder include James Bond novelist Ian Fleming (via A Suitable Wardrobe) and Yugoslavian dictator Marshal Josip Broz Tito (per British Pathe).

Of course, there were fundamental differences between men's cigarette holders and women's. As Antique Jewelry University explains, men's holders were usually shorter than women's; about 4 inches for men's, while women's models could exceed 1 foot in length. In addition, Men's holders were generally more functional and less flashy than women's.