November 1st, 2006
The idea that smoking cigarettes came popular because of the First World War is wildly beyond historical reality. A war did bring cigarettes into favor among western Europeans and Americans, but it was the Crimean War between Britain/France and Russia, 1853-56 that was responsible. Smoking tobacco in paper — cigarettes (small cigars) — was then the vogue among Ottoman Turks, Greeks, and other Levantines. British and French soldiers in the Crimea picked up the habit, brought it back, and cigarettes became all the rage soon afterwards in mid-nineteenth century Europe.
—Internet posting by “Sidney”
Posted by: The Editors
Category: All Smoking & Drinking Issue | Link to this Entry
