R.D.Blumenfeld on the rise of smoking

October 28th, 1900

A plumber's assistant came yesterday morning to repair a leaking drain pipe. I noticed that he smoked many cigarettes. I mentioned this later to Mayo Gunn, who was manager of the St. James's Gazette, but has now joined his relatives, the Wills, of Bristol, in the tobacco business. He says working men are taking more and more to cigarettes, which are so much cheaper since the introduction of machinery. A man named Bernhard Baron [late head of Carreras] brought over a machine a few years ago and he turns out thousands per hour. He is likely to make a fortune.

December 10th, 1901

I remember going to Vienna about ten years ago to be shocked at the sight of several women smoking cigars. We appear to be progressing towards that end here. After dinner last night at the Carlton I saw four women in the lounge smoking cigarettes quite unconcernedly. One of them had a golden case, and she was what is called a chain smoker. Dr. Gunton, who was with me, told me that most women now smoke at home. "That's what makes them so nervy," he said, " but when I tax them with over-smoking they nearly always deny it."

Ladies Smoking Forbidden

LADIES SMOKING FORBIDDEN

As always, accounts of 'Police News' in the popular press provide fascinating insight into the manners and mores of Victorian society. The limits placed on women in the period are always interesting, and it's here we find out that smoking was one area where the battle lines were drawn, as late as the 1890s (St. Pancras station, opened in 1868, contained a ladies smoking room, I believe, although some considered it scandalous). For an interesting history of society and smoking, including some nice stuff on the Victorians, see 'Giveup.ca'.