The Canadian Cigar and Tobacco Journal in the forties: A remembrance
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Issue Date
2006
Editor
Authors
Warsh, Cheryl Krasnick
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Subject
Abstract
This paper is a period snapshot of the life and times of
Canadian smoking culture, filtered through The Canadian Cigar and Tobacco
Journal (the industry’s trade paper) from 1943-1949. The Journal
provided a vivid portrait of neighbourhood tobacconists, travelling salesman,
wholesalers and factory workers, homemakers and entrepreneurs. I
discuss the role of Jews in the industry, as manufacturers and retailers. The
Journal evokes the dangers of the retail trade, such as armed robberies,
as well as the dangers of wartime. There is also the parallel danger of tobacco
smoking, which, although not explicitly defined as risky behaviour
by physicians, nonetheless is apparent to consumers. World War II is a
dominant feature of The Journal, and the celebration of wartime tobacco
consumption is epitomized by Winston Churchill and other heroic smokers.
Women’s increased economic participation during the war years, and
postwar demobilization, is reflected in The Journal. Finally, I discuss the
growing targeting of children as potential consumers of tobacco.