Wwii And Smoking

[barry1010]

I watched a tv programme with my aged relatives recently which has set off a lot of discussions about WWII. The programme informed us that at the outbreak of the war the UK imported 90% of its wheat hence the bread shortages and rationing.

My relatives want to know how the 100% of tobacco needed for all the pipes and cigarettes that seemingly every adult (and a lot of youngsters) smoked got through when the flour couldn't. They have distinct memories of cinemas being full of smoking fug, choking in the air raid shelters, their parents constantly smoking and walking past pubs in the blackout and seeing the smoke roll out when the doors opened.

[davebro]

Smoking was very prevalent - lots of characters in the movies smoked.
My parents & uncles all smoked.

I think beer was also readily available. Maybe ways to maintain the morale of the public.

[Zacs-Master]

Beer was brewed domestically.

[Spicerack]

The average smoker got/gets by on an ounce of tobacco pw.
Ounce of bread wouldn't go far.

[emmie]

interesting reading...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/96/a3349596.shtml

[Karolina82]

Tobacco was seen as a necessity in Britain during WWII.
No doubt a lot of it ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean during the U-boat assault on the Merchant Fleet.

[davebro]

Post war my uncle had a go at growing tobacco - got seeds through Exchange & Mart ( the ebay of its day!).

It didn't work too well - I think we had a particularly wet year & the crop rotted in the field.

[Jackdaw33]

My recollection is that bread was not rationed till after the war ended.

[pastafreak]

More memories of the period...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/25/a2226025.shtml

[davebro]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationing_in_the_United_Kingdom#Second_World_War_1939%E2%80%931945

[emmie]

as my link bears out Jack.

[woofgang]

Smoking was considered an essential. My Dad used to say that even if the rations didn't get through to the front the cigarettes did. He smoked for most of his adult life and died of lung cancer.

[ToraToraTora]

it seems odd to us now that resources were taken away from supplying food for tobacco but I guess at the time it was important.

[dannyk13]

My mother and father were both heavy smokers and I followed them in 1944 at which time there were no warnings about its effect on your health.I think that at that time there were more smokers than non-smokers.

[Togo]

Ciggies or tobacco was part of a soldier's rations during both World wars. The non smokers still took their ration and sold or swapped then for other goods.

[woofgang]

TTT I believe it was considered good for morale, also one of the reasons to smoke then was that it was believed to be "good for the nerves" Other non essentials were considered essential, like Lucozade being given a special ration of sugar to continue production.

[ToraToraTora]

Danny, ditto my mum and dad, my dad died aged 56 of pneumonia and mum 69 from lung cancer. Mum was forever trying to give up but never managed it. From the earliest time I can remember hating it and as a child could never see why mum didn't just stop until I realised the addictive nature.

[davebro]

Dad died age 59 - lung cancer. Mum gave up smoking then.

[barry1010]

Togo, cigarettes and tobacco were never rationed. The only bread available from shops during the war was the dreaded 'national loaf' which was horrible because of the shortages of white flour.

[barry1010]

Sorry, Togo, I've re-read your post and now realise you were referring to the soldiers' rations

[Jackdaw33]

Although tobacco products were never rationed they were still often hard to come by, like many other things which were not rationed. Shopkeepers would keep their cigarettes under the counter for their regular customers.