I remember watching TV as a kid and seeing all those cigarette commercials on TV. Those ads sure made smoking look fun. Many of them were cartoons (even Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble did a commercial where they were behind the house smoking Winstons), and others had actors portraying 'doctors' who claimed “4 out of 5 doctors recommend (brand name) cigarettes”.

Some ads said you could pick up girls, attract guys, be a 'real' man, be a sex goddess, make new friends, get jobs, and enjoy food more if you smoked a certain brand. Golly gee.

As of 2023, the average cost of a pack of cigarettes in Michigan is $7.09. A carton can cost between $60-$70 in most places. I remember when I was in high school, you could buy a whole carton of cigarettes (ten packs) for three bucks...and a whole string of coupons were inside, good to redeem for cool stuff!

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Are you old enough to recall Michigan's relaxed attitude when it came to smoking? I mean, you could smoke just about anywhere, inside and out, without condemnation.

Restaurant patrons – no matter where they sat – could smoke away. There were no designated smoking areas and you weren't sent outside to smoke. To placate the non-smoking restaurant customers, “no-smoking” and “smoking allowed” sections were designated. After some years of that, it proved that it still upset the non-smokers. Two tables could be right next to each other: one in 'non-smoking' and the other in 'smoking' and that obviously didn't do the non-smoker any good.

After years of this, smokers were told they had to go outside if they wanted a cigarette, even in sub-zero weather. After awhile, THAT wasn't good enough, and smokers were told they couln't even smoke in front of the establishment...”go down a block and smoke” they were told.

Nowadays, according to the Michigan Clean Indoor Air Act's No Smoking Policy, places other than restaurants where smoking is prohibited include the following:
State-owned buildings and parking ramps
Elevators
Conference & meeting rooms
Classrooms
Auditoriums
Libraries
Medical facilities
Entrance areas to State-owned buildings. Smokers must stay 25 feet away from all entrances.
All State vehicles
Airplanes
...and the list goes on, with updates every year. Read more about that here.

I'm not condoning or condemning smokers, I'm just pointing out how different our attitudes and laws toward smoking have become over the last 100 years.

All this blabbing I just did was in order to lead up to this photo gallery of 70 brands of cigarettes. Most of these have been discontinued, some are from other countries, others are recognizable, a handful I'm not sure if they still make or not. Maybe you smoked some of these in your youth. Either way, there are some weird brands here mixed in with some rare ones.

Take a look and see how many you recall...then see some old cigarette commercials featuring the stars of a few old TV programs!

Discontinued, Rare, and Old Cigarette Brands

 

 

 

 

Discontinued Post Cereals

Vintage Cereals of The Battle Creek Food Company

110 Discontinued Coffee Brands

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