In a message dated 5/5/2004 8:06:06 PM Eastern Standard Time,
tnamwong@... writes:
Do you recall seeing him pull them out of a box? Does he keep them in
his front pocket? I only remember his matchbox...it wouldn't be cool
smoking the whole cig...imagine Saitou with just a little stub in his
mouth...then if he insults Sano he might actually swallow the
stub...cigs were expensive back then too
I recall seeing somewhere (on some long-forgotten website) that they were
sold in a box, but it didnt' say how big or anything. I would assume that at
first it was like a cigar box though. He probably had some sort of case to carry a
few in.
The cigarette as we know it was first mass-produced in Cuba in 1853. It
remained something that only the rich indulged in until 1854-6, which British
soldiers in the Crimean War picked up the habit from the Turks, who were their
allies. (A group of Eygptian artillerymen started making the first paper-wrapped
cigarettes in 1832, when a communal clay pipe was broken by a Turkish
cannonball fire! War is responsible for all evils, ne?)
It is possible that the Japanese were beginning to produce their own by the
beginning of the Meiji era. Some of you recall me post on the messageboard
about the no smoking law? Well, I don't remember if I mentioned it there or not,
but they were growing some tobacco (illegally of course) in Japan during the
Edo period. And I know they were producing and exporting matches at the time
RK was set in. (Match info from another long-forgotten website!)
The info comes from a book called Reader's Digest Everyday Life Through the
Ages. (1992) ISBN# 0-276-42035-7
-MissBehavin
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