As smoking cigarettes becomes less popular all over the world we can all breathe a sigh of relief and suck in some clean, non threatening air.
The only problem with the death of smoking is that the world probably won’t see any cool smoking gadgets in the future. Here are a couple of crackers which almost make us wish that cigarettes were hip again.
The Cigarette Umbrella
This is a frankly baffling gadget. For a start, the 1930s newspaper article about it claims that it was used by an English clown. Is that what English clowns looked like in the 30s? Good grief, the circus must have been a horrible affair which gave the kids nightmares for years afterwards. Apart from the weirdness of the so-called clown, we also need to consider that the cigarette has an umbrella but the man hasn’t. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just cover both smoker and smoke with a big brolly?
The Cigarette Counter
We need to move forward to the 1940s for the next smoking gadget, and this one is equally puzzling. It seems that there are two ways of getting a cigarette out. When you want one you just open the blooming thing. However, when one of your miserable war-time friends wants to grab a free fag you press a button which keeps count of the number of ciggies you have given them. Presumably you then confront them at some point and wave the gadget in their face while demanding an equal number of free cigarettes in return. Wouldn’t it be easier to just not loan fags to people in the first place if you are so tight about it?
What other forgotten smoking gadgets have you come across?
