Cigars

[roger]

I don’t know if this has cropped up before but did you know that Punch cigars hold the record for the biggest order ever taken by an importer from a single customer when, in 1915, seven million were ordered by the British Army.

http://www.uk-cigars.co.uk/brand/punch.htm

Top bit of Great War Trivia from a workmate, give the man a cigar

Roger.

[robbie]

Am I correct in assuming that they are still being produced?

Robbie

[roger]

I assume so Robbie, I never asked.

Roger.

[robbie]

More on the subject of smoking and WW1:

Found this interesting article which argues that WW1 was a watershed for both emancipation of women and increasing numbers of women who smoked cigarettes.

"During the war many women had not only taken on "male" occupations but had also started to wear trousers, play sports, cut their hair, and smoke.3 4 Subsequently attitudes towards women smoking began to change, and more and more women started to use the cigarette as a weapon in their increasing challenge to traditional ideas about female behaviour. In powder rooms and rest rooms many women sought fellow smokers eager to push the limits of accepted social conventions. Soon the cigarette became a symbol of new roles and expectations of women's behaviour."

http://tc.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/9/1/3

Robbie

[NIGEL]

How did you find that one out Robbie, i never thought of you as a womens lib'a

[robbie]

Well I was in the 70s mate. Us Aussies had Germaine Greer before she walked out of Celebrity Big Brother!

RObbie

[NIGEL]

70's--Germaine who??? Sorry mate me no understand, not that old.

[robbie]

Germaine Greer --

She is one of the most famous soldiers of the gender wars. Her reputation was made in 1970, when she wrote The Female Eunuch. The book helped mobilize the women's movement and it turned its author into one of the most important voices in feminism. Now, after 30 years, she has written a sequel. In it, she says feminism has not gone far enough.

http://www.tv.cbc.ca/national/pgminfo/greer/

Robbie

[NIGEL]

Robbie ( dustbinhead ) i am the same old age as you cobba, it was a joke

[robbie]

was it? well i'll leave the post there..maybe some of the younguns might be interested

[roger]

she says feminism has not gone far enough.

What! isn't smoking cigarettes enough?

[NIGEL]

Going back to Rogers thread (sorry Roger ) I assume these cigars were for officers only, does that mean that the poor Tommy had to buy his own fags, or did they get them free.????

[robbie]

Yes, sorry Roger.

Robbie

Nigel - I believe each man was given (at the discretion of the boss) around 1-2oz of tobacco each week.

Robbie

[roger]

On a smilar vein, I wonder how much booze was ordered and sent across the Channel?

There must have been a fair amount of rum sent across the Atlantic and I've seen a few photo's of the troops enjoying a bottle of Bass.

Roger.

[robbie]

Hi Roger

Looks like the Brits certainly enjoyed a fair measure of rum.

1 1/2 gallon capacity heavy crockery jug bearing the initials S.R.D. which stood for "Service ration depot". (or as the front-line troops would claim; "Seldom or Rarely Delivered, "Soon Runs Dry" "Standard Rum; Diluted" and so on...) Having been utilized by the tens of thousands, these jugs littered the western front during the post war years. They still turn up at flea markets and junk shops in North-west France and Belgium. This example is in very nice shape with no chips, cracks or leaks. It bears an ink-stamp at the bottom which is 1939 dated. This denotes that the jug was re-glazed for use in the second war.

http://www.nomanslandmilitaria.com/ww1_a2_feild_gear.html

Robbie

[Andrew Upton]

1 1/2 gallon capacity heavy crockery jug bearing the initials S.R.D. which stood for "Service ration depot". (or as the front-line troops would claim; "Seldom or Rarely Delivered, "Soon Runs Dry" "Standard Rum; Diluted" and so on...) Having been utilized by the tens of thousands, these jugs littered the western front during the post war years. They still turn up at flea markets and junk shops in North-west France and Belgium. This example is in very nice shape with no chips, cracks or leaks. It bears an ink-stamp at the bottom which is 1939 dated. This denotes that the jug was re-glazed for use in the second war.

Robbie:

I have visited this website, and some of the information is somewhat less than accurate! See:

http://1914-1918.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=26518

for a discussion on the SRD meaning.

On the subject of reglazing, I would love for it to be explained how it is even remotely possible to reglaze pottery supposedly over 20 years after it was originally made! They did, of course, continue to make them to the same WW1 pattern during WW2 (and dated them, a feature I've not yet seen on any WW1 SRD jug). Indeed, the one I use for storing soft drinks in at WW1 living history events (and it keeps it beautifully cool! ) is a 1944 dated example.

[robbie]

thanks for the heads up, mate.

Robbie