Classic Food Friday: Candy Cigarettes
Last week I was in Iowa and spotted these slightly shocking boxes nestled amongst the candies and snack foods in a gift store. Given the national war on smoking, I was surprised to see they made these candies, much less see them placed them at eye level for kids. Apparently my impression that these candies were no longer on the market is a common misconception, as the government has left it up to individual retailers to decide whether they will carry these controversial confections. Given the nature of these novelty items, it seemed natural to choose them as today’s feature for Classic Food Friday.
So the debate about candy cigarettes continues, as a study was published as recently as April of this year trying to add weight to the seemingly obvious truth that candy cigarettes glamorize smoking to kids, which in turn makes them more likely to grow up to be smokers. For anecdotal evidence on this theory, head over to Old Time Candy which has some interesting stories about candy cigarettes, or candy sticks as they are apparently called these days, and some amazing pictures of the old packages which were made to mimic real cigarette brands.
Or if the photo above triggered your consumer craving, you can buy candy cigarettes and bubble gum cigarettes in packages of 24 boxes over at Amazon.com. But be forewarned faithful readers: according to technology blogger Mike Swanson, candy cigarettes are almost as addictive as the real thing. Hopefully candy cancer is not a potential side effect.
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:47 am
Funny candy cigarettes story:
When I was about four and my brother nine, my mother used to send us out to the variety store to get us out of the house for a bit. Since the arcade game my brother usually played for an hour or so was down, he decided to get creative.
He used his arcade money to buy candy cigarettes and opened the pack all James Dean-style. He showed me how to hold the cigarette and hold my breath so a big puff of steam would come out. (It’s colder than death in Toronto winters.)
My mother came out to find us “smoking” on the patio and I seriously thought she was going to die. 22 years later and she’s still mad at him about it.
Happy Friday.
November 5th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
I remember not being allowed to get these when I was younger. Forbidden by my parents who both smoked. LOL.
Now, neither one smokes. It’s been decades for dad and years for mom. She had a harder time quitting than he did.
November 9th, 2007 at 11:05 am
[...] creativity as the Hostess Twinkie, so they seemed like a good subject for this week’s Classic Food Friday. Whether people are conducting science experiments on Twinkies, putting them in deep fryers, or [...]