Chapter 5: "Shall We Just Have a Cigarette on It?" Summary

A "Reader's Digest" article damning smoking as unhealthy came out in December, 1941, but was quickly lost in the shuffle of wartime preparedness. Just like in World War I, World War II increased smoking production by approx 50 percent over prewar levels. The average soldier smoked some 30 cigarettes per day. Roosevelt confirmed that tobacco was to be considered "essential wartime material." Simply put, cigarettes were patriotic. Millions of non-smokers took up the habit, which stayed with them when they returned home at the end of the war. For years after the war, American cigarettes were considered currency overseas. Hollywood portrayed cigarette use as commonplace in many classic pictures.

In 1945, the small firm Benson & Hedges, under the control of Joe Cullman, Jr. saw a huge interest in its custom Parliament...