Soldier cleaning a rifle, Western Front. A soldier sitting cleaning the mud off his rifle with a cloth. National Library of Scotland, No restrictions/Wikimedia Commons
Smoking, both inside and outside the military, is a habit of many. In fact, according to CDC, nearly 40 million adults in the US smoke cigarettes as of 2021. Smokers also have this superstitious practice of flipping one cigarette upside down and saving it for last. That last cigarette is called the “lucky cigarette.”
That One Lucky Cigarette
It doesn’t matter what you believe in life, but consuming your lucky cigarette before the other ones was considered unlucky when it comes to smoking. We’re not 100% sure where this belief came from, although there had been some speculations that it started with the soldiers of WWII. Where else could weird beliefs start, but in the military? It’s just like the belief that eating Charms Candy will bring you all the bad luck.
Tobacco Ration To Boost Morale
Before they were removed from military rations in 1975 after scientific data about the health risks of smoking and how it affected troop readiness, cigarettes used to be part of K-rations and C-rations. When World War I started, the number of smokers in the military drastically increased, as it became one means to boost their morale, increase alertness on watch, and even suppress the appetite between meals
As General John “Black Jack” Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American forces in France in 1917, said that time, “You ask me what we need to win this war. I answer tobacco as much as bullets. Tobacco is as indispensable as the daily ration; we must have thousands of tons without delay.” Thus, soldiers were sent a ration of 50 cigarettes every week. The government should have already known this. During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress had its hands full supplying George Washington and his army. Supplied would come into him sporadically and piecemeal. He would get winter coats, but no hats, musket balls but no gun powder, Washington asked for money to be able to buy supplies himself but that too was in short supply. In exasperation, Washington finally wrote to Congress saying, “If you can’t send money, just send tobacco,” knowing that he could barter for anything else he needed with the brown leaf.
Tobacco advertisements boomed. The most popular cigarette brands were “Bull” Durham, Chesterfield, and Lucky Strike. And so, the culture of wartime smoking continued until WWII. Whenever the troops sent to Europe or the Pacific would smoke their Lucky Strike, they would flip all of the cigarettes inside the pack except for one. This is so that the brand stamp on the paper of the cigarette would burn first when it was smoked. In that way, a discarded cigarette butt would not tell the enemy wouldn’t tell the enemy the country of origin of the smoker. As for the last unflipped one, well, if you lived long enough to smoke your way through an entire pack, that last flipped cigarette was your lucky one.
Other theories said the practice started during Vietnam War. At this time, filters for cigarettes were becoming a thing as an initiative to reduce tar and nicotine yields. Because of that, cigarettes could only be smoked one way. The practice changed a bit, and the soldiers would only flip one instead, although the belief is still there: if you live long enough, then you’d be fortunate to smoke your “lucky cigarette.”
Smoking, both inside and outside the military, is a habit of many. In fact, according to CDC, nearly 40 million adults in the US smoke cigarettes as of 2021. Smokers also have this superstitious practice of flipping one cigarette upside down and saving it for last. That last cigarette is called the “lucky cigarette.”
That One Lucky Cigarette
It doesn’t matter what you believe in life, but consuming your lucky cigarette before the other ones was considered unlucky when it comes to smoking. We’re not 100% sure where this belief came from, although there had been some speculations that it started with the soldiers of WWII. Where else could weird beliefs start, but in the military? It’s just like the belief that eating Charms Candy will bring you all the bad luck.
Tobacco Ration To Boost Morale
Before they were removed from military rations in 1975 after scientific data about the health risks of smoking and how it affected troop readiness, cigarettes used to be part of K-rations and C-rations. When World War I started, the number of smokers in the military drastically increased, as it became one means to boost their morale, increase alertness on watch, and even suppress the appetite between meals
As General John “Black Jack” Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American forces in France in 1917, said that time, “You ask me what we need to win this war. I answer tobacco as much as bullets. Tobacco is as indispensable as the daily ration; we must have thousands of tons without delay.” Thus, soldiers were sent a ration of 50 cigarettes every week. The government should have already known this. During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress had its hands full supplying George Washington and his army. Supplied would come into him sporadically and piecemeal. He would get winter coats, but no hats, musket balls but no gun powder, Washington asked for money to be able to buy supplies himself but that too was in short supply. In exasperation, Washington finally wrote to Congress saying, “If you can’t send money, just send tobacco,” knowing that he could barter for anything else he needed with the brown leaf.
Tobacco advertisements boomed. The most popular cigarette brands were “Bull” Durham, Chesterfield, and Lucky Strike. And so, the culture of wartime smoking continued until WWII. Whenever the troops sent to Europe or the Pacific would smoke their Lucky Strike, they would flip all of the cigarettes inside the pack except for one. This is so that the brand stamp on the paper of the cigarette would burn first when it was smoked. In that way, a discarded cigarette butt would not tell the enemy wouldn’t tell the enemy the country of origin of the smoker. As for the last unflipped one, well, if you lived long enough to smoke your way through an entire pack, that last flipped cigarette was your lucky one.
Other theories said the practice started during Vietnam War. At this time, filters for cigarettes were becoming a thing as an initiative to reduce tar and nicotine yields. Because of that, cigarettes could only be smoked one way. The practice changed a bit, and the soldiers would only flip one instead, although the belief is still there: if you live long enough, then you’d be fortunate to smoke your “lucky cigarette.”
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