Smoking Unopened Original WW2 Nazi Cigarettes!!
Today is all about Fun
Hey guys! Today we have a very special video for you because today is just about having fun. Now we've done educational videos, we've done tributes to the veterans, we've done show and videos, a lot of really cool videos showing you some guns, but today is just about having fun.
Have you seen it?
Let me show you. It was a while ago, I think it was almost a year ago that I was showing you some accessories and I included this pack of German cigarettes. Let's take a look. Maybe you remember it, maybe you haven't even seen the video.
Brand new German Cigarettes
But this is like brand new. Sulima was the manufacturer of the German cigarettes in Dresden. Now that's on here somewhere, here it is, Dresden. They were founded in 1871. And there's 24 pieces, 24 cigarettes in here. And they were 3 1/3 Reichs Pennies basically. Reichs pennies, which comes to about 80 cents for a pack of cigarettes.
It Survived the War
So this 80 year old -- let me back up and say, we believe this was made in 1940. The reason we say that, is the style of the box. We looked it up, looked up the history of the company. The style of the box indicates this pack of cigarettes is from 1940, survived the war, survived all this time unopened. So this is in brand new, unopened condition, the seal is not broken on it. And it also has a tax stamp. That's embossed on there, it actually looks the same as a proof mark that you would see on a gun. But that's the proof mark that says that the tax was paid. We'll talk a little bit about taxes being paid and the history of these German cigarettes and a little bit about -- I will give you a little bit of education.
An 80-year-old cigarette for each of Us
But all of that is to say, Randy who's behind the camera, Randy and I are going to break this open, on camera. First time in 80 years, this will be opened up and we are going to each smoke one cigarette. Now neither one of us are smokers, so this should be interesting. But we thought just for fun, let's smoke a cigarette. Now we're waiting till like four in the afternoon because we want to wait till the end of work, kind of end of our day, go outside and smoke a cigarette. And we are going to use these matches.
Advertisement Walther Matches
Now these in particular, these are Walther matches. So these would have been, you know, the sales staff would give these out. Just like people use matches for advertising, I get a lot of restaurants and things that give me a pack of matches. Carl Walther from the Zella-Mehlis factory in Thurn. And notice, that's a PPK. And for those of you who watch my channel, you're really, really smart. Because what you know about this, is this from the 1930s, the early 30s, because that's a 90 degree safety on that PPK. And this loosely translates into Walther, best in small caliber weapons. So this was an advertisement for the Walther line of guns, which at that time would be models, 1-9 plus the PP and PPK.
Is this a post war pack of Matches?
And then this is a post war, similar pack of matches. You'll see there's two rows here of matches. Here there's two rows, two have been used. But this one, however, is postwar I believe. And this says, we make more than calculations. The reason for that is they did make calculators and office equipment. This also could be war-time or pre-war, I'm not sure. But the style does look more like a post war. So this could be post war. This is definitely from the 1930s. So we're going to use original matches, and break this open. And 80 years later, it'll see the light of day. I don't know what condition they'll be in. But we'll find out.
Time for History Lesson
Let me give you a little history about smoking in the Third Reich. Well, if you're like me, you've seen a lot of war movies, and of course, the iconic German soldier when he's captured. You see here, they're all over the internet. You can see pictures of German soldiers smoking cigarettes, especially when they're captured a lot of times their hands are shaking, and the first thing they want is an American cigarette. But I do think about the German soldiers and smoking cigarettes and also popularized by the show Laughing. If you're as old as me, you know Laughing and there was that guy, I can't think of his name but the little guy and he would be looking around the corner and say very interesting. So that image of Nazi soldiers smoking cigarettes is kind of implanted in my brain. And the facts are actually a lot different.
I hate doing this but...
When we take a look at the fact that in the Third Reich, Hitler in particular was a health food nut, he was actually a health nut. Some historians will say he was way ahead of his time. I hate to give Hitler any credit at all. But he was probably way ahead of his time in terms of the health of the German people. And so for one thing, they discouraged smoking. Now, back in the 20s, here's an ad from the 20s.
They were of course, encouraging smoking, but sometime in the 30s, the German scientists found the link between smoking and cancer. Now, there's a whole commentary there. Why in the United States, we were suing in the 70s because nobody told us they were bad for us when in fact, my dad says when he was growing up, they called them coffin nails. So somebody knew they were bad for your health, and certainly the German scientists, of all the countries in the world they were the strictest on smoking cigarettes. Because the German scientists determined that smoking had a direct link to cancer.
He was a Health Nut
Now getting back to Hitler, I did watch the show on TV and they documented the fact that Hitler really pushed for everybody to eat raw vegetables and raw fruit. Don't steam them, don't cook them don't fry them. He encouraged the people only to eat raw vegetables. And people say when they visited him and there was a banquet at his house or something, you were inundated with raw fruit and raw vegetables.
Now, he did serve me. And early on people did not know he was a vegetarian. Now that's a little controversial because if you go online, people swear he was a vegetarian. His direct staff has said he ate meat, but very, very rarely. He also very rarely drank and he was an avid non-smoker. He hated people smoking. And so there were posters throughout Germany, basically telling women don't smoke. It's bad for your health, it's very unladylike. So women in particular, were encouraged not to smoke.
Heavy regulations on the Cigarettes
However, the soldiers obviously, they did smoke but they were restricted. They were only allowed six cigarettes per day, as opposed to the American army. They got 20 to more than 20 a day as part of their ration. So Germany did get their tobacco mostly from Turkey, but the factory in Dresden actually made the cigarettes and they were issued to the troops, they were rationed. In fact, a pack of cigarettes, I think it says something about you have to return the used packet before you can buy another one. So basically, it's kind of like when you had a soda pop and you had to bring back the bottle in order to get another pop bottle. They rationed them, they control them, and they're heavily regulated. So again, a lot of propaganda about not drinking too much, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and definitely not smoking.
Ahead of his Time
So along with the limit of six cigarettes per day for troops, you are not allowed to smoke indoors. You're not allowed to smoke on duty. And so generally there were designated smoking areas. You can see why really Hitler was ahead of his time in terms of the the warnings against cigarette smoke.
Remember that Tax Stamp
Now one other thing that the Nazi Party did, you remember that tax stamp? They also put a huge tax on cigarettes, they made them expensive to discourage people from smoking. All of the same tactics that our governments use to discourage people from smoking. Well basically the propaganda, the pressure, not smoking indoors.
The Factory went up in Flames
Now early in the war again, the six cigarette limit that actually became even less because there were not even six cigarettes, they were running out of cigarettes because being made in Dresden, Dresden was firebombed by the allies late in the war, I think 43 or 44. And literally, the factory went up in smoke. Basically, the town of Dresden was bombed heavily, and the factory was destroyed. So finding cigarettes toward the end of the war was very, very difficult. And thus the stereotype of when Germans surrendered, the first thing they asked for was Americanish cigarette. I'm not sure that's German could be.
Come join us
Alright, so now let's have some fun. We're going to go out to the porch. Randy and I are going to smoke a cigarette. Why don't you join us?
A Chill Friday Afternoon
Okay, we're just chilling on a Friday afternoon. It's late afternoon actually, getting ready to go home but we thought it's time to open our box of cigarettes. Again, this is 80 year old, German cigarettes now. I noticed that Ian whenever he does a fun video, he always wears a different hat. So Randy and I we're going to wear hats. However, German cigarettes -- if we were a German hat, I'm convinced that if I were a German hat it's going to go out on the internet, clips of me with Nazi memorabilia on my head, and I'll never be able to run for office. Randy is a young man. I'm sure he has a political career ahead of him. So let's wear our hats. Put those on.
Ready for it?
That just helps get us in the mood. I have my paratrooper D-day hat and he's got his Medic paratrooper -- I don't know what the heck's going on with him. See that strap, the chin strap, that's paratrooper I think.
Randy: What is this strap here? What does this do?
Tom: That's your jock strap.
Randy: I'm going to put this behind...
Tom: Alright, get that on and then I'm going to open the package of cigarettes.
Randy: Okay, I'm on, I'm good. No chin strap.
Tom: So come on in. Let's open these up, see what they look like. Now, as I'm doing this. I have to admit I have not smoked a cigarette since junior high. I have no memory of smoking a cigarette, but it's been since junior high. I'm afraid I'm going to have to rip it. Oh, wait. Something's happened. It's moving. Look at that. Oh my gosh. So take a look at that. I mean, there's no filters at all. So these are like brand new. Here Randy, check that. That's no filter that's just pure tobacco. Again, it comes from Turkey.
Randy: Thank you, sir.
Tom: Straight to the German army.
Randy: It smells like almost chocolaty.
Tom: No way.
Randy: Yeah.
Tom: You're just trying to tempt me.
Randy: Yeah. I'm trying to sound smart.
Tom: No, I don't smell anything. It could be COVID because I don't smell a thing.
Randy: It smells very good. Are we supposed to lick it before we...
Tom: No, no...
Randy: Like a cigar?
Tom: I think this end goes in.
Randy: Yeah.
Tom: So for me junior high, when was the last time you smoked a cigarette?
Randy: Last time I smoked a cigarette was in college. My mom knows about that.
Tom: My mom knows about that.
Randy: I went to a Christian school and I got fined for smoking on campus.
Tom: Of course you did.
Randy: And then I stopped, because I didn't want to get in trouble. But now...
Tom: Now he's going to get in trouble.
Randy: Now it's for history.
Tom: I'm going to try lighting yours.
Randy: Please
Tom: So these are the matches we've already discussed, this is from the Walther factory. So we have Walther factory with Nazi approved. Its Nazi Waffen stamped cigarettes. And the only thing better is if we had SS. Okay, you ready?
Randy: Yeah.
Tom: You first.
Randy: Yeah, go ahead.
Tom: If he doesn't die, then I'll try it. Oh my gosh. They're going to be gone in seconds. Don't inhale by the way.
Randy: Wow!
Tom: Did you notice...
Randy: That is really good.
Tom: Don't tell me that.
Randy: Yes, it is.
Tom: Alright. Come on, light me up. Now, you know when you see the German, very interesting they always have it like very interesting.
Randy: Speaks German
Tom: Very interesting. Try that.
Randy: Okay. Our assistant can hang on to this. Okay.
Tom: Okay, I'm going to try that. Don't burn...
Randy: They are pink wood by the way. They are wood.
Tom: First strike, I did on the first strike.
Randy: Alright, ready?
Tom: I think you got my hair. Very interesting.
Randy: I'll take mine back. What do you think?
Tom: [coughs]
Randy: Harsh?
Tom: A little harsh. No, these are great. It's no wonder the Germans whenever they surrendered, they always said American cigarette, American cigarette. How is my German by the way?
Randy: I think it's pretty darn good. I think this is pretty darn good. It doesn't even need a filter.
Tom: I could definitely get addicted to this.
Randy: It's very smooth, honestly. I think it's smoother than modern cigarettes.
Tom: I feel very sophisticated.
Randy: Yeah, me too. And you know what, it does have a chocolaty flavor and I'll take that with me to my grave.
Tom: Hey let's blow it at the camera.
Randy: Yeah, let's blow it at the camera.
Tom: Yeah, I could do this once. I can do this once every 80 years.
Randy: Yeah, it's very nice. I think it's very smooth, enjoyable.
Tom: So now if I want to go scuba diving -- I got some tobacco in my mouth. I was telling the guys before this. This is my ashtray. I was telling the guys before this that I went scuba diving with my closest friend. We were down in the Bahamas, and we were filling out the form. We'd never been scuba diving before. So we had to check off the disclaimer, we won't sue you, we don't have a heart condition, we don't have breathing problems. And the question was, have you ever smoked? And I said, No. My friend who is very fastidious, and a stickler for rules, he said, yes. At which point they said, I'm sorry, you can't go scuba diving, which the two of us were going to go together out on a boat. He wasn't going, I wasn't going to go by myself. So bottom line is, we went back and forth. I said, I've never seen you smoke a cigarette. He goes, well, I did smoke a cigarette when I was in junior high. So I said, well, they're not talking about that. They said, do you smoke? Have you ever smoked? And he said yes, he goes, yes. I smoked one cigarette when I was in junior high. So the bottom line is we didn't get go scuba diving because he was a stickler for the rules. So the moral of the story is, don't be so concerned about the rules.
Randy: That's a good moral. I love it. Cheers to that.
Tom: Cheers.
Randy: Cheers.
Tom: Oh man, that's, I get a much bigger --watch.
Randy: Oh yeah, you can blow...
Tom: Mine is much bigger than yours.
Randy: Blow smoke rings with that.
Tom: This is in perfect condition. I don't have anything that can compare it to. These are in perfect condition.
Randy: But seriously, if you're a smoker, this is quite an experience. They're very smooth, they have like a thick, almost like a cigar taste. It's kind of tastes a little older than modern cigarettes. But it's very smooth, and it's good. I would do it again.
Tom: Go to Whole Foods today and get your Turkish cigarettes only $19.95.