Lots of Smokes in a can of Prince Albert

[Briar Lee]

1938



1939


If you look at Sears catalogs of the late thirties a can of Velvet or Prince Albert was 15 cents and a decent briar pipe about 25 cents to 50 cents, and the better pipes a dollar.

In those hard times, farmers did not get ever more than a penny an ounce for leaf. The tobacco makers could take two cents worth of leaf, and if made into two packages of cigarettes could fetch 30 cents, but even canned tobacco brought in 15 cents.

But if that sounds cheap, in 1938 the first minimum wage law was passed, at 25 cents an hour.

In today’s money the 1938 minimum wage would only be $5.69 an hour. And millions upon millions of workers got a raise.

All the summer jobs kids get today pay nearly three times that much.

I read where the gubbermint is finally going to quit minting pennies .

A penny in 1938 was nearly worth a quarter in our money.

My parents both said during the thirties there was not a spare penny anywhere in the house not accounted for.

We are fortunate sons, to never know what a real Depression was.

Let’s hope we never find out, you know?

 

[bootlegpipes]

Fun ads.

 

[dd57chevy]

Even with the Sutliff/Mac Baren debacle , we still have it good . Ask the Brits/Europeans if they'd trade their tobacco market for ours .

 

[Roach1]

Even with the Sutliff/Mac Baren debacle , we still have it good . Ask the Brits/Europeans if they'd trade their tobacco market for ours .

In a heartbeat.

 

[The Benedictine]

We are truly blessed with the types of tobacco we have today. Fun post.

 

[dd57chevy]

Ol' Judge Robbins both fun & Americana-ish . From a simpler time .

Todays ads/commercials are mostly psych-manipulation , I'm cooler than you , & often offensive .

The saturation of ED & feminine hygiene ads can be overwhelming .

Ok , I'll shut up now .

 

[Sig]

Who on earth would EVER pay a freaking dollar for a pipe???
I work hard for my money, but I ain't no fool!!!
It's absolute price gouging by big pipe if you ask me!!
Sheesh.....a DOLLAR???

 

[renfield]

I can’t see Prince Albert without remembering prank calling the local Tinderbox before the days of caller ID and asking if they had Prince Albert in a can. I bet they’d never heard that one before.

 

[greatdane]

Interesting that the ad states 2oz of Prince Albert is enough for 50 "pipefuls". So 25 smokes per ounce.

Most people nowadays would suggest an ounce of tobacco is barely enough for 10 bowls.

 

[Waning Embers]

Most people nowadays would suggest an ounce of tobacco is barely enough for 10 bowls.

The pipes I had took at least an ounce in one go.

 

[lukasstrifeson]

Interesting that the ad states 2oz of Prince Albert is enough for 50 "pipefuls". So 25 smokes per ounce.

Most people nowadays would suggest an ounce of tobacco is barely enough for 10 bowls.

20 smokes per tin simultaneously sounds like too little and a lot at the same time.

Admittedly I don't think I've ever counted how many bowls I get out of a single tin...

 

[LeafErikson]

Interesting that the ad states 2oz of Prince Albert is enough for 50 "pipefuls". So 25 smokes per ounce.

It would likely be enough for 50 pipe fulls if you’re smoking a chamber that’s 1 x .75. I usually smoke pipes around 1.3-1.4 x .75 and I would estimate I get around 30 smokes every 2 oz.

 

[Briar Lee]

It would likely be enough for 50 pipe fulls if you’re smoking a chamber that’s 1 x .75. I usually smoke pipes around 1.3-1.4 x .75 and I would estimate I get around 30 smokes every 2 oz.

I’m a hoarder and accumulator of pipes of the golden era of American pipes (1919-1950) and like wristwatches of that era, they liked smaller pipes than we did. Plus they caked those up the thickness of a dime.

The gigantic C size Marxman pipes were not huge by today’s standards at all.

 

[Waning Embers]

@lukasstrifeson

No kidding.

 

[LeafErikson]

I’m a hoarder and accumulator of pipes of the golden era of American pipes (1919-1950) and like wristwatches of that era, they liked smaller pipes than we did. Plus they caked those up the thickness of a dime.

The gigantic C size Marxman pipes were not huge by today’s standards at all.

I like a lot of things how they are today but I am a fan of the smaller wristwatches and pipes. A lot of the wristwatches made today are just absurdly large.

 

[Briar Lee]

I like a lot of things how they are today but I am a fan of the smaller wristwatches and pipes. A lot of the wristwatches made today are just absurdly large.

Another thing, we are all bigger in every way, than adult men of the twenties and thirties and forties.

We are a couple or three inches taller, and we weigh more.

I can distinctly remember my mother teaching at Fair Play Missouri in the late sixties and their basketball team dominated because the starting five were all “big six footers”.

For all the processed and junk food, the sedentary evils of the “boob tube” in our day and video games today, the sugary drinks, the French fries and cheeseburgers and pizzas—-kids just keep getting bigger and taller and keep on breaking sports records.

 

[shermnatman]

It's like I've been trying to tell you boys all along:

"Prince Albert IS the National Joy Smoke!!";

and, these ads document the fact. - Sherm Natman

 

[condorlover1]

@Briar Lee: Slightly off topic but the old pocket tins used to say that the tobacco was 'Crimp Cut' for ease in rolling your own cigarettes. I have had the odd unopened can of P.A from the 1970s come my way over the years that claimed on the tin that you could use it in pipes or for RYO and I could never get the stuff to behave in a suitable manner to twist up a dizzy! Had they changed the tobacco form but not the tin?

 

[Briar Lee]

@Briar Lee: Slightly off topic but the old pocket tins used to say that the tobacco was 'Crimp Cut' for ease in rolling your own cigarettes. I have had the odd unopened can of P.A from the 1970s come my way over the years that claimed on the tin that you could use it in pipes or for RYO and I could never get the stuff to behave in a suitable manner to twist up a dizzy! Had they changed the tobacco form but not the tin?

I’ve bought Prince Albert since 1972 and in 1986 they quit the cans but, for many years afterwards sold two foil wrapped packages. One said Luxury Pouch and the other style said This Pouch Replaces the Pocket Can.

I think the only difference was more PG in the Luxury Pouch, maybe a looser cut.

I grew up finding ancient cans of PA in old barns and all of them always said Crimp Cut. They still do.



My trusty Powermatic IV simply doesn’t work with Prince Albert or Velvet—-too wet.

I can still roll one using OCB papers, the old timer’s choice.



My long haired hippy roommates at college always laughed at my rolling skills.

I wasn’t too goody goody to smoke dope.

In the seventies it was a felony for one joint, rarely enforced. I was afraid I’d be that rare victim of enforcement.

And I couldn’t afford any more addictions than tobacco and caffeine.

But mainly, in our culture of old time hillbilly Scottish tradition Christian Churches our mothers were all very beautiful but completely insane. It can’t be exaggerated.

For offenses like smoking dope they’d pick up a stove poker.

The night before my Mama died of congestive heart failure she was apologizing to me for yelling at me and telling me to go to college, law school, not chase wikd women and to always follow the Master in all ways, and of course I was telling her she’d raised me well and I was grateful for her guidance.

But I asked, Mama, would you really have ever hit me with that stove poker?

Her faded eyes lit up and she smiled big, and said—-

I got that part right…

You will never know

 

[condorlover1]

@Briar Lee: Well you have answered one question. OCB cigarette papers are without gum and the only way to get them to stay rolled is to crimp the end of the cigarette in the fashion you have shown. I preferred Wheat Straw papers back in the day since they also did not have gum and relied on the gluten in the paper to stick together. Did you know that OCB are still popular with French Horn players since they use the paper as a wick to soak up moisture? In the words of Michael Cain ... not a lot of people know that!