Smoking in 1880s

[Errata]

I perceive smoking today to be fairly socially unacceptable and one of the most disgusting habits anyone could entertain, with this in mind I'm interested in finding out how popular smoking was in the 1880s in comparison to today and the height of smoking in the 1950s and 1960s

It's full in some circles, totally acceptable even expected in others. It's an odd thing, and I say that as a smoker. I worked at a place where by day I was given dirty looks and as soon as the sun set I was everyone's savior since I clearly had cigarettes.

Back in the 1880s Jews were suspicious of smoking, and I don't know why though it's a suspicion that actually lingers into my grandparent's generation. Like they think it makes you a bad person. And I know that was the case in the 1880s because there's family stories stretching back to the Pale about how people who smoked turned to a life of crime. It's like Reefer Madness. Artists broke out first, then rebellious youth, then the population at large, but it took a very long time. Very. And I can't for the life of me think why, other than it was unlikely that any Jew could afford to smoke, so it was seen as other.

[DJA]

Yep,very popular. Major industry.
More so after James Albert Bonsack invented the cigarette rolling machine in 1880.
When searching the 1881 Census,you'll often find cigar rollers (and diamond cutters) in "Whitechapel".

America was pretty much founded on tobacco.

[GUT]

I perceive smoking today to be fairly socially unacceptable and one of the most disgusting habits anyone could entertain, with this in mind I'm interested in finding out how popular smoking was in the 1880s in comparison to today and the height of smoking in the 1950s and 1960s

Very.

[Sleuth1888]

I perceive smoking today to be fairly socially unacceptable and one of the most disgusting habits anyone could entertain, with this in mind I'm interested in finding out how popular smoking was in the 1880s in comparison to today and the height of smoking in the 1950s and 1960s