Did you ever “smoke” candy cigarettes? Apparently they are still available online although I haven’t seen them in stores for years. Somewhere along the line the idea of children pretending to smoke lost its charm and candy cigarettes disappeared from common use. I’m sure that’s for the best, although I’m not convinced they really encouraged smoking.
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I actually have fond memories of candy cigarettes, despite the fact they tasted like mint-flavored chalk. The only relative I had at the time who smoked was one of my grandfathers but they didn’t live nearby so I only saw that set of grandparents a few times a year. Television sometimes glorified smoking and made it look grown-up and sophisticated but I was never seriously tempted to smoke a real cigarette. Still, every kid longs to feel grown-up and *smoking* a candy cigarette felt rather glamorous and perhaps slightly illicit.
On a few occasions I can remember my mom letting us buy a pack which was probably wiser than making them the forbidden fruit. But my best memories were of my cousin and I driving a couple of blocks to a little Hostess Bakery outlet store where we would buy Twinkies and candy cigarettes. You may be thinking it rather odd that teens old enough to drive would be interested in something sort of childish like this but the truth is we were about 11 and 12 when we did this. Yes, I was driving a car that young.
We lived out in a rather remote area of the Mojave desert in Southern California on dirt roads. My mom taught us all to drive very young, starting by sitting in her lap and steering while she worked the pedals. By 11 or 12 I was occasionally allowed to drive the short distance to the bakery with my slightly younger cousin along for company. We were good kids and I was a careful driver but looking back on it, the whole notion seems a little crazy. I guess it just goes to show how different times were.
The car I drove was a red 1962 Chevy Bel Air which my parents had bought just a few weeks before I was born. The thing was huge and even with the seat moved all the way up, I still needed a pillow in order to reach the pedals and see over the gigantic steering wheel. That was no deterrent, though. Sue and I would grab our purses, making sure we had enough money with us, and I’d drive us the few blocks to the bakery. We’d casually stroll in, certain that everyone would think we were much older than we were — 14 at least — as we purchased our Twinkies and cigarettes. Back in the car, we’d drive home with the windows down, smoking our cigarettes and sure for all the world that we were extremely grown-up. Ah, good times…
I just might have to order a package for nostalgia’s sake.
How funny! I remember feeling cool and sophisticated when I bought candy cigarettes. The whole idea seems very bizarre to my kids.
Also, growing up in Los Angeles, it wasn't a good idea for kids to drive. But I do remember driving my dad's Jeep, stiff clutch and all, when we camped in the Mojave. Those wide-open spaces gave us a lot of freedom we couldn't have in the city.
There's always a debate here about the "fate" of the candy cigarettes. My son (Hailey's dad) thinks it's perfectly OK to buy a couple packs, one for each girl. Sarah (Abby's mom) is appalled. Yet Sarah used to walk around "smoking" crayons when she was 3. We don't smoke, never did. Hailey's parents do smoke, Sarah does not. But I don't think it's really about lighting up a tobacco cigarette so much really. The one's they have here are wrapped in paper and if you blow on them in your mouth, "smoke" comes out. Impressive..
I can taste them now that you said "mint chalk"! I drove all over the place too..but my vehicle was an old farm truck. Weren't we so cool?!
Cherie: We did, indeed, have a lot more freedom growing up where we did. My grandparents live behind us, cousins next door and more cousins a block away. The nine of us kids played together and roamed the immediate vicinity with a lot fewer restrictions than we would have had in a city.
Glena: I probably wouldn't purposely go buy them for kids but if they asked I'd be inclined not to make a big deal out of it and just act as if it were any other treat.
Mama Koch: In some ways, my upbringing was similar to that of people growing up in rural Oklahoma or other areas of the south, despite being in Southern California. Not only was it remote but my grandparents were from Oklahoma and since so much of my childhood was spent playing in their house and yard, I was exposed to those ways. We moved to Oklahoma right after I graduated from high school,and while there were some adjustments to be made, many things were familiar, too.
I just looked at your blog. I adore quilts! Do you sell yours?
I absolutely adored candy cigarettes when I was a child! Neither of my parents smoked and my grandma & grandpa never smoked either. So it wasn't a case of wanting to smoke, but really just look grown-up like you were talking about. I loved feeling so much older! I would drink a peach crush and "smoke" a candy cigarette. Ah, the good ole days!