Web Page No 2756 6th February 2021 1st Picture: Sweet tobacco

2nd Picture: Chocolate cigars

3rd Picture: Chocolate Smokers Kit

4th Picture: Chocolate Matches

5th Picture: Liquorice Pipes

Sweet Smokes How things and attitudes have changed since when we were kids. Then the smoking related items below were commonplace on the tuck shop counter. Sweet Tobacco (or Spanish Gold sweet baccy as some people used to call it) was packaged just like real tobacco; it came in little foil pouches with labels on them. Because of the way it looked it's easy to see why how this sweet got its name, although despite its tobacco-like appearance the makers really did not recommend you tried smoking it. It was wonderfully moist thick pieces of shredded coconut generously coated with sugar and cocoa powder and today it is still made much the same way as it always was and some folks say it still tastes as good. For the uninitiated it's a combination of coconut strands dipped in chocolate powder so producing a sweet chewing tobacco. Me, I dislike coconut so I always hated the stuff. Now sweet cigarettes the paper clad chocolate sticks with the red tip on the end, I loved them! However, there was another type on sale at the time and I distinctly remember, on more than one occasion, buying a packet of cigarette shaped white candy sicks in a pretend cigarette packet as a child. There were also the white candy sticks with red tips that also came in pretend cigarette packets. I also remember these as being very, very sweet, not good for the teeth. Chocolate Cigars. Classic Cuban style chocolate cigars were made from high quality milk chocolate. These handmade hollow cigars were foil wrapped with an imitation cigar band round them to look like a real cigar and made of nothing but milk chocolate. Of course, once you had the cigars or cigarettes you had to add a box of chocolate matches to go with them! Milk Chocolate Matches were match shaped sticks made from milk chocolate complete with white chocolate tips. However, I do not remember these! Liquorice Pipes not for the politically correct crowd due to their highly addictive liquorice flavour. These came with red hundreds and thousands stick onto the top of the bowl to represent glowing tobacco. These were very tasty, the only drawback was that after you had eaten several your tongue, lips and gums all went black so you could never deny eating them!! For Christmas many of us received a pre-packaged chocolate smokers kit this consisted of a chocolate packet of cigars, a chocolate cigarette lighter, a chocolate box of matches, a chocolate pipe and a chocolate cigar. Believe it or not there were available cigarette holders especially designed to hold chocolate cigarettes. All very non pc today. It is amazing just how many of our childhood treats are still available, especially on line. I gave up smoking over 45 years ago so I do not think that I will be tempted into buying chocolate smoking accessories any time in the future. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com You Write: News and Views: On this day 6th February 1960 – 1965 On 06/02/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was Some Like It Hot. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Margaret Thatcher gives her first Commons Speech. On 06/02/1961 the number one single was Are you Lonesome Tonight? - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. On 06/02/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was US bans imports from Cuba. On 06/02/1963 the number one single was Diamonds - Jet Harris & Tony Meehan and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Liz Taylor films Cleopatra On 06/02/1964 the number one single was Needles & Pins - Searchers and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. On 06/02/1965 the number one single was You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - Righteous Brothers and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.