A Treat Instead of a Treatment

 

 

This was my brand when I was young, but it waned in popularity over the years of my smoking. They were supposed to be very different because they were cured and thus less harsh.  Well, maybe. The brands are largely the same, but we spoke about them as if they were distinguishable, in much the same way that we thought each of the American lagers was identifiable. Menthols are certainly different, but they are much like each other.  (No one has ever explained to me why those are more popular with Blacks.) Nonfilters are like each other and lights are also very much like each other.  The lightness comes from the holes that are punched in the filter, which caused the smoker to take in more air relative to the smoke. Without noticing it, smokers would grab the filter at the holes to intensify the draw, making it more like a regular Marlboro or Winston. Ultralights had more holes, sometimes in two rows. My Dad smoked two packs of Luckies a day, though went down to one (in secret) after his multiple bypass surgery. My mother switched from Winstons to Merits, and my mother in law smoked Mores because they went out easily when she left them in the ashtray and went to do something else. 

I am not sure what the "treatment" angle was about Old Golds, but several brands were advertised as being recommended by doctors for calming the nerves.