Forst tab

[paul mann]

Wee can mind tha forst tab? Ah was a late starter at 13 but ah loved Gold Leaf. And di folk still nip the end off a half smoked tab te mek it into a dump and stick it ahint tha lug?

[Maggie/915]

I am not keen on smoking but it is good to have a subject that is not political..

Well done Paul.

Who will be the first to make it political?

Yawn.

[pilgrim]

Outraged that you can think of the tobacco industry as NON POLITICAL!!! after all the lobbying and bungs that the industry has given to parliamentarians in many countries over the years!! politicisation of baccy is more relevant than he tab itself!!

I am a devout believer in smoking, alcohol, high salt diets, and E numbers as they are all excellent preservatives which help me maintain my youthful good  looks!!  

(will that do Maggie??)

[Maggie/915]

I did not think it would take long for politics to emerge.

Less than an hour.

What was Malcolm saying ' it's all about politics'

[Smudgeinthebudge]

Ah nipped a tab ootside the chorch at wor young'ns wedding, put the dump in me pocket, went into the church and after a few minnits smelt bornin and fund that me suit was ahad! That was probably an embassy. 

[Smudgeinthebudge]

See what I've done, brought religion in as well. 

[pilgrim]

sorry Maggie -- I wold have got on sooner  but I forgot to check the updates 

[pilgrim]

smudge --well done that man!! - nowt like getting politics and religion into a neutral subject - otherwise how can you start a fight??

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

A tried when a was ten years aad,wi thi big lads,and fell oot the tree camp where we were experimenting wi a box o tabs that we fund in the street,a was coughing and chowkin',and vomited me guts oot...being polite to describe the scene!

Nivvor again did a try!!

Best lesson a ever larned as a laddie!!

That's hoo aam a millionairre noo!!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

We had ti hide in wa tree camp owa Knox's field,cos if we had tried thim oot in the street,P.C.Mann would o' clipped us and howked us doon ti wa mutha's,fo'anotha howkin'...!

P.C.Mann knew aal the locals in Bedltn,proper "Heartbeat country" was it not...nae cars....on thi beat!

[threegee]

LOL I spotted the title and was just about to post a couple of recommendations for a good cheap "forst" one!

 

 

Far too long ago.  Woodbines or was it Players?  Down the woods - of course!  Never became a real smoker.  Have a pretty clear mental picture of cigarette packs in Bachii's window though; must be from the mid 1950's.

 

Ah, no, I remember menthol things with a (green?) band on the packet.  The name escapes me.

 

 

Yay!!  I remembered the slogan and goggled on it!   Way way before decimalisation though.  Would buy those at one of the general dealers I'd imagine.  Under-age needless to say.

[Tonyp]

Did a morning paper round at Hollymount from Adamsons newsagents first pay £1:80p bought 10 no 10 bad decision,what happened to

Gordon & his family think it was the only shop that sold Bedlington terrier china

[Smudgeinthebudge]

Forst tab was me Father's players off the mantelpiece. I used to to be sent to Ester's to buy them for him and me mam. 1/11d a packet. Before that I'd smoked "deed man's baccy" and tea leaves in a pipe. It was hard work becoming a smoker but it was harder work stopping four year ago!

[pilgrim]

On decimalisation 10 No 6 were 10p and you could get packets of 5 Park Drive - a pint was 91/2 p as well. They had a self service petrol machine at the garage at cramlington that you could get 50p worth of petrol - Packet of cheese biscuits in the pub was 10p . A night out for a quid!!!!!

[paul mann]

Di they still mek Capstan Full Strength?

[pilgrim]

possibly - but remember Gitanes and Disque Blue?? and Sobranie -- the multi coloured cocktail packs and the Imperials that were in boxes of 25 and had a cardboard tube filter? the tobacconists aside Ashington tech used to sell them and Findlays in Morpeth.

[Symptoms]

Seven years old ... cousin and me nicked our Grandad's baccy tin from the hearth beside his chair and went into Grandma's bathroom.  Lit up one of his roll up we found in the tin with his petrol lighter (which he made during WW1 whilst in the trenches ... made from an .303 cartridge case).  Coughing and spluttering we were heard by Grandma who made us open the door ... "have you been smoking in here" she asked,  "no" we said emerging from the fog.  Captured good and proper, wacks from Grandma but a smile (which Grandma didn't see) from Grandad.  Grandad used to flake his old dog-ends into the tin to re-use and to save lighter fuel/matches had a box of spills on the hearth.

 

Frog snouts were my tabs of choice when older ... I loved the taste/smell but I haven't smoked in years.  The Frogs have changed the recipe of Gitanges so they are now just like most other tabs ... I recently bought a pack in Paris to remind myself of the 'old days' but was so, so disappointed that the distinctive flavour has been removed.  Probably the EU's fault (Maggs politics alert).

[Canny lass]

Smudgeinthebudge, what is "deed man's baccy"?

[Smudgeinthebudge]

"Deed man's baccy" was what we used to call Cow parsley or Queen Anne's Lace, a member of the umbelliferae or carrot family. We used to light the ends of the dried out hollow stalks, blow out the flame, then take a drag through the tube. It tasted terrible and all it did was make you cough and choke and sometimes burn your mouth and throat. I've never heard of anyone taking it up as a habit. It is a very common plant in this area especially in hedgerows. Tall, with small white flowers on top of umberella like stalks. 

[Maggie/915]

I have to admit to never even trying to smoke.

Seems 'goody two shoes' but my Dad was a smoker and I hated the smell.

He had a serious op in his early life and was told not to smoke.

He continued and all the coughing etc alarmed me.

He did stop but the damage was done.

Emphysema cut short his life.

We do learn some lessons the hard way.

Another reason for me was cost, it always seemed crazy to burn money.

I think that just one day potato picking meant a different attitude to money.

Still applies to this day.

Really hard to spend money, my children do not have the same problem.

Bring back child labour.

Obviously joking.

The Symptoms effect!

[Canny lass]

Can't say that I remember the first one but I do remember the last one, smoked in the car park outside Bedlington Health centre. 30 minutes later i was sitting in the doctor's surgery being told I had cancer - at 38 years old! Obviously I was told to stop smoking. Threw the packet and remaining cigs in the docs wastepaper basket and haven't touched a cig, or even the packaging, since.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Canny lass

[Symptoms]

Maggs - I always had you figured as a snuff snorter or even a chewing baccy muncher ... a bit like those good 'ol boys gals often seen of Yankee films of the Deep South.  Picture the scene:  Maggs, with elbow on the bar in the Red Lion, booted foot on the brass rail, clearing the baccy juice into the spittoon via a deep houk'n-up & hocklin' oot, then downing a stiff shot of sourmash.  Yeehaw!

[pilgrim]

be careful re the cow parsley ... the sap is a 'stainer' like dandelions  - but hogweed and giant hogweed - also umberlifferas are deadly... 

[Maggie/915]

Careful Symptoms .

May have to start imagining you.

Mind nowt wrong with the Deep South , however the Red Lion could now be said to be 'gentrified'.

[Ovalteeny]

Symptoms, loved your very Northumbrian (or is it Pitmatic) description of "houk'n-up & hocklin' oot", and as I've been suffering from a very heavy bout of flu/cold this week, that's exactly what I've had to resort to, in an effort to get rid of the snot & grunge. Apologies to the faint hearted.