it is not easy to reproduce a picture with everything the same even if you remember the exact spot where you have taken the preceding picture and you take it with the same camera.
cannot say heritage because the two pictures were taken one day apart.
happy national day!
in the 50s and 60s, i think a pack of 10 sticks of double ace non-filtered cigarette cost 25 cents, which worked out to 2.5 cents a stick. capstan was 30 cents a pack and john players, 35 cents. in the 60s, the only filtered and mentholated brand of cigarette was consulate.
the other brands that i remember that were available in the past included 555 state express, matterhorn, navy's cut, lucky strike and benson & hedges.
today, a pack of camel costs $11.60 for 20 sticks, which is 58 cents a stick.
as there was no age restriction on smoking, boys as young as seven years old - starting primary 1 - could be seen puffing away. like most kampong boys, i did have a go at it but thankfully, i did not enjoy the experience, so it did not stick. the bigger boys tried to impress us by inhaling and then exhaling the smoke through the nostrils.
in those days, the mamak stall - there was one at the corner of kampong chia heng and thomson road - and the two provision shops in the kampong sold cigarettes in packs of 10s as well as in loose forms. in other words, you could buy one stick of cigarette if you chose to. they usually stored the loose cigarettes in a small, round 555 state express tin. for as little as 5 cents you could enjoy a puff then.
as a young boy, i used to run errands for the adults by going to the mamak stall or the provision shops to buy the loose cigarettes for them. some would buy just one cigarette but most times they would buy three or four sticks.
people picked up the habit of smoking for various reasons but for some kampong folks one of the most compelling reason/excuse was to stave off the smell while using the common latrines. it was common to see even women smoking when they went to use the communal 'jamban'.
the javanese and boyanese who lived in my kampong usually smoked kretek which is a blend of tobacco, cloves and a flavouring 'sauce'. kretek originated from indonesia. it has a distinct smell. the name kretek comes from the crackling sound of the burning cloves. today, you can get the manufactured ones under the brand 'garam'.
like those singaporeans of indonesian origin, the older folks and nyonyas also liked to smoke hand-rolled 'ang hoon', which is actually loose tobacco. some of them actually chewed the tobacco, the way some indians used to chew the betel nuts.
the sold 'ang hoon' was wrapped in paper and packed in the form of a brick. each time, the ang hoon smoker wanted a puff, he would remove a segment, loosen the tobacco and wrap it with a piece of white square paper.
another way of enjoying 'ang hoon' was to use a metal pipe, about 60cm long, with the end dipped in water. at the two-third mark was a holder for the loose tobacco. the smoker would light the tobacco and then placed his mouth to the open end. as he enjoyed his smoke, you could hear the gurgling sound of the water in the container.
popular with the indians was the bidi cigarettes. it was also a hand-rolled cigarette, usually tied at both end with a colourful string. it was wrapped in a tendu or temburni leaf. you can still get bidi from some shops in serangoon road.
my father was quite a heavy smoker, smoking up to one pack of double ace cigarettes each day. i am so glad that none of us, me and my siblings, pick up this unhealthy habit.
