Smoking etiquette

[Tim Gerard]

Hi,

Does anyone know of any smoking restrictions that were put into place with regards to the first-class areas?

Could you light up a cigarette/cigar in some areas i.e. walking down the grand staircase, but not smoke in areas such as the Reading room? I imagine that people wouldn't walk into the elevator whilst smoking as means of etiquette. And was it okay to smoke in your cabin?

I do recall seeing a sign in the Reception room stating that you couldn't smoke until after dinner (I think).

Thank you

There's a scene in the "A Night To Remember" movie, in the Grand Staircase while the ship is sinking, where an officer or purser or someone in a uniform tells some guys who look like bellboys to put out their cigarettes or he'll write them up to the company. So, if that scene is historically accurate, people weren't allowed to smoke in the Grand Staircase, or at least White Star employees weren't allowed to do so.

 

[Steven Christian]

There's a scene in the "A Night To Remember" movie, in the Grand Staircase while the ship is sinking, where an officer or purser or someone in a uniform tells some guys who look like bellboys to put out their cigarettes or he'll write them up to the company. So, if that scene is historically accurate, people weren't allowed to smoke in the Grand Staircase, or at least White Star employees weren't allowed to do so.

It was against WSL policy to smoke while on duty. I'm sure crewmen found a way around that if they wanted too. Anyway see post #53 in this thread. Cheers.

 

[Aly Jones]

I doubt the officers would risk smoking on duty when thier shifts were only 4 hours long.

I do wonder if they had to change out of thier unifroms to stop thier unifroms of smelling like smoke.? There were no washing machines on board, although did the officers pack 14 spare unifroms for the voyage!? I doubt that.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I can remember smoking in cinemas, on the top deck of buses, and in restaurants, and - prior to the Kings Cross Station fire - on the London tube, and in smoking compartments on trains.

Julian

Hmm, you must be older than I thought .

When I first arrived in the UK as an adult in January 1985, smoking was forbidden in cinemas and underground 'tube' trains but allowed on the top decks of double-decker buses. Smoking was allowed on the platforms of tube trains. On the open train services there were smoking compartments. Smoking was allowed in almost all restaurants although some had designated no-smoking areas. There were also smoking sections on planes.

I have a feeling that smoking in cinemas was outlawed in the 1950s.

A friend who had lived in the UK since the late 60s told me that smoking within tube trains was allowed till the mid-1970s before being banned.

Smoking on the top decks of double-decker buses had disappeared by the late 1980s.Smoking on tube train platforms was outlawed around the same time.

Smoking compartments of open trains closed in the early 1990s I think. Total ban on smoking in planes was applied in steps, initially with shorter flights but by the end of the 20th century, the total ban was in force as far as I can recall.

But smoking in restaurants and other public places in the UK was only banned in early 21st century.

 

[Steven Christian]

Hmm, you must be older than I thought .

When I first arrived in the UK as an adult in January 1985, smoking was forbidden in cinemas and underground 'tube' trains but allowed on the top decks of double-decker buses. Smoking was allowed on the platforms of tube trains. On the open train services there were smoking compartments. Smoking was allowed in almost all restaurants although some had designated no-smoking areas. There were also smoking sections on planes.

I have a feeling that smoking in cinemas was outlawed in the 1950s.

A friend who had lived in the UK since the late 60s told me that smoking within tube trains was allowed till the mid-1970s before being banned.

Smoking on the top decks of double-decker buses had disappeared by the late 1980s.Smoking on tube train platforms was outlawed around the same time.

Smoking compartments of open trains closed in the early 1990s I think. Total ban on smoking in planes was applied in steps, initially with shorter flights but by the end of the 20th century, the total ban was in force as far as I can recall.

But smoking in restaurants and other public places in the UK was only banned in early 21st century.

I remember when the airlines would give you cigs in those little 4 cigs packs like we got in our c-rations when I was in the navy.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

About 30 years ago, a then elderly acquaintance told me that when he was a young man soon after WWII, just about everyone smoked everywhere. He recalled that even doctors and nurses smoked, the latter in the nurses alcoves of wards. Talking with a cigarette stuck on the corner of one's mouth was commonplace.

I shudder to think what the atmosphere was like in those days.

 

[Tim Gerard]

It was against WSL policy to smoke while on duty. I'm sure crewmen found a way around that if they wanted too. Anyway see post #53 in this thread. Cheers.

I knew about that policy, I just didn't know if that scene was only in reference to that or if there was some other rule against anyone, crew or passenger, smoking in the Grand Staircase.

 

[Steven Christian]

I've never run across reading about the rules for that. But that doesnt mean they dont exist. Of all the pictures I've seen of Titanic and Olympics grand staircase I havent seen any no smoking signs. It might have just been understood that that wasn't a place to walk thru with a big stogie burning. Also of all the pictures I've seen I've never seen any with ashtrays at the various landings or sitting areas associated with the grand staircase's. But I would be willing to bet that if J.P. Morgan or JJ Astor were to stroll thru with a cigar nobody was going to say jack about it.

 

[Aly Jones]

Wouldn't look right passengers using the gsc with cigars and smokes in thier hands and mouth. I had always pictured passengers sitting at a dinner table and the smoking room. And I really find it hard to believe women smoked in public on titanic, because there is no room aligated for women to smoke in. Reading and writing room were for women to chill, read and write letters.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

And I really find it hard to believe women smoked in public on titanic

AFAIK they didn't. As a wild guess, of all the First Class women on the Titanic, the one who might have the courage to have a puff would have been "Molly" Brown. But I don't think she did.

I think women smoking in public probably became usual in the late 1920s in Europe (seemed acceptable in many old Edgar Wallace novels) and early 1930s in the States & Canada.

 

[Steven Christian]

AFAIK they didn't. As a wild guess, of all the First Class women on the Titanic, the one who might have the courage to have a puff would have been "Molly" Brown. But I don't think she did.

I think women smoking in public probably became usual in the late 1920s in Europe (seemed acceptable in many old Edgar Wallace novels) and early 1930s in the States & Canada.

Hello Arun. Smoking among women in public took off in the 1920's with the flapper girls and the wider viewing of movies which often had women smoking in them. It went hand in hand with the growing womens independance movement of the time. And Madison Ave got in on promoting it among women. They had celebrities like Ameila Earhart doing ads for ciggies in the 20's among others. Bad Girls...*L*

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Hrllo Arun. Smoking among women in public took off in the 1920's with the flapper girls and the wider viewing of movies which often had women smoking in them. It went hand in hand with the growing womens independance movement of the time. And Madison Ave got in on promoting it among women. They had celebrities like Ameila Earhart doing ads for ciggies in the 20's among others. Bad Girls...*L*

Thanks for that. I suppose smoking in those days was considered "cool" and the smells and health issues were not seriously considered.

My one and only cigarette was as a 17 year old back in the spring of 1973 while waiting to see if I could get a place in Medical College. 4 puffs in all; hated it and decided never again.

 

[Steven Christian]

Thanks for that. I suppose smoking in those days was considered "cool" and the smells and health issues were not seriously considered.

My one and only cigarette was as a 17 year old back in the spring of 1973 while waiting to see if I could get a place in Medical College. 4 puffs in all; hated it and decided never again.

Well you made the right choice. But I'm a bit of a libertarian so I don't knock anyone's habits as long as they pay for it themselve's. I think it was probably being more rebellous than being cool. A lot of people during those same times went to speak easys for the same reasons..it was their way to stick it to the man. I recentley read in NYC speak easys have been popping up again because the bars are closed with the virus thing going on. I hope its not bathtub gin like in the old days...

 

[Aly Jones]

AFAIK they didn't. As a wild guess, of all the First Class women on the Titanic, the one who might have the courage to have a puff would have been "Molly" Brown. But I don't think she did.

I think women smoking in public probably became usual in the late 1920s in Europe (seemed acceptable in many old Edgar Wallace novels) and early 1930s in the States & Canada.

And also in 1912, Thier husbands wouldn't promit them to do so, to smoke in public or in front of the husbands.

My mum were born in 1948, mum was smoking when she was 14. Her mum never smoked but my father's mum did smoke, she was born 1924. So I do agree with you that women's smoking became popular in late 20's and 30's. We all know by 1940s everyone was smoking.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

We all know by 1940s everyone was smoking.

Sometimes they are called the Humphrey Bogart generation. Films like The Maltese Falcon popularized doing everything with a smoking cigarette handy. Ugh!