Bull Durham from 1926

[Caleb Bogart]

Ok, everybody, I found a pouch of Bull Durham from 1926....and tried it. Not too bad actually. I first tried it in a pipe, then rolled into a cigarette (unfiltered of course). VERY SMOOTH! I tried inhaling today, and it went down with NO tingling, harshness, or anything...just felt like breathing. I am going to smoke on it off and on, until it is gone! Love this stuff! Might even buy a couple unopened bags off EBay!
I am not dead yet, so I assume it was safe to smoke.

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[LuvMyMan]

Very interesting find. Do you know what that was stored in for all these years? I ask as most of the time, tobacco if old, can have some major issues with mold and even "breaking down" I make mention and ask the questions as it is very rare to see something like this.

My Husband had a few dozen cartons of cigarettes from survival packs that had been on a Destroyer from WWII, and among items inside a water tight sealed container (these had been used in inflatable life rafts) aside from just cigarettes, small items like gum, hard candy, "chicklets" and some smith brothers cough drops. All of those items from being old in the sealed container were in such poor shape. The nicotine in the lucky strike packs, had leeched into the entire packs, sort of like goop and would remind you if looking at the open pack as if someone had melted STP motor oil treatment into the pack. Nasty stuff there! Everything else was in a similar state. If you could use the tobacco you found, something had to have kept it from being all nasty and such. Also, would it not be almost a "collectable" find that maybe you should not use it up, but to keep it is it's current condition and having the pouch remain filled with the original tobacco? Either way, what a good find for you.

 

[Caleb Bogart]

It was in an old union leader can, in my late great grandmas closet, that is still full of the union leader tobacco (again, no bugs, no mold). And as to the "collectable state" of it you can still buy unopened bags of Durham off eBay and other auction sites.
Thanks for your story though! I found it interesting.

 

[LuvMyMan]

You would be amazed on what little was placed into life rafts and boats in the time period of WWII. If 20 men had to exist on what was in those survival packs, there would be some very "ticked off" Sailors, to say the least.

Oddly enough some of these Survival packs had more than just a flare gun and mirror, they did have standard fishing line and a small compass, but a few also had handguns with one box of ammo for the hand gun. One hand gun, one box of ammo (20 rounds) and twenty Sailors on a life raft.....not sure if that was a bad omen or not? lol! Lastly one package of items inside the Survival packs were condoms. Now what in the world was someone thinking? Very little inside the packs also regarding first aide items. Aspirin, some "uppers" pills, and some sort of strong "downers" a few rip open and use shots of Morphine, roll of gauze, razor blade, iodine, and several small bits of hard candy. My Husband was given a task of exchanging out the supplies in all those liferafts and life boats on a Destroyer perhaps a few months before it was to go into port and be decommissioned. Although it was not a Navy Policy for the items to be just given to anyone on board the ship, he was given permission from the Captain as my Husband was a Navy SEAL and sort of treated a bit differently than most of the crew in general, as was his other SEAL team members. I am not sure how he came to be on the Destroyer with his SEAL team, but from what all they have told me about that time period, they had a blast!

The Destroyer was one of many at the time that the "Spruance" class destroyers were replacing the WWII Fram 2 Destroyers.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

You would be amazed on what little was placed into life rafts and boats in the time period of WWII. If 20 men had to exist on what was in those survival packs, there would be some very "ticked off" Sailors, to say the least.

Oddly enough some of these Survival packs had more than just a flare gun and mirror, they did have standard fishing line and a small compass, but a few also had handguns with one box of ammo for the hand gun. One hand gun, one box of ammo (20 rounds) and twenty Sailors on a life raft.....not sure if that was a bad omen or not? lol! Lastly one package of items inside the Survival packs were condoms. Now what in the world was someone thinking? Very little inside the packs also regarding first aide items. Aspirin, some "uppers" pills, and some sort of strong "downers" a few rip open and use shots of Morphine, roll of gauze, razor blade, iodine, and several small bits of hard candy. My Husband was given a task of exchanging out the supplies in all those liferafts and life boats on a Destroyer perhaps a few months before it was to go into port and be decommissioned. Although it was not a Navy Policy for the items to be just given to anyone on board the ship, he was given permission from the Captain as my Husband was a Navy SEAL and sort of treated a bit differently than most of the crew in general, as was his other SEAL team members. I am not sure how he came to be on the Destroyer with his SEAL team, but from what all they have told me about that time period, they had a blast!

The Destroyer was one of many at the time that the "Spruance" class destroyers were replacing the WWII Fram 2 Destroyers.

[video=youtube;we9zJv-tRJM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9zJv-tRJM[/video]

 

[Horace Debussy Jones]

I found an old unopened bag of the same stuff once. It was thoroughly dessicated and I'm sure it would have crumbled to dust if not handled carefully. I had no intention of ever actually smoking the stuff though as I had been an ex-smoker for many years at that point.
Rather than get myself hooked again, and on such a hard to find brand, I sold it on ebay for a tidy profit.
Did it even actually still taste like tobacco after all those years? I would think that most all of the aromatic chemicals that give tobacco it's flavor would have long since evaporated into the ether, rendering the stuff rather tasteless.

 

[Caleb Bogart]

It was kind of bland, but at the same time, very nice...very hard to explain. It had kind of a grassy taste to it, but after a few puffs it started to have a more powerful "hay" taste to it (but in a good way). It reminded me of a stale burley, if that makes sense. It tasted good in a pipe, but it tasted better in a cigarette (by the way, it inhales smooth as the air I breath...no tingle or bite at all)