Smokerama

Camels, Luckies, Pall Malls, Chesterfields - these cigarette brands were once as familiar as the movie stars and sports heroes (and future presidents) who endorsed them. In the decade following World War I, smoking bespoke sophistication, elegance, and glamour. It was a style statement as emphatic as clothes and cars. Accordingly, the smoker needed accessories that elevated this simple act to new status and importance. Manufacturers were only too happy to supply the necessary products and, with their advertisers, to create new needs. Now, in Smokerama, nostalgia buffs, collectors, and designers will find superb samples of these fashionable and sometimes humorous objects. The inventiveness is beguiling - engraved Zippo lighters, ashtrays emblazoned with tobacco company logos, trick cigarette lighters that send a spark arcing between the horns of a devil, and books of matches with their bland or bizarre messages - each played their part in the art of smoking. Accompanied by brief, informative captions, the intriguing pieces arrayed in this splendid photographic collection convey exactly the importance that smoking once had for millions of Americans and provide a visual documentation of America's former favorite pastime.