I have been reading a lot of Westerns lately. Add that to the 1950's Westerns i watch on television. That makes for a slew of hand-rolled cigarettes, but they don't look right. How do I know the real thing? Easy. My Dad was a tobacco smoker. He preferred cigarettes, but would smoke a pipe. Chewing tobacco and snuff were not to his liking.

During the Great Depression, Dad smoked mostly a pipe. Not an easy thing to do. The bowl of the pipe would become caked with tobacco ash and the stem could be clogged as well. The pipe stem also played havoc with a smoker's front teeth - wore them down.

During those days. Dad usually smoked loose tobacco in a drawstring bag. He would carry it in his shirt pocket side by side with a sleeve of cigarette papers. But he didn't like to stop whatever he was doing to roll a cigarette.

When Dad had the money, Marvels was his preferred brand. They were only two dollars a carton. The price was right and they were ready to smoke. The War ended all that. Cigarettes were sent overseas to our armed forces. Not rationed, but few were available locally.

When cigarettes could be found, a long line outside a store would indicate their availability. Cigarettes were the only item people queued up for. Dad was too proud to stand in line for anything, but I had the time. If I saw a line, i dropped into place and bought whatever brand was available, either a pack or a carton. I would hand it to Dad when i went back to the farm on weekends to have mother do my laundry.

What does that have to do with the here and now? Those celluloid cowboys all smoked. They would stand around talking and rolling a cigarette. A transformation occurred between hand and mouth. A commercial looking cigarette would appear with the ends crisply cut and the tobacco firmly packed. I have never seen a hand-rolled cigarette closely resemble a commercially made one. Crisply cut ends? No way. Same density along its length? hardly.

The movie cowboys could hit their target with a handgun, firing over their shoulder while riding a horse at a full gallop. They could hand-roll a cigarette of commercial quality, too. Neither could be true. Oh well, the story lines were good anyway. Ride on, cowboy. "Smoke 'em if you've got 'em.":