Today's Old Picture was taken at the Quarter Circle U Ranch in Big Horn County in Montana. The photo was taken in 1939. The cowboy is enjoying a smoke in front of the bunkhouse. One thing you can pretty much bet on is that he rolled that cigarette himself. I can remember growing up in the country back in the 60's, the ranch folks would never think about buying a store-made cigarette, they all rolled their own from a little pouch of Bull Durham.
Funny thing happened to me yesterday. There are a bunch of old timers in the little town I live in who sit around and drink coffee. They used to sit in the coffee shop, and smoke cigarettes and drink coffee. I had noticed that they stopped going to the coffee shop, and then found that they had started gathering across the street at Ross's welding shop. Ross has a coffee pot, so they go over there and drink his coffee. It is cold in the welding shop so he has a little open flame propane heater set up for them and a little table. When I was in the welding shop yesterday, I noticed that all the old timers were smoking roll-your-own Bugler cigarettes instead of ready made ones. I am guessing that the old timers are getting hit by the higher prices such that they are now drinking free coffee and rolling their own cigarettes. I am wondering what a pack of cigarettes costs today. I have been told that a little pouch of chewing tobacco, that one would expect to be a dollar or two, is now up to costing $9.48.
