Does anybody use the cigarette pocket anymore?

[Deleted member 16736]

I don't smoke and I can't fit my hand in it anyway. Map pocket all the way.

 

[Edward]

I don't follow.... cigarette pocket on what?

 

[Atticus Finch]

Maybe on a nylon or nomex flight jacket?

AF

 

[Edward]

Oh, the one on the upper arm? I don't recall using it for anything much on my B15, though I like it as a detail. Would be handy for a bus ticket or the likes that I didn't want to have to open the jacket for. Never occurred to me to consider it a cigarette pocket on a military jacket. [huh]

 

[Doctor Strange]

Cigarettes were a ubiqitous fact of military life when the B-10/15 and MA-1 jackets were introduced, and for decades afterwards. In today's virulently antismoking world, it's easy to forget this.

I have sometimes put my keys in the arm pockets on my various MA-1 and B-15 (type) jackets over the years. They are more secure there than in the other pockets, which I typically leave unsnapped (and with the MA-1 flaps pushed inside) for easy handwarming access.

 

[HeyMoe]

Oddly enough I only wear my CWU 45-P flight jacket if I am out in the woods in cooler weather. That pocket becomes home for a MS-2000M strobe light and signal mirror (tight fit but it does work) - VS-17 panel (cut down) goes in one of my side pockets and assorted other goodies in the other one.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

I've been in the cockpit of an operational B-52H and they have ash trays in the arm rests. It is my understanding that the KC-135, KC-10, and other pre 1980's aircraft probably do also.

Later

 

[Atticus Finch]

Cigarettes were a ubiqitous fact of military life when the B-10/15 and MA-1 jackets were introduced, and for decades afterwards. In today's virulently antismoking world, it's easy to forget this.

This is true. For a long time I believed that the term "cigarette pocket", describing the sleeve pockets on flight gear, was a colloquialism and the pocket was really intended for some other use. Health considerations aside, why would the military encourage flight crew to smoke around large, complex machines filled with tons of fuel and ordnance? Surely, the "cigarette pocket" got its name only because of its size and shape. Right?

Wrong. Someone finally showed me the original specifications for the MA-1. Much to my amazement, the sleeve pocket was specifically designed to hold ball point pens, pencils and a pack of cigarettes. How times have changed!

AF

 

[Edward]

Well, it seems some things really do change for the better.

Cigarettes were a ubiqitous fact of military life when the B-10/15 and MA-1 jackets were introduced, and for decades afterwards. In today's virulently antismoking world, it's easy to forget this.

Yes, now I think about it I do remember reading about cigarettes being issued (even pipes in the WW2 era, for the Brits). I suppose back then the dangers to health (and, from a far more utilitarian point of view, troop efficiency) were not so widely known. I'm a baby of the "smoking is bad" generation, and I do find it hard to imagine growing up in a world where smoking cigarettes was known to be an extreme health risk.

I have sometimes put my keys in the arm pockets on my various MA-1 and B-15 (type) jackets over the years. They are more secure there than in the other pockets, which I typically leave unsnapped (and with the MA-1 flaps pushed inside) for easy handwarming access.

Yes, I wouldn't trust the hand pockets to anything I didn't want to lose either. My keys are always on a chain clipped to my belt so they need never be taken off my trousers save to transfer them to another pair.

Hi

I've been in the cockpit of an operational B-52H and they have ash trays in the arm rests. It is my understanding that the KC-135, KC-10, and other pre 1980's aircraft probably do also.

Later

It's funny seeing those little anachronisms. For years now most planes on which I've flown have had ash trays on the seat-arms, and yet I don't believe amoking was permitted n a plane even when I first flew in 1976.

 

[Deleted member 16736]

Interesting discussion of cigarette use in the military, but actually I was referring to the tiny chest pocket you find on vintage jackets. The Highwayman has one. My understanding was that this is called a cigarette pocket too. I could never fit my hand in, only my fingers presumably to grab a pack of cigs. But since I don't smoke, it's useless to me. The really annoying thing is when they put two cigarette pockets on the jacket! Like I said, map pocket is the way to go for me.

 

[Interbak]

I started flying regularly for business in the mid-80's and there were still smoking vs. non-smoking sections on commercial flights. I guess they figured the smoke wouldn't travel across the imaginary line they drew from row x to row y. As Andrew Dice Clay said "you're in a f@#*ing tube!"
I don't think they banned it until the 90's.

Brian

 

[Atticus Finch]

Interesting discussion of cigarette use in the military, but actually I was referring to the tiny chest pocket you find on vintage jackets. The Highwayman has one. My understanding was that this is called a cigarette pocket too. I could never fit my hand in, only my fingers presumably to grab a pack of cigs. But since I don't smoke, it's useless to me. The really annoying thing is when they put two cigarette pockets on the jacket! Like I said, map pocket is the way to go for me.

Ooooops. Sorry. Come to think of it, I do remember seeing older M/C jackets with such a pocket. I guess I thought it was there to hold keys. But not being a rider, I'm don't know for sure.

AF

 

[Seb Lucas]

I love those pockets. I keep amongst other things, phones (when I have a cell phone through work), tickets (to movies, exibitions or public transport), credit card, cash for a taxi. And they look cool. My cafe racer has 2 of these little chest pockets.

 

[feltfan]

Does it say something about the average age here that no one has said "iPod"?

My favorite artifact of the cigarette age is the ash tray on the SAGE console, seen here in the lower left:

 

[too much coffee]

What's the jacket?

Looks good!

 

[Jack Burton]

If I have one on the particular jacket I'm wearing, I'll use it. The hard paper "crush proof" cigarette box is a relatively recent thing. It's easy to bend your smokes with a soft pack hence the dedicated pocket back in the day. I'm not sure if you're referring to those small pockets on the front of biker jackets too but I believe those are for toll money.

As an aside, most guys I know who served in the military smoke. If not on a regular basis, then while drinkingarty:

 

[Seb Lucas]

Does it say something about the average age here that no one has said "iPod"?

My favorite artifact of the cigarette age is the ash tray on the SAGE console, seen here in the lower left:

I mentioned my work phone - it's an iPhone, is that close enough?

 

[Yeps]

I find any pocket designed for a pack of cigs is perfect for either a cell phone, or an ipod, as has been mentioned. Or a pack of gum. It is nice to know where a gum pack is.

 

[Tomasso]

in the mid-80's and there were still smoking vs. non-smoking sections on commercial flights. I don't think they banned it until the 90's.

Yes, early 90s for domestic flights but smoking wasn't banned on all international flights until the late 90s. The French and the Brits were the last on board.

 

[Tell Kathy I Love Her]

A cigarette pocket is meant for one thing: cigarettes. If you wear a tough leather jacket, you smoke. Non-smokers and health nuts need not apply. My Perfecto says one thing: I'm dying young. Maybe with a switchblade. Maybe on my motorcycle, running from a gang. So yea, I smoke. They may be candy cigarettes, but they look real in a mirror.