Passing Clouds

We were recently at a museum of which housed an extraordinary collection – well, jumble maybe, of artefacts of every sort; purely domestic, agricultural, advertisements, what seemed like whole shops from yesteryear transported to the Oakham Treasures.

Among the treasures was a collection of old cigarette packets, maybe with old cigarettes still in them, and among those on display was a packet of Passing Clouds; my grandfather used to smoke these cigarettes… I remember him smoking, and I remember them being Passing Clouds, but strangely I don’t remember the exotic package on display.

Passing Clouds were manufactured by W.D. & H.O. Wills in Bristol and they were first produced in 1874, in the decade before my grandfather was born. They also manufactured Three Castles, and I have a memory of him smoking these too… but maybe I am mistaken.

He smoked all his adult life, and smoking in the end killed him. However attractive the packaging, however nostalgic the memories, tobacco kills.