Why yes, back in my youth, sometimes you really could get something for nothing! In this case, 4 free cigarettes. For a time, cigarette manufacturers gave away sample packs of cigarettes, like this one pictured.
We found this empty Salem cigarette sample pack in our attic. I don't know an exact year to date sample cigarette packs. There is no Zip Code on the package, so it would be from before 1963, the year zips became "required". There is a health warning on the package.
I imagine cigarette manufacturers had tables set up in grocery and other stores to distribute these sample packs, much like they do food samples in stores now. My parents both worked in grocery stores and I remember them bringing home samples of various brands of cigarettes.
Each package contained 4 cigarettes. This Salem package is a "flip-top" box and I believe the others I remember were in the same type package.
Salem was my brand of choice when I smoked, so this package brings back memories. Back in the mid 1960s, my best friend and I would go shopping downtown on Saturdays. We would take smoke breaks in the ladies lounge at J.C. Penney's. That was about as rebellious as the two of us ever were. Neither of us smoke now.
