Do you ever see players placing their Cigarette on the rail before shooting?
- Thread starter animatedvmaker
- Start date
I smoke (need to quit), and I’m glad smoking is a thing of the past with pool. Who remembers burn marks and ash all over in the cloth and rails (everything for that matter), slow dirty balls and cloth with a gross film all over them, your hand turning black after 10 minutes of play, and the overall smelliness you took home with you. Not to mention this was in the days before purpose built air filtration systems and you could barely see because the lingering smoke was so bad. If I need to smoke I’m happy to head to the outdoor smoking area.
In the old days we saw a lot of things. Cigarettes on the cushion was standard. I saw one of these...
https://www.kegworks.com/blog/a-lesson-in-tavern-history-the-fresh-flow-trough-spittoon/
I knew a guy who owned a tavern in St Louis with a flow through spittoon who told me one of his customers got drunk and peed in the trough. He also told me he removed the pool table because customers were using the pool cues on each other.
https://www.kegworks.com/blog/a-lesson-in-tavern-history-the-fresh-flow-trough-spittoon/
I knew a guy who owned a tavern in St Louis with a flow through spittoon who told me one of his customers got drunk and peed in the trough. He also told me he removed the pool table because customers were using the pool cues on each other.
I love those old tables with ashtray. Very cool.
Geeze we used to be pigs. I shot pool James Dean style with a cigarette in my mouth, smoke up my nose and in my eyes, ashes on the table. Thought I was cool, but was disgusting! My biggest decision in life was Marlboro man or Joe Camel. Quitting smoking was the best thing I ever did for myself.
My dad insisted on smoking everywhere. My aunt hated smoking. She invited us to her brand new house and somehow he dropped a cigarette under a card table, left it there, and it burnt a 3 inch hole in her white carpet. I wanted to die as she screamed in horror.
My dad insisted on smoking everywhere. My aunt hated smoking. She invited us to her brand new house and somehow he dropped a cigarette under a card table, left it there, and it burnt a 3 inch hole in her white carpet. I wanted to die as she screamed in horror.
No I did not go to Rockland County in the 60s, Just local Westchester NY & the Bronx. Loved those 25 cent beers in the bars with pool tables back then! Yes, games were a quarter too!
The GC stripe, a badge of honor.
The local private club where I sometimes play has one of those tables. Even though smoking IS allowed there, laying down a burning butt anywhere on the table would get you instantly thrown out.
I grew up playing on old Schmitt tables with wooden rails, and though nearly everyone in the poolroom smoked back then, putting a burn mark on the rail would not make you popular with the proprietor! I remember when I first encountered Brunswick tables (in a sleazier room) with formica rails, and was surprised to see the greasy burn mark left when you laid your butt down and forgot it, would pretty much wipe right off!
That's how it was here back when smoking was permitted. Smoking over the tables was also forbidden, same for putting a drink on the rail or bed of a table. Maybe one warning but the boot if that behaviour continued.
Dave
No, it was from the ash.
Later on I played for several years at room with GCs where the smoking was not as bad and did not have the same issue.
Lou Figueroa
You will get that metal "stripe" on every table in Brian's. When I first noticed it, i did not know what was causing it, but I eventually figured it out.
After that, I always take damp paper towels and wipe down that metal to get the tarnish off of it and I don't get it as much anymore.