The Chrones Family

“To smoke or not to smoke?”  That is the question bothering cigarette puffers in the city this week.  Faced with mounting evidence pin-pointing the health hazards of their habit, some nicotine slaves here have chucked it or changed it while for the less-determined it remained a story of “if, ands” and “butts”.

Saskatoon tobacconists Monday said it was too soon to assess what effects the latest American report on cancer and smoking will have on Sir Walter Raleigh’s gift to English culture.  But if indicators of recent months were to be taken as trends, more city smokers appear inclined to try alternatives to abstinence . . . .

[Among those] not planning to quit were Jim and Jack Chrones, father and son operators of the Gem Café and Jay Dees restaurant.  Between the two, they puffed through about 20 cigars in a day for a total of about 55 years of smoking.  “Dad’s even got one in his mouth when he gets out of bed in the morning”, said Jack.

Source:  Ed Sebestyen, “I Know I Should Quit,  . . . But I’m an Addict”, Sasktoon Star-Phoenix, January 14, 1964, pp 2 and 3.