Smoking

[Natasya]

I know the Grand Duchesses smoked, though I don't know what age they started. Did Alexei smoke? Or in the future, do you think his medical condition would have prevented (fortunately) him from doing so?

[Sarushka]

I've never heard of Aleksei being a smoker, nor seen a photo of him with a cigarette. I would imagine he was considered too young.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Aleksei had become a smoker as an adult. I doubt whether smoking would have been viewed as a health risk to a hemophiliac at that time.

[Aliss_Kande]

I don't know.  This photo looks like pretty incriminating evidence to me.

[Greenowl]

That is a fascinating photo...I've never seen it before. However, I think there is a good chance that he is just pretending to smoke and trying to appear more "grown up". Just because he has a cigarette stuck in his mouth does not mean that he is actually smoking it. I do recall that he was allowed to sample champagne when he was still quite little, so Nicholas and Alexandra seem to have been quite tolerant in that regard. Anyway, thanks for sharing the interesting photo.

[TheAce1918]

I haven't seen that photo either! 

I'm not so sure that Alexandra would permit Aleksey to smoke, not even say the word 'Cigarette'.  Given his health issues, as well as his age...but I could be wrong...

[jehan]

I haven't seen that photo either! 

I'm not so sure that Alexandra would permit Aleksey to smoke, not even say the word 'Cigarette'.  Given his health issues, as well as his age...but I could be wrong...

But smoking wasn't considered a health risk at the time.  It was even recommended by many doctors for its relaxing and calming effect.  I have no idea if he did or didn't smoke, but if not, it was purely an age issue, not a health one.

And "cigarette" was not a dirty word at the time (or now).  Have you any evidence that Alix refused to hear the word spoken?

[TheAce1918]

I'm aware of that. 
I just keep thinking of Alexandra's many concerns with her son's health.  Regardless of the view on tobacco products at the time.

[Sarushka]

That is a fascinating photo...I've never seen it before. However, I think there is a good chance that he is just pretending to smoke and trying to appear more "grown up".

It's almost impossible to know for sure, but I agree with Greenowl. I think the whole photo is a joke. Just the fact that his cap is pushed back makes me think so -- Aleksei was for the most part very serious about wearing his uniforms correctly. (Remember how the removal of epaulettes affected both Aleksei and Nicholas in captivity?)

I haven't seen that photo either! 

I'm not so sure that Alexandra would permit Aleksey to smoke, not even say the word 'Cigarette'.  Given his health issues, as well as his age...but I could be wrong...

But smoking wasn't considered a health risk at the time.  It was even recommended by many doctors for its relaxing and calming effect.  I have no idea if he did or didn't smoke, but if not, it was purely an age issue, not a health one.

And "cigarette" was not a dirty word at the time (or now).  Have you any evidence that Alix refused to hear the word spoken?

I agree.  Tobacco was not seen as any sort of health risk at that time. It seems to me that Alexandra wasn't crazy about her daughters smoking, but that was more of a gender issue than anything else -- smoking was't viewed as very "ladylike".

Does anyone know for sure if Alexandra herself was a smoker? My Empress, by Marfa Mouchanow is the only book I can recall that mentions Alexandra smoking, but that book is chock full of falsehoods.

[Lisa]

Does anyone know for sure if Alexandra herself was a smoker? My Empress, by Marfa Mouchanow is the only book I can recall that mentions Alexandra smoking, but that book is chock full of falsehoods.

A few time ago, someone (FA perhaps) wrote here that Alix was a (occasional) smoker, but only when she was alone and only French cigarettes. If I recall correctly, in her wartime correspondance with Nicholas, she wrote that she stopped smoking...

I found the quote: Bob Atchinson and not FA, sorry!

Nicholas gave the girls cigarettes - not many - just a few.  They seemed to think it was very adult.  The photographs and the references to the cigarettes are in the girl's letters on the AP site.

Alexandra smoked special French cigarettes.  She says she does it to calm her nerves.  She also mentions giving it up duing Lent or one of the Orthodox fasts.

Bob

[Cambria_Coheed]

I don't know...they let the girls smoke and they weren't exactly old enough in today's terms to begin smoking. i mean i read in some sorce that Anastasia was like fourteen when she began to smoke.
Back then there wasn't evidence of what tobacco could do to you...perhaps Alix and Nicholas might have let him do it to make him feel more 'normal' i mean he couldn't really do anything else that was considered normal for a thirteen year old boy at the time due to his health complications.

[Olishka~ Pincess]

I am not sure if Alexei smoked or not I mean if he is 14 I heard that in Russia during the time you had to be 12 or older to smoke but Alexei's hemoplilia I do not know if they thought that smoking was considered healthy for hemoplilia, but today we know that it is bad for you anyway. Back then they thought it was healthy and relaxing to smoke cigarettes so Alexei must have started when ? I do not know I have not read anything about him smoking. It is a mystery. He may have or may not smoked. Is it true that one of the children's teacher say that all the children smoked Alexei, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia???

[Cambria_Coheed]

I only knew about Anastasia, Olga, and Maria

I have never seen a picture of Tatiana smoking nor have i seen one of Aleksei until this topic...so i don't know...maybe he might have smoked to relieve stress...because given his circumstances he must have been a very stressed out kid

[clockworkgirl21]

I only knew about Anastasia, Olga, and Maria

I have never seen a picture of Tatiana smoking nor have i seen one of Aleksei until this topic...so i don't know...maybe he might have smoked to relieve stress...because given his circumstances he must have been a very stressed out kid

Tatiana smoked, too. She once wrote a letter to her father, in 1914 I think, complaining about the bugs and wishing she had brought a cigarette to keep them away.

[Sarushka]

From Tatiana's letters on the main APTM site:

601,1359,Ts.S., Apr. 15, 1915,pp.84-85 "...Well, we've finished the lesson. I am writing to you again and am smoking the cigarette which you gave to me at the time of Lent and I did not have time to smoke it. I am enjoying it now."

601,1359,Ts.S., June 11 1915,p.91
"...I'm sitting in the garden opposite the Children's Island and enjoying myself. Ortino is lying at my feet and sleeping. We've just returned from the Grand Palace where we went to see the wounded... How silly I was not to take a cigarette with me. So, those damned mosquitoes are litrally eating me."

[Olishka~ Pincess]

Back then they were also smoking to keep the insects away because they did not have areasol sprays to keep the bugs away like we do today. Tatiana wrote in that letter that she was enjoying the cigarettes from lent so she did smoke. But I never heard about Maria smoking cigarettes?