While in the past some segments of society held that smoking females were somehow coarse and that this was a habit best left to men, it was the very notion of smoking ladies that led to some of the most famous advertising campaigns the cigarette manufacturers ever came up with. For example, in the roaring 1920s, the Flapper was thought to be the quintessential image of the period woman. Almost always associated with a long cigarette holder, she provided the image of female smoking in a time when the habit was most commonly associated with men of standing. Yet because of her striving to break free of social mores, ladies smoking were suddenly seen everywhere, and it was hip, cool and considered acceptable.

Cigarette advertisers have capitalized on this image by giving female smokers the notion that as a form of self expression for ladies, smoking is a time honored activity. Ads depicting a Flapper with cigarette in hand or even the more ubiquitous cigarette holder, ladies smoking became the imagery as well as the battle cry of the liberated woman who would no longer cower at home behind closed doors and tend to the hearth, but who would openly and in public take over the domain previously associated with men. Ladies smoking publicly was seen as a success, a validation of the gender wars, and of course the ability to truly attain equality.

It is interesting to note that the same is true today of female cigar smokers. Generally speaking, for those considered ladies, smoking a cigar is not something to be desired. Yet when it comes to the last perceived bastion of male hold out, the smoking female is hearing a new battle cry. Lady cigar smokers are prominently featured on the covers of aficionado magazines and while it might not top the female smoking list of preferred tobacco products, the new movement of ladies smoking cigars underfoot goes to illustrate just how cleverly the tobacco industry is able to manipulate a segment of the population simply by exploiting the depiction of a lady smoking.

Speak to any old lady smoking and ask her if she is truly feeling liberated at her ability to huddle with the guys in subfreezing temperatures outside a building and smoke, and the odds are that this smoking lady will not be female smoker simply to enjoy the liberation it gives her or perhaps because as a long time female cigar smoker she wants to break down the last barriers of a male dominated society, but instead she may simply tell you that even if she wanted to, she could not stop smoking. Addiction does very little by way of liberation.