MovieChat Forums > Waterloo (1970) Discussion > Goof listed wrong? I think.

Goof listed wrong? I think.


In the list of goofs for Waterloo, one refers to a soldier smoking a cigarette in a reflection. It states that cigarettes weren't invented and that only the well off smoked tabacco. Firstly, tabacco was smoked widely. Fine tabacco may not have been common, but tabacco was widely available.It was usually smoked in a pipe, usually made of white clay for the most part, and many soldiers of the time would have carried a mould for making new pipes. The army would have pipe clay available, both for pipes and whitening the crossbelts of the mens uniforms.
Secondly, although cigarettes were not around, it is still possible to have seen a soldier smoking one. During the Peninsular wars, many soldiers adopted the practice of rolling tabacco into scraps of paper, as a way of using small amounts of tabacco, and because it took less time to smoke than a pipe. It was copied from Spanish and Portuguese soldiers who fought alongside the British army. As there were regiments of Peninsular War veterans at Waterloo, this gaff can be explained away (If, however, the soldier in question takes out a packet of 20 Benson, tears off the plastic, rips out the foil, flicks a smoke in the air, catches it in his mouth, and procedes to light it with a disposable plastic lighter, then I could be wrong. I never noticed the incident.)

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Yes actually, you are quite right. In fact soldiers copied (though not widely, it must be added) the "cigarillo" syle of smoking from the Spanish soldiers during the Peninsular campaign.

I think therefore you have a very valid point and one worth raising.

Regards, James

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I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it - Voltaire

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If you see anything wrong, or missing, on IMDB you can submit a correction or addendum yourself. That's how most things get on here in the first place.

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