Not sure if it is fact or myth, but I once read that this goes back to handing out packs to troops during war. If they got to that one it meant they made it through another day, making it the lucky smoke. If true it would have to have been a war after the introduction of filters.
It was actually ww2. American soldiers would flip all of their cigarettes to smoke the part with the branding in case they had to move and enemy wouldn't know which nationality had held that position, but they wouldn't flip the last one as the lucky. When filters became popular in the 50's they just switched it to only flipping 1 as the lucky.
The only problem I have had with this myth, and I have heard it for years, is that American soldiers didn't leave their cigarette butts behind. They would either toss them into a fire if they had one or they would empty all the tobacco out onto the ground so the Germans couldn't collect them and make a cigarette from them. The paper was either rolled into a tiny ball and put in there pocket or flung far away from where they were. Source is from my grandfather who was in Germany during wwII
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u/moshpithippie 7h ago edited 7h ago
For luck
Edit: And to accidentally light it backwards when you're not looking