Smoking Monkey Novelty Toy

Of all my friends, very few of them recall playing with the smoking monkey novelty toy. Each smoking monkey includes ten cute little cigarettes that can be smoked by the monkey and not humans. I have to put that pre-qualifier so that no one actual is dumb enough to smoke them. Actually, the cigs are just unscented incense wrapped in paper. It does not contain tobacco nor is it toxic. I used to have one when I was a kid. These toys were dirt cheap, maybe around $.10 as I remember. Some of my friend bought tons of these little toys and its never ending amusement. We used to rip the toy out of the package with excitement and put the cigarettes into the monkey's mouth, light it up, and watch in amazement how the monkey would smoke. Isn't that the coolest thing? Well maybe not, but when you are 9 or 10 years old, a lot of things seem amusing. Hence, they say "simple minds easily amused". But seriously, how do they get the monkey to puff those cigarettes? Maybe they have some kind of mechanism in the toy that blows out air and creates the allusion that the monkey is smoking.

Well it is time to revisit that nostalgia. I quickly head over to Ebay and search "smoking monkey". Quite a few listings come up. There is actually several choices. You have the 1960s version which is quite crude and made of plastic. This one cost around $7. The other one is the more recent toy made of ceramic and higher quality with a more detailed look. The better version comes at a higher price: $23. I'm going to opt for the old school version that I grew up with and save a few bucks.