During the 1854-55 siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War, an Irishman incautiously raised his head above the trenches. A Russian bullet came and smashed the bowl of his pipe, leaving the stem in his mouth. Hastily dropping under cover, Pat heartily cursed "the thafe that shot that gun and spoiled me only poipe".
It was the Crimean War that brought smoking into fashion in England. Before that only the working classes smoked. But the terrors and privations of the war taught the officers that, as a comforter and solace, tobacco was unequalled. After the war they went on smoking, and the example of the Crimean heroes made the pipe and cigar generally indulged in.
Strange to say, the Duke of Wellington was not in favour of smoking in the army, though it was through tobacco that his men sustained the privations of the Napoleonic Wars.
克里米亞戰爭的一八五四年至五五年塞瓦斯托波爾市攻防戰之中，一個愛爾蘭士兵大意把頭伸出戰壕。俄軍一顆子彈飛來，他嘴巴叼着的煙斗，頓時只餘煙斗柄，盛煙的斗給打得無影無蹤。他慌忙伏到護身的戰壕下，同時怒罵那個「開槍賊毀了我僅有的煙斗」。
克里米亞戰爭，使吸煙流行英國。戰前，只有工人階級吸煙，但戰爭的恐怖，以及其間生活必需品的匱乏，使不少軍官發覺，煙草最能給人慰藉。戰後，他們繼續吸煙。克里米亞戰爭英雄的榜樣，使煙斗、雪茄大行其道。
奇怪的是，威靈頓公爵不贊成軍人吸煙，而他的將士，卻是靠煙草熬過拿破崙戰爭期間生活必需品的匱乏。