I had a customer who was from East Germany and has escaped in the mid 1960's. I asked her how she crossed and her answer was, "cigarettes". She had hoarded smokes for years mostly one at a time from visitors and would carefully repackage them. When she had about
75 packs she sewed them into a raincoat and approached a East German border guard who waved her away. One year later and about 25 packs more she tried again. This time the guard told her to drop the coat and he turned his back just long enough for the woman to scamper over the barrier.
She tells her grandchildren that they owe their lives to cigarettes.