Suppose you don’t want to quit, or you do, but for your own health and not because a bunch of self-righteous jackanapes make snooty comments? Suppose you aren’t ashamed or apologetic about your smoking, don’t think it’s a disgusting habit, and don’t think its anybody else’s business? Talk to me.
Every smoker living in these times knows the dangers of smoking, and the anti-smokers won’t ever let you forget. That’s not what this thread is about. I want to talk about the forbidden delight of smoking.
Ever since I was a child, far too young to smoke, I have enjoyed the smell of a burning cigarette. I have been fascinated by the comraderie of smokers who meet as strangers, and huddle together in wind-swept doorways, thick as thieves. I love the smell in the air of a tobacco shop, and the many varieties of tobacco – the fragrances, the colors, the textures. I have smoked five-dollar Maduros and two-bit Swisher Sweets. I can’t say which I like better, it all depends on my mood.
Now, I’ll tell you that I don’t smoke cigarettes, and I don’t consider myself an addict. Make of that what you will. I smoke a pipe, mostly, and cigars on occasion. You could well say that I’m in no position to empathize with a hard core smoker, one who wakes up and needs a smoke to get going in the morning. But most longtime smokers I know, even though they can’t quite taste the flavor like they used to, and don’t quite get the kick they used to, still find pleasure in it.
So I want to hear from smokers, ex-smokers, and smoker sympathizers. We all know why we hate it. Let’s talk about why we love it. And smokeless tobacco users, have your say too. Anti-smokers can get their own thread.
I am an ex smoker, but when I smoked I used to take the train a lot and I could never understand what was so hard about accomodating smokers on the train. I mean, sheeesh, here’s an idea, how about between the cars where they are exposed to the outside. Or, how about a car with windows that open, hell, they probably still have an old one lying around.
I agree with a lot of the anti smoking things even though some of them are a little rabid. That’s what it takes to change peoples attitudes. The battle is really not about your lungs specifically, so much as a future generations collective lungs.
But, having said that, I agree since all these anti smoking laws and restrictions people are getting a little whacky. Let’s not forget that there does exist an item called a ‘fan’. They come in many sizes and have many, many applications.
It amazed me that congress had the gall to claim that the sin tax they were levying on cigarettes was designed to keep teens from using the stuff. It’s well known that teens have obscene amounts of disposable income. It was grownups they were really trying to stifle. Adults who have to pay the rent could scarce afford to smoke before. Now the price is inflated beyond belief.
But the tax has only been applied to pre-rolled cigarettes. Other forms of tobacco took a hit, I’ve heard, but not nearly as bad. If I smoked cigarettes, I’d start rolling my own. In fact, my local tobacconist has not only papers, but special papers already rolled with filters, to be used with a device that fills them with tobacco. You can pick your tobacco, blend it yourself to your own tastes, and prepare a significantly cheaper cigarette.
Around the turn of the 20th century, there was the Temperance movement. The century’s turning again, and this time, the target’s tobacco. Sure, it’s bad for you, but that’s no excuse to go around feeling smug and superior. We smokers have no way of knowing what reprehensible habits the nonsmokers indulge in private.
At least we’re out in the open where you can see us. I am, however, stockpiling cigarrettes in anticipation of prohibition (I expect to make a bundle by opening a “Smokeasy”, then selling out when the organized criminal element moves in).
I often roll my own cigarettes, Johnny, you really should try it. I’m not sure about the machine thing, I’ve seen rolling machines but never used them(and I’ve never seen papers with filters). Hand rolled cigarettes are significantly tastier than any other kind by a long shot though.
I didn’t actually see the machine, but I saw the papers. They took up a lot more space than standard rolling papers, because they were mostly empty space. It was a big box of empty filter cigarettes.
I have no doubt that it’s superior in many ways to pre-rolled cigarettes, if my experience with pipe tobaccos is any indication. The kinds of tobaccos you find at drug stores are usually terrible. Somebody told me they were treated with glycerine to keep them fresh. I don’t claim that’s true, but if you buy Captain Black Royal in the blue pouch, it’s definitely not going to be as good as the same tobacco sold at a tobacco shop as Q-1.
Try putting a slice of apple in your humidor. It keeps the tobacco fresh longer, and possibly adds a bit of extra flavor without making the tobacco harsh. At least dad never complained.
Actually, that’s a multipurpose technique. I put a slice of apple and a hard brick of brown sugar in a rubbermaid container (airtight), and within a few minutes (perhaops 20) it had resumed its normal granular texture.
I’ve tried re-humidifying tobacco. It doesn’t help everything, but it does sometimes save my tobacco. But usually, if the stuff was cruddy to begin with, it just becomes softer and cruddy.
You guy’s won’t mind if I come over to your house or sit at the next table at the local diner and let out the most putrid farts one could imagine, do you? Because that’s the same thing as you lighting up a cancer stick and letting me breathe your smog.
Why do smoker’s still smoke when they know all of the risks? Because they’re stupid. If you have to smoke something, smoke pot.
This thread is not for you to complain about smoking, as it clearly says in the OP. Guess some smoke got in your eyes and you couldn’t read all of a sudden, huh.
There are several anti-smoking threads in The Pit now, and if you wanted to be even more redundant, you could start a brand new one.
You could also start a thread in Great Debates, if you wished, about the merits or lack thereof concerning litigation against smoking, though I don’t suggest you go over to Great Debates with that attitude, because you will be quickly dismissed as a moron if you do.
It’s jerks like you who make me want to KEEP smoking.
Putz. (Sorry, Wally, but he had it coming, and the mods would yell at me if I told him what he should lick in MPSIMS…)
Yer pal,
Satan
TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
One month, one week, six days, 5 hours, 57 minutes and 10 seconds.
1729 cigarettes not smoked, saving $216.24.
Life saved: 6 days, 5 minutes.
