The Tobacco Smokescreen: Distracting Bigotry

In NYC we are now fighting the prohibition of all flavored tobaccos; plus the threat of banning smoking outdoors in parks and beaches so 'children won't have to see smokers'. Meanwhile, taxation, smoking bans, and de-normalization of smokers continues to increase. Yet, we learned this year that the use of anti-depressants has doubled over the last decade and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, you can walk into any convenience store, supermarket, or 'nutritional center' and buy yourself amphetamine-like drinks and diet pills, erectile aids, and five hour energy shots. Plus, I just read that the new 'hot' product on the market is caffeine laced meat!

Politicians and legislators are beating up on the tobacco industry and the people and businesses suffering the most are retail tobacconists and luxury tobacco aficionados. Yet, 'feel-good' prohibitions, taxation, and restrictions continue to be passed by local, state, and federal agencies. Meanwhile, the substantive problems of the world seem to go unaddressed. At this point, even cigarette smokers are more than paying for any societal costs associated with their pleasures, yet the government is milking them to pay for childrens' health-care - this is happening because the societal perception that cigarette smokers (or all smokers) are "filthy" or "dirty" people with a "disgusting" habit. Well, as long as our government chooses to stigmatize and punish unpopular people, I can guarantee that nothing positive or substantive will ever get done. Consumers of alcohol and fat people beware! This will not stop until we stand up and help minorities protect their choices/pleasures/freedoms, even if they are not the freedoms that we choose to exercise.

"You can only be free if I am free."
- Clarence Darrow

Carry an Unlit Cigar

I urge you, beg, and plead with you to carry an unlit cigar with you everywhere you go, as often as possible!!! This silent act can snowball and have a positive, lasting effect... I'm just not sure how, just yet.

Why beg and plead with my fellow cigar smokers and Tobacconists to carry an unlit cigar with them? Well perhaps I am selfish. But maybe we are onto something. We have to promote a good, positive and healthy image, and that is impossible to do since we have been banned from the rest of civil society. And most cigar smokers are good, positive, and healthy people. I rarely see people on the streets, malls, or in public places with cigars anymore. That is because we have been ostracized. I get coughed at and mocked by children as well as adults. THEY ARE WINNING. And we are retreating to our backyards.

I often have a partially smoked cigar in my hand. I walk into stores, restaurants, hotels, anywhere and everywhere. It is part of the condition of modern man, there is rarely enough time to finish a great cigar without getting interrupted or having to do something. So, I let my cigars extinguish and then I tote them along whenever possible. My hands like the feel of it and I often put it in my mouth to remind me of the joy I will soon be rewarded with. Ironically, partially smoked cigars smell bad. But that doesn't bother me. And if it bothers other people, then maybe they will prefer us to light them up.

But I am inspired to compel my luxury tobacco loving brothers to carry unlit cigars because I have been harassed far too many times this year. Simply put, Smokerism (the hatred and discrimination of smokers) has gotten out of hand. I was at the county fair, walking into a barn and a handful of children ran up to me and verbally attacked me: "put it out", "you can't smoke", "you're going to die", "the hay will catch fire", "save the animals",... etc. As if I was going to set all of the cows on fire. The cigar was not lit. A couple of months ago at the balloon festival I thought festival goers might just lynch me. Someone told me my cigar "is going to blow us all up". As if I was the guy piloting the balloon; I was just spectating... but the list goes on. Just last week I was leaving a casino, getting my car and two minutes into the process the attendant looks up and asks me "Is that lit?". And I said "If you need to ask....". And she said, "well it smells". And I said, "Oh well, where there is smoke there is fire and you have no right to avoid odor-annoyance". And then I wish I said your perfume smells like (insert expletive here)... but I didn't. These tall tales, and many more similar ones, are completely true. I can't take more than a few steps some days without being chastised. Well, (insert expletive here) you!

Please carry your cigars on you. Show the world we are not pariahs, social deviants, or demons. People must become desensitized to our passions because the current level of hysteria is driving them mad. We have rights. You have rights. Let's respect each other.