Recent news just seems to get worse and worse for cigarette smokers. Once again our elected officials dig ever deeper into the pockets of the addicted and the afflicted, figuring “Hey, if people are going to smoke themselves to death anyway, we might as well leave them less money to do it with.”
For whatever else I did and didn’t do in my misspent youth, I remain proud and grateful the cigarette habit passed me by. Like most, though, I see the havoc that cigarette addiction wreaks on some of my loved ones and on our communities as whole.
Laying aside all the nasty things about cigarette smoking?the smell, the chemically altered and processed tobacco, the horrible breath, the yellowed fingers and teeth?I wonder how much cigarette smokers actually enjoy their smoking.
If you’re a cigarette smoker, and you’re either sick and tired of having your pockets picked time and again to fund some new federal health program “for the children,” are trying to quit for health or family reasons, or simply want to be free of a gripping, lethal addiction, I’d like you to consider:
THE INVITATION
Whenever I spend time in my favorite smoke shops, invariably I observe men of all ages, sometimes with their wives, passing by the shop window. I see them linger right outside the door, or sometimes they come in, hands in pockets, and look around wistfully, savoring the rich aromas of premium tobacco products. They almost always make some comments about a favored old grandfather, uncle or professor and some even confess that they’ve always wanted to try smoking a pipe. Then, the same trait that prevents us males from asking for directions kicks in and they leave the shop empty handed. For some reason, men find it awkward and uncomfortable to ask for help in getting started into the world of pipes and cigars.
But they needn’t. Pipe and cigar smokers are among the most relaxed, gregarious people in the world and are universally generous with their time, advice and recommendations, and often even with samples and other free goodies. My first month of being a smoker, I was given 15 pipes and pounds of free tobacco from other smokers who wanted me to enjoy the experience, and I’ve been treated with similar generosity by cigar smokers.
So now I’m here to return the cosmic favor, and hopefully open a new door for some of you cigarette smokers. It’s my pleasure to invite you in to the relaxing and fascinating universe of premium pipes, pipe tobaccos and hand-rolled cigars.
Some may think all modes of tobacco consumption are the same, but they’re wrong.
Cigarette tobacco is an almost entirely man-made product, made from the cheapest and most common varieties of tobacco plant which are shredded, pulverized, processed into sheets (called “rag”) and chopped into a uniform texture; they are then treated with chemicals to affect their moisture level, burn rate, shelf life, flavor, nicotine content and appearance; all this done by enormous high-capacity machinery. The tobacco used for premium cigars and pipes, by contrast, are pure and natural tobaccos grown, selected and processed in small batches by epicurean perfectionists, mostly by hand, using techniques and recipes that have been passed down from fathers to sons for generations. Most of these operations are family businesses dating back decades. In some cigar factories, fine literature is read aloud from a podium to inspire the cigar rollers as they work.
Be sure to pick up a copy of the next Murfreesboro Pulse as this study into the differences between pipes and cigars and cigarettes continues.
