Where There's Smoke.........

by Just Lin

When I was 10 or 11 years old, my dad let me try his cigarette. The smoke seared my lungs and I immediately launched into a major coughing fit. I'm sure he hoped that would dissuade me from taking up the smoking habit in spite of the fact that he and my mom both smoked. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. After 41 years of smoking, I finally stopped 2 1/2 years ago but, boy, did I love it while I did it!

Growing up in the 50's and 60's, it seemed that most adults smoked. I remember our family doctor smoking in the exam room during consultations. There was a reading room at the library with big overstuffed chairs and standing ashtrays. You could smoke in movie theaters, in grocery stores, and on airplanes. You could basically smoke anywhere and everywhere. There weren't nearly as many ads on TV then as there are now, but many of them were for cigarettes. The most memorable ones are probably the Old Gold dancing cigarette pack with a woman's dancing legs sticking out from the bottom of the pack and the little Philip Morris man. The rugged Marlboro man would come later.

Hollywood stars had glamour shots taken while holding or smoking a cigarette. Cigarettes played a prominent part in the movies of the time, adding a level of nuance to the mood. They could convey revelry and good times, mystery and intrigue, wit and sophistication, or sultry, smoldering passion. I mean, really, who wouldn't want to smoke?

I was the last one in my group of friends to start smoking. I started by bumming a cigarette now and then. Once I got serious about it and started buying my own, it was Pall Malls until I found my true love, Kools.

I remember one night in the mid 60's when some girlfriends and I were just cruising around in the car, smoking and laughing and being silly. My best friend, Alice, was the driver and she thought she was really sophisticated with her cigarette holder. Suddenly, her lit cigarette ejected out of the holder and fell to the floor board and out of sight. We all started yelling and screaming about it as she slammed on the brakes, right in the middle of this huge boulevard, and jumped out to find the cigarette. We laughed about it so many times later.

I know our nest has smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers. I would love to hear why the smokers started smoking, why the ex-smokers quit and why the non-smokers never started.