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| Photos by My Father |
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A dirty rotten unhealthy habit but I loved it. I still love the times when that certain aroma comes wafting and reminds me of such great times in my life. My Dad was a non-smoker whose favorite comment about smoking was, “Why would anybody want to smell like an ashtray?” and finally another of his lessons was taken to heart.
ReplyDeleteCigarettes and fishing: Cast, light a cigarette and twitch your wet fly. Fish on! Cigarette and espresso first of the day, the best. Cigarette and sailing: That last draw and a flick of the finger sending the butt over the teak rail to leeward and that satisfying hiss as it his the water. If it didn’t cause cancer, was 55 cents a pack and didn’t make you smell like an ash tray, I’d be back.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is nasty, but we were so very cool.
ReplyDeleteWinstons were 29 cents a pack. English Ovals were 69 cents a pack. They were actually oval shaped. They came in a flip top box. Talk about “so very cool.” Which do you think we favored? Hello!
DeleteAnd Shermans with their chocolate brown sugar dipped paper! I preferred Camel unfiltered. It has been forty five years since I had one. I was never a heavy smoker, maybe one after dinner or with a drink. I always preferred pipes and cigars but only on special occasions. Now I am down to maybe two or three pipes in the fall and a cigar after Thanksgiving dinner.
DeleteI still recall my first cigarette. A snow day, at the bus stop to head into DC. It was a Half and Half.
Waiting for the pipe pictures...
ReplyDeleteHere here!! Thank you so very much!!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Scandinavia, I can still remeber the sweet scent in the Tobacco shops; we would sneak in to buy loose cigs... "Dad asked me to get 2 cigarettes...". When we wanted to be super American cool, we would get Marlboro, Winston or L&M, but for uber cool, nothing would beat a French Gauloise Caporal... tasted and smelled like a fire in a hey barn...For that James Dean look, one could roll up the pack of cigs in the t-shirt sleeve... The pack of cigs conveniently placed next to the bedside alarm clock... turn off the alarm and grab the first smoke of the day, all in one sweep... how cool was thay... NOT...So glad I went "cold turkey" many, many years ago....
ReplyDeleteThe smell reminds me of Dad. He loved his morning tea and cigarette.
ReplyDeleteI would sit in his closet between his suits when he was away on business.
The cigarette smell reminded me of him. He lived to be 90. I have never smoked, just didn’t like it a bit.
No one smoked at our house when I was little but most of my aunts and uncles did. They all visited frequently, so we had ashtrays and smoking stands in the living room. I have no memory of odors or aromas, except for cigars, which were stronger. I also worked on a tobacco farm--in Massachusetts no less--and still have no memory of any smells. But the tar from a tobacco leaf is another story.
ReplyDeleteOnly the best Cubans were wrapped with a Connecticut Valley shade grown leaf.
DeleteThat's what we were told. The only brand I recall was White Owl. That was the summer of 1964.
DeleteMy last cigarette came sometime around this time of year 35 years ago - 1985 when my first daughter was on her way. The cravings passed long ago but I've often said "I'm one smoke away from a pack a day."
ReplyDeleteStopped smoking at 8:20am on Monday, April 19, 1976, as my wife called my bluff on my foolish promise and tossed my pack of Pall Malls into the trash before she went into the labor room to deliver our first-born. Not that I remember the details or anything. One smoke away from three packs a day, and always will be
DeleteMe three.
DeleteI still smoke.
ReplyDeleteAgree with all comments. Still remember the rules for smoking given by my sorority.
ReplyDeleteThere are times I wake up in the morning shrouded in frustration and disappointment. You see, I started smoking again. Luckily it was all a dream. I’ve been off since August ‘87.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, one of our neighbors was the Liggett family (as in L&M Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co.) I don't know how involved they were with the firm's operation, but I do know I never saw any of them smoking. I guess they knew something back then.
ReplyDeleteSome things are better off in the rear view mirror. Cigarettes are one of them.
ReplyDeleteSo strange to see all these cigarettes. My first and last one was when I was in the fourth grade. I thought it was so gross, I never tried another. I was lucky to be turned off by them when I was so young and not to have to go through the discomfort of giving them up.
ReplyDeleteThere is something about the smell of cigarettes and beer that always reminds me of sailing/boating. I never smoked, and my parents stopped smoking when they had kids. But, my dad would always have a cigarette or two during "cocktail hour" when sitting on the deck at a friends house. They lived near grandparents, who lived on the water and owned part of a beach. We would spend Sundays at their house in the summer, and before heading home, my parents would stop by for a few drinks. It was incredibly boring for my sister and I, but I wish I could sit on that deck now, looking out over the ocean,and enjoy a cocktail or two. I will always associate the smell of cigarette smoke, beer, and the salty see air with those happy times.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun series! Thanks, as always. Vive la resistance! Smoking has many ills, of course, and smoking is not for everyone, nor anyone at all times. But this community should understand better than most the dangers, the tyranny, the smallness of sameness, of snuffing out atavistic rites of the tribe. In some ways it’s the same reason so much of the SWNE lifestyle is harder to come by. The leveling winds blow all toward a meek, safe, lifeless commonality. Why keep making three button jackets and unlined OCBDs when it’s t-shirt and flip flop world - even in the most exclusive corners. I hope all who gave it up in the name of extending their years are living that extra time to the fullest and not just watching tv, eating their bran, and looking at their phone. And to the fisherman above, Amen.
ReplyDeleteSuperbly and beautifully said. Thank you!
DeleteI've never been tempted to smoke, but after being immersed in SEC football as a child in the early '70s, I still don't think a football game smells right without a whiff of cigarette smoke in the air.
ReplyDeleteGot into the filthy habit my semester abroad in England were it was rude to bum a fag and not offer one back! For roughly two years I smoked Dunhills then discovered Nat Shermans with the pink paper and gold filters. Had some in turquoise too I think. I even had an ebony cigarette holder and an enamel case and matching lighter adorned with a peacock-ridiculous! My father-a reformed smoker-was none too impressed. I ultimately became bored with the smell and expense and stopped. Since it was mostly a social thing for me thankfully I never had a problem quitting.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up outside of Boston in the 70s, my Mother smoked. She started in college, and it was as much a part of her as her humor and sunglasses. Cigarette packages had black-box warnings; TV had public service spots; the information was there. But she turned a blind eye, as did every Mom on our street. As kids, we saw the grown-up glamour of smoking, and snuck "cigibutts". It looked great from a distance. But up-close, it was eating cereal with the smell of smoke, looking a cigarette butts in my Mom's cereal bowl. She died in her early 70s from lung cancer. It is NOT how you want to exit!
ReplyDeleteIt’s funny how things worked with my parents. My father smoked three packs a day and lived to be 90. My mother never smoked a day in her life and died from cancer in her mid-70s.
DeleteI'm not related to anyone who died of cancer but they're all dead just the same. My mother didn't make it to 50. Neither did Thoreau. My grandmother lived into her 90s, though.
Delete