Enough Is Enough

Enough is enough!  This afternoon I had the TV on and watched advertisements for herpes medication, some kind of condom and/or cream that heightens orgasms, men singing about erectile dis-function, and a clitoral stimulator; all of this on ‘normal’ TV that children can watch after they get home from school.  But, of course you will never see any kind of ad for any kind of tobacco because that is illegal, ‘attractive to children’, and ‘bad for you’.  Not that I’m against erections, sex, or medicine, but there is a time and place for everything, right?

 

Unfortunately, that is not the worst or most absurd part of my day.  Tonight, the Brooksville City Council (near Tampa, FL) will consider an ordinance which will ban city employees from smoking or having any kind of nicotine in their system – yet, I’m not sure if those nannyists realize that nicotine is found in tomatoes and eggplants too!  Regardless, this kind of anti-smoker and anti-tobacco bigotry is LEGAL! And that is SHAMEFUL!  Undoubtedly, fat and/or other unhealthy people are next on the list for employment discrimination.  And they wont be able to say they didn’t see it coming.  We told you so!  Remember, no one is free while others are oppressed!
 

 

“There is no such thing as a little freedom.  Either you are all free, or you are not free.”

-Walter Cronkite

Sorry Mr. Cronkite, here is the new America….
 

 

 

The Worst Freedom Is OK

As a retail tobacconist I have paid half a dozen floor taxes and tax increases this year alone.   The campaign against all smokers is in full effect around the globe while smoking bans (both indoor and outdoor), de-normalization, perpetual and unreasonable tax increases, continue to usurp our freedoms.  But the hallmark of 2009 is the prohibitions that have been put into place by the FDA (banning flavored cigarettes) and now NYC banning ALL flavored tobacco; again, under the intellectually bankrupt logic that these products are ‘attractive to children’ – even though it is illegal to sell these products to children.

Today Dr. Michael Siegel, a famous anti-smoking advocate, wrote in his blog “the anti-smoking movement is very much a religious-like one and that it is based largely on ideology rather than science.”  Now we should be able to see things clearly; smokerism and the relentless taxation is not based on science, but rather bigotry.  And smokers, along with other freedom loving people, have been saying for years that the health police/nanny state will come after soda pop, obese people, and alcohol soon enough.  Well, soon enough is already here!!!  Taxes and bans on fatty foods are becoming prevalent while European cities have started to ban happy hours!

Behavior and pleasure control has never been about health, because happiness cannot be measured in years or numbers.  As a society we must accept that cigarette smoking is the absolute worst personal freedom and then move on.  It’s OK; there will always be a WORST Freedom.  But, the key to living in free and democratic societies is to preserve freedoms, not constantly whittle away at them.  Today, smokers pay more than their fair share of the ’societal’ (health care) costs associated with smoking; they are not a burden to non-smokers.  So it must be time to leave them alone.  Otherwise, our government is just punishing people who they do not like and that is reprehensible.  At this point, it will be up to non-smokers to stand up and say “Enough Is Enough”.   Even the worst freedom is OK, now lets get on with our lives!
 

“You can only be free if I am free.”

- Clarence Darrow

 

Einstein Smoked!

 
Yes, it’s true, Einstein smoked: pipes and cigars.

Albert Einstein’s contributions to modern science are so extraordinary that it may take  generations and hundreds of years for science to catch up with his theories on space, time, gravity, light, physics, etc…  Ironically, Einstein had speech problems as a child and was probably missing portions of his brain, while other parts seem to have ‘compensated’ and given him extraordinary thinking, visualization, and conceptualization abilities.   In fact, we are all a little bit like Albert Einstein in that our brains have different strengths and weaknesses and there are many different ways to be ’smart’.  Intelligence takes on many different forms and varietals.




Albert Einstein, Berlin, Germany 1931.  Photo from Fortune Magazine March 6, 2000.

Albert Einstein claimed that he thought through images, rather than verbally.  That is why he spent much of his time ruminating, meditating, thinking, and walking the grounds of the Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University, with a pipe or cigar in hand, of course.

As the proprietor of the retail tobacconist in Princeton, NJ, I like to think that Albert Einstein would be a customer if he were around today.  After all, many of Princeton’s esteemed intellectuals and luminaries are my customers, and they love their luxury tobacco.   But this is not just a ‘puff’ piece about smart people smoking tobacco.  Luxury tobacco is something we use out of choice, not addiction.  Furthermore, we smoke great cigars and pipe tobaccos to savor our time, ruminate, decompress, gather our thoughts and emotions, and revitalize ourselves, among other reasons.
  
Just as our ‘brains’ are different, so are the things that bring us pleasure, happiness, joy, and peace.   America’s founding fathers recognized the inherent importance of individualism and freedom, so they anchored our country’s constitution and values on the ‘individual pursuit of happiness’ and human freedom.  For better or worse, good, bad or indifferent, human beings must be free to choose their own destiny and guide their own lives.

What would Albert Einstein think about S-CHIP, FDA tobacco regulation, extreme tobacco taxation, smoker demonization, smoking bans, and tobacco denormalization?   Where would civilization be without Albert Einstein’s genius?  Who or what power has the legitimate authority to tell him (or us) how to think? What to enjoy?  After all, we hold the truth of human freedom and equality to be self-evident.

The greatest tragedy to result from smokerism and anti-smoking laws will never be known.  The greatest cost from impeding human freedom is the opportunity cost: those things, ideas, moments, realizations, and appreciations that will never exist, because the opportunity was lost.  But these losses, while intangible, are as real as light, gravity, and time.  Ultimately, every law that restricts individual freedom and choice retards our culture and undermines real progress and quality of life.

Smoking Bans: A Moment of Truth

     

The most definitive study to date concludes that smoking bans in all fifty states of America have had no impact on heart attack admissions and mortality rates. The study, conducted by researchers from the RAND Corp., Congressional Budget Office, University or Wisconsin, and Stanford University, concludes that workplace smoking bans have had no effect on heart attack rates and there are as many areas showing decreases in heart attacks as there are showing increases! So much for the junk science and fear tactics our legislators and public policy makers use to justify usurping our freedoms. You can read of the The Rest of the Story by Dr. Michael Siegel.

Guns, Tobacco, Fear & Control

 

    

“Where the rights of men are equal, every man must finally see the necessity of protecting the rights of others as the most effectual security for his own.”- Thomas Paine
Dissertation on First Principles of Government -1795

On a personal note…. I have one sister, twenty one years younger than me. This picture was taken two years ago in the D.R. – right about the time she told me a policeman came to her class, wearing his uniform, badge, and gun, to lecture the students about the dangers of tobacco. Of course the lesson was not un-biased or purely factual. Rather, it was about fear. They did not tell her ‘cigarettes can shorten your life or lead to illnesses’; they told her ‘tobacco and smoke are disgusting, immoral, and kill’. While I know that life kills, and fear can be an effective motivation for children, and teachers can exaggerate to make a point, to this day, I cannot fathom why a man with a gun is sent to schools to ‘teach’ and threaten children. Frankly, it has taken me two years to calm down enough just to write this piece…. In fact, a big part of the reason I started this blog two years ago was because I was so infuriated by my sister’s story and needed a place to voice my opinion and tell these tales. And, someone has to question how the anti-smoke people have influenced legislators to the point that they are employing our police to promote their agenda … WTF is happening?

I remember in high school a policeman came and lectured us about the dangers of drinking and driving: at least that made sense since the crime takes place on our roadways where innocent people can be hurt. But where is the crime in smoking? And why are the police talking to children about it? And why the gun?

On a positive note, my sister comes to my house and walks into my humidor just because she loves the smell. Thankfully, she is smart and free enough to think for herself; but, for how long? In Cuba they have signs everywhere insulting ‘capitalist pigs’ and the only people with guns are the cops and military; I suppose that is why my family came to this country. But, in America there are already advertisements insulting smokers (of all kinds), disparaging fat people, and basically equating anybody who is not ‘healthy’ or ‘normal’ as immoral or inadequate. Yet, I can’t watch TV for half an hour without seeing erectile pill commercials or advertisements for pharmaceuticals to make us all happy and fill us with ‘energy’.
 
Meanwhile, the hypocrisy of our legislators/government and the degradation of our rights is only getting worse…. Today I read an AP article about an Alabama Botanist who was arrested because the wildflowers on her property were a nuisance. People actually complained about the annoyance of flower aromas!!!
 
As the son of refugees, I cannot forget the value of freedom, and the need to defend it: that is why I am a Certified Tobacconist. And, I have put every resource at my disposal towards defending my profession and helping others do the same. Ironically, at this rate, I will end up a Certified ‘drug dealer’ in the nanny state’s eyes…. and so will my plant, coffee, alcohol, and food loving friends. That cop who terrorized my 10 year old sister may very well arrest me for smoking a cigar on the sidewalk one day. In the meantime, real drug dealers who peddle anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs, 5-hour energy drinks, and erection pills continue to live down the road from me in mansions I can’t even afford the taxes on. The America I love seems to exist only in my mind and heart now…. and within the four walls of every retail Tobacconist who is still allowed to smoke in their business and home. As I write this very personal blog, my last living grandparent lies on her death bed, incoherent and unaware that the America that embraced her inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness is not so different than the country she fled; in this rare case I think that ignorance is bliss. But, the rest of us have no excuse.
 
My point is not simply to vent here… it is two-fold:

1. to compel you, my fellow Tobacconists and citizens, to get Certified and project your credibility. Be Proactive! Don’t be apathetic. Don’t ever give up. First we must educate ourselves, and then we go about teaching others (Tobacconists Are Teachers).

  

2. to remind everyone else that real freedom involves protecting others’ rights, not just the rights you like and/or use.

Disclaimers: I have cop friends and customers who I love; I think guns are awesome – when they are not killing or intimidating people; I love plants and flowers and their aromas; I love my sister and family, no matter what they think or feel; I have lots of friends who take the legal drugs mentioned in this article; I believe smoking is a human archetype and delicacy which will always be and should be enjoyed by a significant percentage of the population; I don’t like the use of chemicals or additives in tobacco or food; I eat meat and fish; however you define ‘health’, it is useless without freedom – and legislating ‘health’ is simply a way to control people; I drive like an old lady, have never had a dui/dwi, and have not had a moving violation in my adult life (’knock on wood’); I am only superstitious, ‘just in case’; I think people who sky dive and bungee jump are crazy and I fully support their right to do it – just like I support any person’s right to think, say, and do anything they want as long as they do not infringe on another person’s ability to do the same – that’s American!

 

Jorge Armenteros, CMT

Freedom = Risk

  

I just heard that in France they are trying to outlaw happy hour…. their reasoning has something to do with curbing excessive drinking. (what is excessive? is there an outbreak?) Obviously, this is completely absurd. But this is what the world health zealots and nanny governments are moving us towards. Frankly, I’m surprised that the French are even considering this: they have long been renown for their ‘joie de vivre’, revolutionary spirit, love of wine, food, and cheese, etc… I thought the next stage of nanny-state-health-zealotry would have come from America, perhaps California. Our legislators have been doing such a good job of banning smoking and demonizing smokers; and overweight people are clearly in their sites next. I thought increased alcohol control was decades away… but I was wrong.

  

I often say that Tobacconists are modern day FREEDOM FIGHTERS. In the tradition of our founding fathers; living their values in the hopes of defining their lives and happiness. Remember, we are supposed to have an ‘inalienable right to pursue happiness’, as defined by the individual!!! not governments, peer groups, politicians, etc…

  

Sadly, somewhere along the line we have forgotten that real Freedom involves Risk. Freedom is not a ’safe’ concept. Life is not ’safe’. The Freedom to drive, eat, walk, smoke, love, and even think comes wrought with Risk. America was founded by Risk-Takers! And nothing great is ever accomplished without taking a Risk.

  

So how has the world devolved to the point where Risk is anathema to our culture? I think the nanny state is empowered by making smokers out to be ‘dirty’ and ‘unhealthy’ people. Yet the National Cancer Institute says there are no known negative health consequences from smoking less than one cigar a day – which sums up the overwhelming majority of cigar and pipe smokers. And there are studies that show that between 1 to 3 cigars a day (consumers) live longer than non-smokers. While cigar and pipe smokers and Tobacconists have been struggling for our rights, non-smokers have been sitting back thinking they are above the fray. But, what they did not realize while basking in their sense of superiority is that smoking is the last line of defense for our civil rights. Ultimately, people choose to smoke, and employees in smoking environments choose to work there. People make choices and we do not need the government to limit them. I am accountable for my choices, and I don’t need the government to make decisions for me. I just want the government to do their job: take my tax money and build roads, protect me, and empower me to create my own life – Remember the concept that politicians work for us?

  

Ok, I could probably keep writing…. but i will try to wrap this up. I have been travelling the country Certifying Tobacconists and I continue to be impressed with their passion and resilience. Great Tobacconists seem indefatigable in light of current repression and taxation. Tobacconists continue to be great American FREEDOM FIGHTERS: fighting for their rights and passions. Today, I am more proud than ever to service and support them. As always, I continue to believe that the path to Freedom is through Education. And while ignorance may be bliss to some, I am willing to take the Risk… Get Educated. Be Free.

Jorge Armenteros, CMT

Not A Vice!

Here are two seemingly contradictory definitions of VICE, from Merriam-Webster dictionary:
 
1. “moral depravity or corruption”
 
2. “a habitual and usually trivial defect or shortcoming”
 
I would argue that the word “Vice” is highly over used in modern times. Perhaps because we like to make an enemy out of one thing or another. Many people consider chocolate a vice, yet chocolate can be a healthy and delicious treat. The reality is that almost anything can be a vice in extreme doses. Even drinking too much water kills, but we haven’t gotten to the point where we call water a vice, thankfully.
 
Well, I don’t consider moderate consumption of luxury tobacco a vice. It is an organoeleptic delicacy: luxury tobacco is a sensory pleasure, like a great sunset, glass of wine, soak in the tub, or even chocolate. Ultimately, the dose makes the poison, and even the National Cancer Institute says that there are no known negative health consequences from the enjoyment of less than one cigar a day.
 
So what’s the point? …………… Stop calling everything a Vice: unless it is a moral depravity, corruption, or a habitual defect. And stop trying to turn every healthy human indulgence into a Sin or Vice.

Double Helix Sensibility

I feel a little pressure to post some perfectly articulated intelligent thoughts, since people actually seem to be reading this blog… but then I’m reminded that this is a blog… So I don’t need to create a cohesive, bulletproof thesis on any particular issue. I’m also concerned that I’ll become one of those people that “rants and raves” on the Internet about the same thing, over, and over, and over, again. These two issues have converged for me today. And I can’t resist…
 
I was shocked and disturbed the other day when I heard a Senator in NY is trying to pass a bill which makes crossing the street while on the phone, or while wearing head phones, an illegal act. I could easily write thousands of words on this issue and the feel-good laws that continue to be passed in this country. But I won’t. Nor will I write a few thousand words about the knuckleheads in NJ that want to ban smoking in cars with children.
 
Today, I’m just keeping my fingers crossed so the Atlantic City Council will vote to allow casinos to reserve 25% of their floor space for smokers: sounds very democratic to me since at least 25% of the population smokes. I don’t know if I can handle the trauma of gambling my money away while NOT smoking a cigar.
 
Anyway…. I think James Watson, one of the four discoverers of the Double Helix structure of DNA, said it best:
 
“I don’t want to restrict anyone from doing anything unless it’s going to harm me. I don’t want to pass a law stopping someone from smoking. It’s just too dangerous. You lose the concept of a free society. Since we are genetically so diverse and our brains are so different, we’re going to have different aspirations. The things that will satisfy me won’t satisfy you.”
 
Thank You Mr. Watson, and God Bless the free society…wherever that is.

Private Businesses Are Not Public Spaces

With the fervor to pass anti-smoking laws throughout the country, and around the world, legislators seem to have forgotten that Private Businesses are NOT Public Spaces, where government has the power to control what legal activities take place. Private businesses have the right to refuse service to people (for a multitude of non-discriminatory reasons) just as consumers have the right to vote with their wallets and patronize establishments of their choice.
 
I fully understand that government can/should limit behaviors and activities on government property, public transportation, or in indoor places where people do not have a reasonable choice to be. But, a restaurateur who wants to cater to cigar smokers, cognac drinkers, wine lovers, and meat eaters should have every right to do so. Especially if every potential employee who applies for work, and every customer who enters the establishment is notified of the policies of that business.

I can see the day when we will enter a restaurant and get weighed and have our Body Fat Index measured before we are given a seat. We will be handed menus/options that depend on our “health” statistics. While my girlfriend gets the “meat and potatoes” menu, I will be relegated to the “salad and tofu” selections. Maybe we will have to sit in the mandated “Dietary” section of the restaurant. Maybe I will get a smaller plate or fork with a very large glass of water. Who Knows? But it seems more likely than not. And ultimately, if you are legislating to protect the “Health and Welfare” of the population, it makes perfect sense.