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….
 

 

 

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.

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.

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.

"Tobacco" vs. Cigarettes

Today, 95% of the money generated by the tobacco industry is from Cigarettes. As a result, most people associate the word tobacco with ”Cigarettes”. When people discuss the negative health effects of “tobacco”, they actually mean “Cigarettes”. Print publications, the media, politicians, and even the TSA Agreements use the word “tobacco” when referring specifically to “Cigarettes”. In the public realm, there is little distinction made between different types of tobacco, consumers, or consumption patterns. “Tobacco” is a bad word in contemporary society, yet this is a misnomer. The political, social, and cultural turmoil over one product, Cigarettes, has besmirched a much broader and more profound industry.

Read more about cigarettes in Tobacco College.

I Love Tobacconists

I feel remiss in not having written in a couple of weeks….. but I would like to follow up and say that the Tobacconist University Certified Lapel Pins finally arrived and they ARE Spectacular!!!!
 
But that is not why I am inspired to write today. I just came from a meeting of our State Retailers association. It is a unique group filled with retailers from all walks of life. Our members are Retail Tobacconists with different specialties and stores that serve very different markets. To put it mildly, it is a diverse group. I’m amazed at the diversity of opinions in our meetings. While we are all essentially in the same profession, you would think we weren’t. It is amazing to see so much disagreement and lack of consensus. But that is par for the course in the tobacco industry: cigarettes pitted against cigars, retail against mail order, etc…. We are severely fractionalized, divided, and constantly on the defensive: fighting legislators, taxation, oppression, and sometimes ourselves. Even with all of the different opinions floating around in that room, and different agendas, there are some underlying commonalities, which I admire and respect greatly.

I didn’t start writing this to complain about my fellow Tobacconists. In fact, I leave these regular meetings a little frustrated at the state of our State and Nation, but I also leave rejuvenated. I’m not rejuvenated because we came to any sound conclusions or had any great ideas. I’m invigorated because I’m reminded of why I choose to stay in this industry. Stay and fight for what I believe in; both in terms of freedoms and values. Above all, most Tobacconists I meet are GREAT people. Sometimes I think they are the only people left who actually care about the products they sell. We are Customers, first and foremost. And we are committed to what we love, no matter the challenges, because our passion is undeniable.
 
I can’t think of any other profession facing so many obstacles. Yet I have never seen so many fine people so committed to fighting the good fight and doing the right thing. Sure I’m biased, but that doesn’t change the fact that I Love Tobacconists… and you should too. Don’t let this part of our culture, this venerable profession, die. Support your local Retail Tobacconist, and tell your friends to do so as well. I would argue that nobody works harder to satisfy their customers, than Retail Tobacconists…. and I promise you, they aren’t doing it just for the money.

Jorge Armenteros, CMT

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.