A Real Tobacco Shop

One of the best things about moving to Lincoln is the fact that I now have a real tobacco shop to go to. Actually there are two, though one of them doesn't have a great selection of pipes. But Ted's Tobacco is a great shop with an informed proprietor. Every time I've gone there I've had a great conversation with him about pipes and tobaccos, and he has a wide variety of good tobaccos instead of just the range of bulk Lane's that I'm used to seeing in tobacco shops. But my enthusiasm for this local business has presented a dilemma I haven't had to deal with in my prior years of smoking: to support the local business or to save money on-line. Before I always could always excuse not supporting the local tobacconists because they were really discount cigarette shops. But now there is a viable tobacconist that I feel ethically obligated to support. "Ethically obligated you say, Thrasymachus? Why is that?" Because I believe that the community presence of a tobacconist is important to the continued growth of our hobby. Because refuge for the smoker is increasingly difficult to find. Because world-wide virtual communities do not have nearly the political agency that real local ones do. "But Thrasymachus, Do not the presence of on-line retailers also contribute to the hobby's growth, support small tobacco blenders and artisan pipe makers, and create a broader sense of community with a broader political power?" I suppose that's true, so I'll have to support both.

Confessions of a nicotine addict (1)

My name is, and I'm a nicotine addict. I've smoked 4 pipes today in as many hours. I have eaten nothing. I don't like the fact that I smoke constantly and feel jittery when I do. I smoke out of boredom, I smoke to keep my mind and hands busy rather than do what I need to do. The backs of my teeth are stained from the smoke and I get extremely impatient when I haven't smoked for more than three waking hours. I am an addict, and I wish I weren't.

My name is, and I smoke. I enjoy a good pipe. I enjoy nicotine in my blood. I'll grant to you anti-smoking control junkies that it probably isn't the healthiest thing to do. But then again, neither is stressing oneself out about what other people choose to do with their lives. The globalization of trade, the economic foundations of this country, can be directly attributed to tobacco. It is our cultural heritage, and you spit on it. Tobacco has for hundreds of years brought people together. Yes, it is a drug; but so is aspirin. And like aspirin, its mild pharmacological effects has helped and continues to help millions of people get through daily hardship, pain, and hunger. You feel anxious about your own death, transfer that fear onto the rest of society, and say it is all for the children and the common man. Your attempts to create a smoke-free world for yourselves smacks of class warfare or burgeois paternalism when riteously justified by a concern for the worker, concern for the children. Face your fears. Find religion. Do something besides imposing your all-too-powerful will upon your fellow (wo)man. I am a smoker, and I deeply resent your lust for control.