Bruce Harris and I were swinging in the back yard. It was evening. Dad had cooked some burgers on the charcoal. And there wasn’t too much for a boy to worry about.
It was in that state of bliss that I came face-to-face with the devil himself.
Dad enjoyed a cheap cigar now and then. A Saturday evening was just such a time. You have your burgers, a potato salad, maybe some pork-and-beans…then you have a smoke. Dad liked Tiparillos, those cigars with a plastic tip for a mouthpiece.
Even today you could dig around in the back yard at 1164 Bueno and find a few of those little ivory-colored tips; and Dad’s been dead 30 years +.
So, he finished off about 2/3 of the cigar and put it down. But he didn’t throw it away.
Hence, the perfect storm. Me, Bruce, the glowing coals, and what was left of a cigar. And no adults around.
So, I relight the cigar in the coals and immediately inhale just like Dad did. Take in a nice, long drag…hold it…then blow it back out nice and slow. Any idiot can do that.
That was my first experience with smoking. My career ended about five seconds later as the irritation to my mouth, nose, and sinus cavities told me I did not have a career in tobacco.
And I have always been grateful for that experience.
Here’s Bob Newhart explaining early marketing of tobacco by Sir Walter Raleigh.
http://www.jibjab.com/view/195773
1 comment:
I am glad that you worked hard to kick the habit. Thanks for not smoking! I appreciate the childhood I had free from that. I hope that our family BBQs don't seem to lack anything besides a little extra bantering. The closest I want to come to smoking is a burger on a grill :)
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