Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

      More Letters From Paradise
       Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Smoke no longer gets in your eyes. It is a great song, but a bad habit. Here in Hawaii there is an on going program using nicotine patches, to help people stop smoking. Also, smoking is banned in all restaurants and public buildings. Even on our beautiful beaches. Residents in our building recently voted to ban smoking on our lanais.

But it has not always been so. Almost everyone smoked. During WWII cigarettes were included in K rations for the soldiers. Magazines had ads for Chesterfield cigarettes  with pictures of doctors proclaiming that they "satisfied." The brand  Lucky Strike had a slogan L.S.M.F.T (Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco). I remember one ad showing a girl telling a guy to "Blow some smoke my way."

People smoked everywhere, restaurants,bars, and even on airplanes. In the arm rests there were ashtrays. I remember visiting NewYork City on a senior class trip 1955,   and a sign in Times Square is worth mentioning. It was a large blue neon sign on the right side of the street with the word "Bond," and every so often a large smoke ring would come from the letter "O." I took a picture of that sign in Times Square, and years later I met a guy whose father built that sign. He wanted a picture of it, but I had lost it.

My father smoked unfiltered "Camel" cigarettes. I began smoking very early. As kids we smoked dried Tiger lily stems. Very hollow stems. There were also white candy cigarettes with red tips. As a sophomore I smoked a "Yellow Bowl" brand pipe. They came in various styles. My father discovered that I smoked a pipe and gave me one, as I recorded somewhere earlier in this blog.

In the Navy nearly everyone smoked. I did, ten cents a pack, a buck for a carton. The cartons were wax paper covered in order to keep them fresh while at sea. When I left my ship, my seabag was half full of cartons of cigarettes.

I didn't smoke so much while in college, but when I began teaching high school, I really smoked. Teachers would duck into the teacher's lounge and grab a few puffs between classes. But I should here note that kids back then were smoking too, but not a tobacco product. You could really smell pot on their clothes.

I quit smoking many years ago. Cold turkey. My buddy George, used some psychology on me, asking "Who was in control?, me or the cigarette?" Looking back I recall stained fingers and teeth. My sports jackets smelled of smoke.

Someone once said that there is nothing worse than a reformed drunk or smoker.
But I should note that I am saving a lot of money, as a pack of cigarettes here in Honolulu is over eight dollars. Do the math and see what a carton costs.

Aloha
Grant