"Never slap a man who chews tobacco"--Willard Scott

I have mixed feelings about today's topic. I'll tell you why a little later.  It's about smoking. 

I started smoking at Northern Michigan University in 1969. Back then, cigarettes were 35 cents per pack. However, they were available for only $2.20 per carton at K. I. Sawyer, the Air Force Base nearby. One of my suite-mates that year was a Viet-Nam Vet who was happy to bring back cartons for all of us in the suite.  

I continued to smoke for about a year but gave it up after a dose of the flu that seemed somehow to have been made worse by the smell of cigarette smoke. I had never smoked steadily enough to develop a dependence on either the act of smoking or the nicotine, so quitting cold turkey was easy for me. It's true that even long after that, I'd occasionally smell someone else light up and the combination of the burning match smell and the smoker's first exhalation would cause me a bit of longing. I had sometimes bought another pack after such an event, but after a smoke or two, I'd realize that I didn't really enjoy it anymore and I'd toss or give away the remainder. 

The one thing I did continue to enjoy however, and do up to this very day, is an occasional cigar. On our honeymoon, I sought out genuine Cuban 'puros' along Calle de las Huertas in Madrid and tried my first Romeo Y Julieta. Since then, I haven't been able to indulge myself in many more Cubans, but have enjoyed many Honduran cigars over the years. 

When we came to New Zealand, it wasn't long before I began to 'hanker after' a good cigar. I supposed that Cubans might be legal here and started looking. That wasn't easy to do. More than once I asked Jeanne if she had noticed any cigarettes or cigars in any of the stores we frequented. She hadn't. I would occasionally see someone smoking a cigarette on the street, so I knew that they must be available somewhere, but I hadn't run across them.  

Allie knew the score. She told me that here, no tobacco product can be sold openly. It is available, but must be kept in cabinets or behind curtains so no one, especially children, can see it. If you want a pack of Marlboro's, you ask for it at the counter and the sales clerk will open the wooden doors of the cabinet and snatch one out. The same thing for a cigar. The few times I bought one, I felt as though I should preface my request for a cigar by saying, "Joe Sent Me."  And they wouldn't throw the doors of the cigar cabinet wide open so that I could study their selection. I was given a 'menu' of the cigars with just the names and prices and was expected to make my selection that way. 

This is the place in the mall that I purchased a Cuban cigar or two. Notice the 'S' on Smokos. It's made into a dollar sign with good reason. It costs an arm and two legs to smoke here. I tried to take a picture of the tobacco cabinet in the store but the manager wouldn't let me. 

Well, that's no good. I like to look at the apparent quality of the cigar, and balance that against its cost. In the U.S., I was used to gazing into a humidor, (Gust Asp's) or even to enter a 'humidor room', (the bookstore in the mall or Nanoseconds) and examine them at my leisure. The final drawback to enjoying a cigar here is the cost. A Cuban puro here costs many times what it would if I were able to buy it from one of the online sources. I did discover that Cuban cigars are legal here. In fact, I have visited the Cuban Store in downtown Auckland where they not only sell very top end cigars, but  Cuban rum and other products as well. (didn't buy anything) 

So, I've given up cigars. It's not really a big deal since I didn't smoke many of them anyway. And, by giving them up, I'm acting in line with the current plan of New Zealand regarding smoking. 

Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 is an organization and a plan that is not outlawing tobacco products, but orchestrating things so that new smokers will not be developed. According to them, nearly 85% of Kiwi's are smoke-free now and that they want to increase that to over 95% by 2025. The government is helping acheive this by raising the cost of tobacco products by 10% every Jan. 1st. (and by keeping tobacco out of sight ---and out of mind)

I checked today at Smokos, the little store in the photo and found that the cost of a single pack of Marlboro's is now $23.90.  That means that by 2025, the cost will be well over $50.00 for 20 cigarettes. Yipes.

Today, Jeanne found this empty pack of clove cigarettes (Dunhill is the brand) on a lawn not far from our house. Clove cigarettes are still about 70% tobacco and are not a safe alternative to regular cigarettes. 

Look at how a pack of cigarettes is presented. Truth in advertising! 

Don't get me wrong. I too believe that smoking kills and I admire the Kiwi's for saying, "We can do this. We won't settle with having just smoke-free stores or campuses, or public transportation, we'll have a smoke-free country." Wow.   

It's just that every once in a while, I sure would love to prop my feet up on our deck and light up a Romeo Y Julieta. You just don't know how good a really good cigar can be.  Hence, the mixed feelings. I wish I could still indulge myself now and then without spending so darn much money. The last time I checked, the cheapest Cuban would have set me back about $22.00 and like cigarettes, that will just keep going up.

All this talk brings me to the photo below.

This is a new painting that appeared the other day on a wall across from our Henderson Library. Maoris started the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 movement and the message here is aimed at Maoris. The word 'tikanga' means culture or custom. It's derived from the word 'tika' which means what is right or correct. Clearly then, the painters are reminding Maoris that smoking is not part of who they are and encouraging them to go smokeless. 'Good on ya', whoever worked hard to do this painting. 

New Zealand even has the importation of tobacco covered. When we first arrived here, it was possible to bring a fair amount of tobacco into the country with you, in whatever form you wanted. Now, the limit is 50 grams, which is about 50 cigarettes. Probably equal to a couple of cigars. Hardly worth having to list it on your customs declaration. And, if you want to order cigars online, like I did once shortly after arriving, you'll now pay a very sizable duty when your order hits New Zealand's shores. In short, there is no inexpensive way to smoke here. Oh, well...

But, wait a minute, I just had a thought.  I wonder what tobacco seed costs and if I could find it?      -djf