A puff of smoke....

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I don't smoke. But, all these years, I had a guilt laden desire - to test smoke a cigarette. I like the smell of a cigarette packet. The packing and the smell of processed tobacco (unprocessed tobacco keeps off rats - so you can assume how they must smell) is something that I like. What is so much in a small cigarette that notices so many people? That is, despite the statutory warnings and the injuries it causes to the human body? I really wanted to find out - what exactly happens when u smoke.  And boy, it did get fulfilled very recently!

A smoker friend of mine and I had some official duty together and once in the taxi, he lighted a cigarette. I told him I wanted to try it and he obliged. I put in a lighted cigarette and sipped in -  a whiff of smoke .  Nothing came out.  I was blowing out transparent air.  Tried again.  My friend laughed and said u need to try one full cigarette.  Ah, I didn't have the guts to do it.  My lungs were already feeling a bit heavy.  How do people do this day in and day out?

My friend says 3-4 cigarettes a day is 'healthy'!  Apparently an elderly relative of his lived up to 100 years, smoking 4 a day.  I think that's where he derives his inspiration from! 

There are no specific numbers of how many people smoke a day.  Some are chain smokers - before the lighted one is stubbed out,  the next 'white assassin' is ready on hand! 

My friend is a walking reference book on cigarettes. Cigarettes are available in packs of ten and twenty. There are 'light' and 'hard' (or normal) cigarettes.  The filter is thicker and more effective in light cigarettes. An yes, you have cigarettes, cigars, pipes and the ubiquitous 'beedis'.

Cigars last for a long time.  Cigars sometimes cost 5-10 k!   Cigars can be put off and lighted again,  without losing the taste and strength, unlike cigarettes/ beedis (a 'beedi' is a covering generally made of tendu leaves and it is used by the mass) which have to be smoked or stubbed once lit and cannot be used again.. Cuban Cigars are world famous.  I have seen small wooden boxes of cigars. They look exquisite, the packing that is. A pipe was an old method of smoking,  with tobacco inside the pipe.  It is no longer in fashion.

Apparently, the cost of a cigarette ranges from Rs. 5 to Rs. 20 in India.

Tobacco quality depends on climate and soil and the variety.  Different brands are blended differently. It takes close to six months for a leaf to get into a processed cigarette. Apparently, foreign brands also taste not much differently.  The difference is perhaps how much they pinch the insides of the mouth. After all, how different can smoke taste (though ads scream of 'honeydew')?  

Cigarettes were (and still are)  considered macho.  Despite the hazards associated with smoking and increased cess , cigarettes continue to sell and contribute to the exchequer. I am sure when the government pastes those ads on hazards of smoking,  they would secretly be hoping that it doesn't reach the friends who contribute to the exchequer. There used to be a time when cigarette companies sponsored all major sporting events around the world, but increased 'awareness' and clamour against tobacco advertising have put paid to those today.

Like his relative, I wish my friend also lives for a 100 years.   

Yes! I have been there, done that.  And no,  I don't want to smoke again!