I recently read James’ blog about the proposed smoking ban, and figured I might as well chime in. I agree with James 100%. It’s ludicrous to ban smoking from bars. Yeah, it would be nice to come home from the bar one night and not smell like the Marlboro Man, but c’mon, isn’t that the fun of the bars? I will not delve deeper into the reasons why because James blog says it all. I would rather discuss something that has been bothering me lately.
As most of you know, lately I have been smoking Blackstone cherry cigars. They are the little cigarillos that KFD smoked. They are made from cherry pipe tobacco, which smells quite heavenly. Many of the downtown bars will not allow me to smoke them, they say it bothers the customers. My problem with that is, if people don’t mind smelling Marlboro Reds, then why would they mind the sweet smell of cherry? At the Rathskellar, they told me to smoke them outside, so I complied with their orders. Upon going outside, the bouncer comes over and tells me to stand in the far corner because he does not like the smell of them, while smoking a cigarette.
Have you seen that they are going to edit Tom & Jerry cartoons where they show smoking in a positive or cool manner? Yeah, if Tom tries to impress a girl and lights up a cigarette, that will be edited out, BUT if the evil crime boss cat smokes a cigar then that will be accepted. What kind of world are we living in? Is this 1984? The question is what will be next? Will comic books be forced to not show smoking by the good guys? Can anyone imagine Nick Fury or Wolverine without his cigar? And lets say these parent groups and health advocates finally get their wish, and smoking is banned all together? What will they attack next? You guessed it, A-L-C-O-H-O-L. Can you picture how boring bars will be then? No drinking, no smoking, better not hit on a girl because sex is no longer to be enjoyed. The world as we know it will cease to exist, it will be replaced by a totalitarian society. Don’t believe me? Then go ahead, allow it to happen.
I don’t have a problem with smoking in bars except when the idiot sitting beside me who is smoking insists on setting his ash tray in front of me and then holds his cigarette away from him and in front of my face. I actually had to tell a lady a few weeks ago to please move her cigarette, naturally she got defensive and said shit like smoking was allowed in here and it’s my right to smoke. I said I don’t have a problem with you smoking but could you please hold the cigarette in front of you and not me because I do not wish to share it with you, I quit smoking. She said something real intelligent like la di duh. I laughed at her, propped my foot on her chair and continued drinking.
If you feel the need to smoke and smell like a chimney that’s your right, but please be considerate about it.