Naughty and Nice; Sexy and Cool…

… a source of great pleasure with each and every draw!
Many thanks to Nona DeAnda on Pinterest for this delightful photo.

Cool Is as Cool Does

One young, manly, handsome, pensive gentleman! No piercings! No tattoos! Just a cigarette! No other adornments necessary!
Many thanks to Sohrab on Pinterest for this beautiful photograph.

New Zealand Smoking Ban Scrapped by Government in Shock Reversal - BBC News

Nov 27, 2023 | New Zealand's new government says it plans to scrap the nation's world-leading smoking ban to fund tax cuts, a reversal strongly criticised by health experts.

The legislation, introduced under the previous Jacinda Ardern-led government, would have banned cigarette sales next year to anyone born after 2008.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in New Zealand, and the policy had aimed to stop young generations from picking up the habit.


Some common sense on smoking from a government at last! This generational smoking ban was both draconian and undemocratic. It was a hare-brained idea from the very start.

I write as an ex-smoker. I gave up smoking successfully in April 2022. But even so, I am implacably opposed to banning cigarette smoking for future generations. This ban is a socialist-style policy. Boy! Don’t socialists like to interfere in people's private lives! Socialists and people like Rishi Sunak! We in the UK need a policy reversal on this stupid ban as well.

There are far worse things for young people to do than enjoy a smoke. Taking drugs, for example. Only last week, I posted a DW documentary on the problems that Germany is facing with cocaine use. (Click here to watch the hair-raising documentary.) Truly, if the worst a person does in this life twixt cradle and grave is enjoy a cigarette and a drink of alcohol, then I would say that he/she is doing pretty well. I really am sick and tired of this obsession with smoking and smokers and I am also sick and tired of the Nanny State poking its nose in people's private lives. Have people forgotten that it is healthy to have some pleasure from life? Who the hell wants to live forever anyway, and end up in an old people's home, ga-ga, and being fed by some nurse? There is such a thing as enjoying the journey of life. More power to the new New Zealand government which has had the courage to swim against the tide and overturn Jacinda Adern's stupid law. – © Mark Alexander

The left-wing press is having convulsions over this ban reversal:

New Zealand scraps world-first smoking ‘generation ban’ to fund tax cuts: Health experts say axing plan to block sales of tobacco products to next generation will cost thousands of lives »

New Zealand smoking ban: Health experts criticise new government's shock reversal: New Zealand's new government says it plans to scrap the nation's world-leading smoking ban to fund tax cuts. »

Smoking Is Sexy. Smoking Is Cool. Smoking Is Pleasurable. Cigarettes Are Not Cocaine.

Many thanks to Pinterest for this great photo of this handsome smoker.
STOP this war on smoking. Smoking is still one of the daily pleasures of life for so many people. And bring those taxes on tobacco and cigarettes down precipitously! A.S.A.P.

Smoking Is So Sexy. Vaping Will Never Be Able to Replace It.

Many thanks to Pinterest for this great photo of this handsome smoker.
So let’s make smoking cool again! Let’s help put an end to this stupid war on smoking, smokers and pleasure! Many of the politicians are on drugs. A cigarette is harmless by comparison. Fie on these politicians! They want to take the joy out of life. Sie wollen dem Leben die Freude nehmen! Ils veulent retirer la joie de la vie !

This Is a Picture Especially for the Undemocratic Prime Minister of New Zealand. (I Think Her Name Is Jacinda Ardern.) | Reupload

I hope she fails in her ridiculous, autocratic, extreme anti-smoking policy. She is known to have once been a person who enjoyed cannabis, yet she has a visceral dislike of tobacco. Clearly, she is no history buff; otherwise she would know what the Prohibition (of alcohol) in the United States was like and how it ended. These do-gooders do more harm than the good they wish to bring about. Such people are pains in the butt! – © Mark Alexander
Many thanks to Wattpad on Pinterest for this truly delightful photo of a handsome young man enjoying a smoke which, of course, in a truly democratic country is his birthright.

New Zealand Implements Smoking Ban | 10 News First

Dec 9, 2021 | New Zealand will implement new legislation to phase out smoking. The ban will see anyone born since 2009 unable to purchase cigarettes.

Jacinda Ardern has got tyrannical tendencies. The silly woman should be stopped. (I speak as an ex-smoker.) Apparently, Ardern used to enjoy cannabis! That says it all. – © Mark Alexander

New Zealand smoking rates fall to lowest on record, but vaping on the rise: Overall smoking rate falls to 8% as country pursues goal of becoming smoke-free by 2025, but many may be switching to vaping instead »

I’m all for New Zealand giving tobacco a kicking – but don’t criminalise smoking: Making substances illegal has never worked, simply because it fails to address the reasons why people use them »

A Cool Smoker

Cool is as cool does.
Many thanks to smoker890.tumblr.com on Pinterest for this truly delightful image.

Denmark’s Delightful Queen

One just must love Queen Margrethe II for her political incorrectness! She just does her own thing regardless, just as everyone else should have the courage to do.
With many thanks to theroyalforums.com on Pinterest for this truly lovely image of Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark enjoying a smoke.
Despite recent controversy, there's no royal more popular than Denmark's chain-smoking queen »

The Tobacco Conspiracy : Documentary

Nov 26, 2018 This France-Canada co-production goes behind the scenes of the huge tobacco industry, whose economic power has been expanding for five decades at the expense of public health. A gripping investigation covering three continents, Nadia Collot's film exposes the vast conspiracy of a criminally negligent industry that conquers new markets through corruption and manipulation. To confront the tobacco cartel, anti-smoking groups are organizing and scoring points, but the fight remains fierce. With ist diverse viewpoints, shocking interviews and riveting images, The Tobacco Conspiracy deftly defines the issues in a complex situation where private interests and the public good collide. Enlightening and engrossing, this documentary is a hard-hitting critique of an industry gone mad.

Reaching for That Pack of Smokes? You Aren’t the Only One

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Lots of people seem to be smoking again or more during the pandemic, if anecdotal evidence and preliminary sales figures for tobacco products are any measure.

“Good quality surveys operate at a lag,” said Vaughan W. Rees, the director of the Center for Global Tobacco Control at Harvard University, referring to reliable smoking studies from institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But we are seeing interesting blips. The decline in tobacco sales has slowed in the past 10 months.”

While tobacco sales in the United States have generally fallen in recent decades (14 percent of Americans smoked in 2019, compared with nearly 21 percent in 2005, according to an annual report from the C.D.C. that tracks smoking rates), the decline flattened last year.

“The total volume of cigarettes sold in the U.S. typically declines by 3 or 4 percent,” said Adam Spielman, a managing director at Citi who follows the tobacco industry. “But in 2020, volume is flat and that’s a significant change, driven mostly by the fact that people have less things to spend money on right now.” Smokers also cited stress as a reason for lighting up. » | Monica Corcoran Harel | Saturday, February 6, 2021

Americans Smoking More Cigarettes during COVID-19 Pandemic

NEW YORK POST: Smoking has made a comeback as the stress of the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll — with cigarette sales rebounding in 2020.

Sales rose by 0.4 percent last year — reversing a decades-long steady decline — as people in lockdown lit up more often and vapers switched back to tobacco over health concerns, according to data released by Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc.

Bored Americans who weren’t able to travel or dine out regularly also had more disposable income to spend on smoke sticks, the tobacco maker said.

An FDA spokeswoman said changes in cigarette smoking can’t be tied to one specific event, but admitted the pandemic has played a role.

“COVID-19 has created a drastic change in daily life, including increased stress and anxiety, that may contribute to a smaller-than-expected reduction in cigarette sales,” she told the Wall Street Journal. » | Jesse O'Neill | Friday, January 19, 2021

Cigarette Smoking Makes Comeback During Coronavirus Pandemic

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Marlboro maker Altria says stimulus checks and e-cigarette restrictions are driving sales of traditional cigarettes

Americans are smoking more during the coronavirus pandemic because they are spending less on travel and entertainment and have more opportunities to light up. They are also switching back to traditional cigarettes from vaping devices in the wake of federal restrictions on e-cigarette flavors. Read more here (£/$) » | Jennifer Maloney | Tuesday, July 28, 2020

New York Bans Tobacco Sales to Under-21s

THE INDEPENDENT: Law will make it the first large US city or state to prohibit sales to young adults

Tobacco sales will be banned to under-21s in New York in a new health drive by mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The law will make it the first large US city or state to prohibit sales to young adults.

City health officials hope that raising the legal purchase age from 18 to 21 will lead to a big decline in smoking rates in a critical age group. Most smokers get addicted to cigarettes before 21, and then have trouble quitting.

The ban has limitations, in terms of its ability to stop young people from picking up the deadly habit. Teenagers can still possess tobacco legally. Children will still be able to steal cigarettes from their parents, take them from friends or buy them from the black-market dealers who are common in many neighbourhoods.

But City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said the idea was to make it more inconvenient for young people to get started, especially teenagers who had previously had easy access to cigarettes through slightly older peers. » | AP | Tuesday, November 19, 2013

My comment:

Michael Bloomberg is really quite unrelenting in his assault on smokers, isn't he? He was once a chain-smoker, but search engines have been purged of the fact, I notice.

As is typical of reformed smokers, when they give up, they want the whole world to give up with them. Bloomberg is no exception to this rule.

So now, a New Yorker can die for his country before the age of 21, but he will not be able to buy a pack of cigarettes. I don't know whether other people would agree with me on this, but that seems to me to be ridiculous. If a young man is old enough to die for his country, he is old enough to have a drag.

Michael Bloomberg appears to have a tyrannical side to his nature. He will have his way. It's his way or the highway! It amazes me that the once freedom lovers of America put up with Bloomberg's meddlesome ways. – © Mark

Greece Fails to Stamp Out Smoking
Much trumpeted legislation aimed at stamping out smoking in Greece, Europe's most tobacco addicted nation, has been declared a failure by health campaigners. A lack of enforcement and widespread public defiance is being blamed for the Greeks' inability to conform to European standards. As the BBC's Malcolm Brabant reports, Greek rebelliousness is one of the biggest obstacles.

Russia to Shock Smokers with Giant Cigarette Pack Warnings
AFP: MOSCOW — Russia is to introduce prominent health warnings on cigarette packs for the first time on Saturday to shock smokers in the nicotine-addicted country with messages about impotency and wrinkles.

Under the new rules, cigarette producers must cover at least 30 percent of the front of cigarette packs with one of 12 warnings, ranging from "Smoking causes lung cancer" to "Smoking can cause impotency".

Warnings must also cover 50 percent of the back of the pack. >>> | Friday, June 25, 2010

Smoking Taboo for Muslims, Says DOH
PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER: MANILA, Philippines—Paging smokers in Muslim communities nationwide.

Did you know that aside from 40-plus cancer-causing chemicals, cigarettes also contain “secret additives” like pig’s blood and wine, which are haram, or forbidden under Islamic laws?

Dr. Tato Usman, head of the Non-Communicable Diseases Office of the Department of Health-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on Wednesday made the disclosure during a news conference at the DOH headquarters in Manila.

Citing “latest findings” of the South Africa National Halal Authority, or Sanha, Usman urged his “brother Muslims to abstain from smoking tobacco products.”

Usman also warned against the many ill-effects of cigarette smoking to human health, noting that “one stick of cigarette alone contains 43 carcinogens, or cancer-causing chemicals.”

The DOH official referred to, among others, nicotine, cadmium, stearic acid, tolvene, ammonia, carbon monoxide, arsenic, methane, and acetic acid. >>> Jerry E. Esplanada, Philippine Daily Inquirer | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Barack Obama Has Quit Smoking for Good Claims Philippine President
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama has finally quit smoking and offered advice on how to kick the habit to the incoming president of the Philippines.

Mr Obama has battled cigarette addiction for years, but told President-elect Benigno Aquino in a phone call that he has now fully quit.

"At some point I attempted some humour, saying 'Mr President, I understand we have the same issue with smoking,'" Mr Aquino said after parliament proclaimed him the official winner of the Philippine elections.

"He told me, 'I kicked the habit, so you are going to have to work on that one yourself. I can give you advice, though.'"

Mr Aquino, who smokes two packets a day according to former colleagues, said the US President promised to send the advice "at the time that you decide to quit".

Mr Obama, 48, is sensitive about his smoking habits and has become irritable when questioned about it in the past. >>> Barney Henderson in Kuala Lumpur | Friday, June 11, 2010

News Hub: South Carolina Votes Cigarette-Tax Hike

How Americans Got Sold On Smoking Cigarettes