There’s Something about a Man Who Smokes!

Make smoking cool again! Forget all this political correctness. Let’s make having pleasure okay again. Put the killjoys back in their caves! – Mark
Many thanks to Aaron Eckhart on Pinterest for this great photo.

By the way, smoking cigarettes is far less harmful to health than breathing in polluted air whilst walking down the street. And God only knows what the long-term health consequences of vaping are. And don’t get me even started on the legalization of cannabis for pleasure and recreation! If that is to be allowed, then smoking tobacco certainly should be allowed.

By the way, I write this as a non-smoker. I haven’t smoked a cigarette since April 10th, the day after my birthday. That is now more than six months ago.

Do I miss smoking? No, not really. Have I ever had a craving for a cigarette? No, certainly not. But do I have fond memories of the years I used to smoke daily? Certainly. I derived lots and lots of pleasure from cigarettes. I smoked only because I enjoyed smoking. I never was, nor did I ever feel, addicted to tobacco/nicotine.

But we are living in a Puritanical age, especially in the Anglosphere. The concept of joie de vivre is totally alien to most English-speakers. This is the sad reality of life today. – © Mark Alexander

Make Smoking Cool Again!

Sexy, pleasurable and cool.
Many thanks to Google Images for this great photo.

Loneliness Is Worse for Your Health Than Smoking Cigarettes

New research has revealed that loneliness has a more significant impact on a person's health than smoking cigarettes.

I really, truly believe this. I have never believed that smoking tobacco is as harmful to health as they have made it out to be. Put simply: People have been fed a load of crap!

The devil is in the dose, as it is for everything. Eating and nutrition is essential to life; but if we eat too much, especially certain foods like carbs and sugars, eating is no longer essential to life, but injurious to it.

The old adages, “enjoy everything in moderation” and “a little bit of what you fancy does you good” are important to bear in mind here.

I believe that if we eat nutritious food (and not too much of it), do not overindulge in alcohol, sleep plenty and worry little, a few cigarettes won’t do you too much harm. That is my theory and I am sticking too it.

If you listen to the so-called experts on smoking and tobacco today, you would be forgiven for thinking that enjoying a cigarette is the very worst thing you can do for your health. Smoking has become the bête noire of our age. If you smoke, you will lose all your hair, your teeth will fall out, you will suffer from unhealthy gums (gingivitis), you will probably lose a limb or two and you will cough yourself to death.

I am sure that there are some unfortunate people for whom this scenario might be a reality; and for those people, I feel sorry. But I can assure you that this has not been my experience of smoking. I have smoked twenty cigarettes a day for most of my adult life. Despite this, I have a very full head of very dark hair, a mouthful of teeth, unwrinkled skin, and my eyesight is very good. I have never suffered from a cough either.

Tomorrow is October 10th. It will be six months since I smoked my last cigarette. I have had no cravings since I stopped. However, there is a pleasure missing in my life: the enjoyment of a smoke. For this reason, I am toying with the idea of whether I should take up the habit again. I have yet to decide. I would add that I am sick to death of the bullshit that the medical profession and the politicians feed us re smoking. – © Mark Alexander

How to Start Smoking (Again)

THE GUARDIAN: There's nothing quite as dull as a how-I-quit-fags story. Taking up cigarettes, however, can be pretty interesting, says Tim Wilson, who has begun smoking seven times

I have started smoking about seven times. The best one was the last. It always is. Practice makes perfect, so you have a more textured awareness of what is unfolding. There's the moment of fatal nostalgia, the decision, the dizzy embrace, and, between 10 to 15 minutes later, the desire to repeat. Quitting cigarettes grabs headlines, (understandably, it's a trial) but starting them deserves scrutiny also. Just because something is easy, doesn't mean it isn't significant.

I'm not alone, apparently, in my vacillation. Studies say that smokers who quit may fail three to seven times before making the final abstention. "Relapse rates" are estimated to range from between 60 and 90 per cent in the first year. Relapse, indeed. Medical language is so cold-blooded. If I'm relapsing, why does the event feel like a reunion? It's like bumping into an ex-girlfriend, finding she is still trouble, and knowing that just this once more, you're up for it.

My last... fling began at a party. I was with intelligent and attractive people, and on the wagon. My doctor had told me not to get off the wagon, so there I stood, clutching my sparkling mineral water. The sex columnist I was talking to was smoking. I looked about me. Everyone was smoking. Cigarettes hung in the air, being tapped insouciantly, being sucked as a prelude to delivering clever remarks. The bubbles in my water continued to rise, cheerful and empty. Something was missing from my life. Risk.

To an ex-smoker, good health can pale because its benefits are quickly absorbed into daily existence. Clean breath and a lack of morning phlegm are instances of absence rather than presence. You quit because you are tired of the smoking rigmarole, the locating of matches and the coughing. You start because well-being is, well, tedious. » | Tim Wilson | Tuesday, December 17, 2002

...

MARK ALEXANDER: I came across this delightful article recently. It is delightful precisely because it goes against the current poltitically correct narrative about how awful and dangerous smoking tobacco is. I don’t agree with this narrative.

Let’s get this straight: I am an ex-smoker. I smoked for most of my adult life. I smoked twenty cigarettes a day, which I consider a normal, moderate number of cigarettes to smoke in a day.

Smoking gave me great pleasure: I loved a smoke. I never felt addicted to cigarettes. I simply wasn’t. That is why I was able to give up smoking from one day to the next; and I haven’t had any cravings for cigarettes after quitting.

My only 'naughty' pleasures in life were a few alcoholic drinks and some cigarettes. These days, even though the smoking of cigarettes is frowned upon by many, people do far, far worse things than smoke a cigarette. You don’t need me to tell you what they do. I have never ever indulged in anything stronger than a few glasses of alcohol—Scotch whisky and red or white wine, usually; and perhaps gin or vodka, more usually in summer.

I quit the lovely and enjoyable habit of smoking on April 10th this year. The day after my birthday. I had three cigarettes left in the pack from the day before. I smoked them; and that was the end of my smoking career (I think!).

The only negative thing I find about not smoking is that I have gained weight. Smoking helped me maintain a fairly constant weight all of my adult life.

When you tell people that after giving up smoking, one gains weight, they immediately think that one eats more. Not so! At least not in my case. One thing I have learnt is that smoking increases one’s metabolism; so, when one stops the pleasurable habit, one’s metabolism slows down. A slow metabolism means that one’’s ingested calories are more slowly burnt off, of course. Hence the weight gain.

Most people these days don’t smoke cigarettes anymore, at least not in public in the Anglosphere. But are they healthier because of this abstinence? Emphatically not! I have never seen so many obese people in my life. They may not be smokers; but they are certainly not any healthier. These days, they eat junk food instead, or puff on e-cigarettes (the long term consequences of which are as yet unknown), or puff, perhaps, on cannabis.

Some of the nicest, happiest people I have ever met in my life have been smokers. By contrast, some of the nastiest, most miserable people I have met have been non-smokers, especially when being militant about not smoking. Think about the non-smokers we know of: Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Putin; and many others besides.

I am not suggesting that smoking tobacco makes one a nice person. Obviously it doesn't. But it is interesting to note that some of the worst people who have ever lived have been not only non-smokers, but also militantly anti-smoking. Just some food for thought.

Anyway, enjoy the article. Such articles are a rare find today. © Mark Aleander

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.

Sexy or What ?

Colin Farrel having a pull.
Many thanks to Les Pourquoises on Pinterest for this super image.
For your information, it is four months to the day, today, since I smoked my last cigarette. No relapses, no cravings. I’m just tobacco-free. It’s good to see a man such as Colin Farrell enjoying a cigarette, though, all the same. I am NOT going to turn into a typical ‘reformed smoker’, an ‘anti-smoker’, just because I have myself kicked the habit. Such people have always annoyed me greatly. In my opinion, life is short. We must all get our kicks where we can. And if those kicks come from smoking a few cigarettes, then so be it. Enjoy! – © Mark Alexander

Vape Haze – The Thriving Black Market of Vaping | Four Corners | ABC News

Jun 28, 2022 | Vaping was hailed as a new way to quit smoking. But now there are serious concerns it’s hooking a new generation on nicotine. An investigation by Four Corners has found there is a thriving black market, fueled by rising demand among young people and a failure to police the rules. We delve into the fierce battle about the harms of vaping, in what’s become a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Vaping advocates claim any harms caused by e-cigarettes pale in comparison to the dangers of smoking - and that vaping can be an effective quit tool. But public health experts say there’s limited evidence they help to quit smoking, and warn that vaping poses a significant long-term public health risk.
What a surprise! Vaping has become a problem in Australia, especially for young people. Well I never!

Politicians of every stripe, but particularly left-wing politicians, are engaged in social engineering; they are trying to change people’s preferences and habits, and in so doing are causing distortions in the marketplace and are engaging in social engineering. Sometimes things are better left alone. the vowel of your choice—leave things alone?

First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a conventional cigarette as long as one’s smoking is kept within limits and it is done in moderation. I have smoked for most of my adult life; though I have given up now. (With ease, I hasten to add.) Smoking is not an addiction; rather, it is a habit.

They try and say that nicotine is “the most addictive substance known to man”. TOSH! POPPYCOCK! NONSENSE! Nicotine is hardly addictive at all! It is only addictive if you let it be so. I smoked twenty cigarettes a day for most of my adult life and when I gave up, I suffered no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever. Not one! Nor have I had any cravings since giving up. (It will be three months on July 10th since giving up.)

Smoking has become the bête noire of our day; but it is actually a very pleasurable habit. The secret is not letting it control you. Many things can become addictive if you allow them to become so: chocolate, alcohol, sugary foods, gambling, and many other things besides. Self-control and self-discipline are called for.

Governments have been pushing vaping as an alternative to smoking for several years. I find this totally and utterly irresponsible, because we do not know the long-term effects of the habit. Fact is, too, they are very appealing to young people, because they are often high-tech, and because they can be purchased in all sorts of weird and wonderful flavours. So these young people are becoming dependent on them and they are convincing themselves that they are addicted to nicotine. Young people are young are often impressionable, weak-willed, and lacking in discipline.

What needs to be done is for governments to put pressure on the cigarette manufacturers to take the crap out of real cigarettes. Make them take out all those nasty chemicals, make them manufacture safer real cigarettes; and governments should bring the price of real cigarettes right down by taking all that excessive tax off them.

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for bringing down the incidence of smoking; but it should be done by education and gentle persuasion. Social engineering is not only wrong; it is also very dangerous. Because people will get their kicks in life, one way or another. Take one pleasure away from them and they will find another pleasure to replace the one taken away. Moreover, that pleasure denied to people may well turn out in the long-run to be far less injurious to health than the new-fangled habit used to replace it.

Further, while we are on the subjects of smoking and vaping. Smoking a cigarette can look extremely sexy when done by an attractive person. That’s why they have been used to good effect in movies/films over the decades to make handsome actors and beautiful actresses look sexy. Vaping will never be used to replace cigarettes for this purpose. It just doesn’t have that allure. There is hardly anything about vaping which increases one’s sex appeal. Forget it! When I have seen people vaping, cloud-chasing, they look as though there’s a locomotive ahead! Furthermore, putting a hard piece of plastic onto one’s lips is hardly a sensual experience. – © Mark Alexander

The Thriving Black Market of Vaping | Four Corners

Jun 27, 2022 • Vaping was hailed as a new way to quit smoking. But now there are serious concerns it’s hooking a new generation on nicotine.

An investigation by Four Corners has found there is a thriving black market, fueled by rising demand among young people and a failure to police the rules.

We delve into the fierce battle about the harms of vaping, in what’s become a multi-billion-dollar global industry.

Vaping advocates claim any harms caused by e-cigarettes pale in comparison to the dangers of smoking - and that vaping can be an effective quit tool.

But public health experts say there’s limited evidence they help to quit smoking, and warn that vaping poses a significant long-term public health risk.


This is total and utter MADNESS! Why don’t these meddlesome politicians–idiots all!–leave things alone?

Smoking rates were coming down anyway. These e-cigarettes are unproven. We know not the long-term consequences of vaping, because people haven’t been vaping for long enough yet; so, we have incomplete data on the habit/addiction.

One thing I know for sure: Vaping has been made to look cool to young people, especially to techy types. But the fact of the matter is that this habit is bound to appeal to very young people, because they can get their fix of nicotine with all manner of flavours, such as apricot, peach, strawberry, raspberry and all types of other attractive flavours to young people. So, do you think that these would not appeal to school kids? For sure they will: they will be far more appealing to young people than normal cigarettes would be, because in order to start smoking normal cigarettes, one must acquire a taste for them, which often times, nay usually, is most unappealing at the start of one’s smoking ‘career’. In other words, in order to become a smoker, one has to persevere. This is surely not the case with e-cigarettes.

My own opinion is that it is HIGHLY IRRESPONSIBLE of politicians to push vaping as a substitute for smoking. No Health Secretary worth his salt would promote these damn things. I know that if I had children, I would be devastated if they took up this habit with unknown consequences.

They have demonized smokers now to such an extent that smokers are not wanted anywhere, leading to loneliness. The fact is there is NOTHING WRONG with the enjoyment of a cigarette as long as one’s smoking is kept in moderation. Everything is bad for one’s health if consumed in high quantities: eating, alcohol, smoking, sugar, etc. Moderation is key.

I have been a lifelong smoker. And how I enjoyed it! For people of my generation, smoking was the normal thing to do for REAL MEN. As a Swiss man stated in a Swiss documentary I have watched on YouTube: Back in the day, he said, if a man didn’t smoke, he was considered to be ein Sonderling, a crank or an eccentric! How times have changed!

They have put the price of cigarettes up so much in this damn country now that the price of a packet—Marlboro Reds were £12.50 when I gave up in early April—is totally out of sync with the pleasure derived from them. (Almost all of that price is tax.) Moreover, one can go nowhere to enjoy a cigarette anymore. People have become absolutely paranoid about second-hand smoke, which I believe is largely nonsense.

On top of that, one cannot go to a café, bar, or restaurant and enjoy a smoke, either. The concept of joie de vivre has been totally lost.

Nowadays, people recognise the dangers in everything, but recognise the pleasures in nothing. – Mark Alexander, May 27, 2022

As I say, I have smoked for most of my adult life. Never out of addiction; only ever out of pleasure. Smoking, in my experience is not an addiction, unless one allows it to be one. Further, I can honestly say that even though I smoked for years, I have never suffered from coughs or phlegm or anything like that. If one looks at a packet of cigarettes these days, one's hair and teeth will surely fall out because of tobacco. To say nothing of one suffering from impotence, cancer, etc. Is there actually a disease known to man that cannot be attributed to the nasty habit of enjoying a puff?

People these days have bees in their bonnets about so many things that are sources of pleasure. Even eating meat or dairy has become a political, rebellious act. Good God! What an age to be living in! Even the government isn’t willing to allow people a few pleasures. The British government, a right-wing government which is supposed to guarantee people maximum freedom to choose their own path in life, has declared that it wants to make Britain smoke-free by 2030. First of all, have they asked the people if they want this to happen? I don’t want it to happen for starters. What? Smoke-free to replace proper cigarettes with crap as seen in this documentary? What a sick joke! Secondly, I know from my life’s experience that should they be able to achieve this goal, it will be replaced with something else far, far worse. (We can see this above in this documentary.) Not to forget that now they're after smokers; soon they'll be after people who enjoy a drop of alcohol. Rest assured: These sick puritans won't rest until they have denied us all the pleasures of life. Think of the late German theologian, Martin Niemöller!

The way forward is for government to encourage people to quit smoking whilst at the same time encouraging the tobacco manufacturers to manufacture higher quality cigarettes, preferably eliminating as many of the harmful chemicals from cigarettes as possible. It can be done. It should be done. Indeed, it must be done.

Governments have talked about employing ‘Loneliness Czars’ to try and combat loneliness. What an idiotic idea that is! Loneliness in society is caused by many factors. Death of a loved one (which I know something about). But also by not being able to go out and mix with people as we were always able to do. Remember the English pub? These days, they resemble kindergartens rather than pubs. You can eat in them as much as you like and you can have a drink. But don't, for God's sake, expect to be able to smoke a cigarette in one! Das Rauchen ist strengstens verboten!

I could go on and on about this sort of thing. There is so much wrong with this damn country now that one has to ask oneself if it is indeed fixable.

Meddlesome politicians please go away. Come back another day. Let people live their lives their way. Live their lives as they see fit. – © Mark Alexander

Smoking Pleasure…

Der Hochgenuß des Qualmens einer Zigarette höchster Qualität.
Many thanks to Wattpad on Pinterest for this delightful and mysterious photo.

Canada : The Authorities Have Lost Their Minds!

With many thanks to Klaus Becker on Pinterest for this super photograph.
The Canadian government legalized the smoking of cannabis/marijuana three years ago; yet they are introducing ever more stringent laws against the smoking of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Clearly, these laws are redolent of a Nanny State. How stupid can people get? This means that you can legally get stoned out of your mind, yet enjoying a humble cigarette is becoming ever more difficult. How nonsensical is that? I had always thought that Canadians were smarter than this. Obviously, I was mistaken. – © Mark Alexander

The pros, cons and unknowns of legal cannabis in Canada 3 years later: Legalization has had a positive effect on the justice system, but public health data is lacking, experts say »

Written warning on every cigarette in Canadian world-first: Poison in every puff’ message proposed amid government concern photo warnings on tobacco packages have lost impact »

BBC 4: The Smoking Years | 2012

May 5, 2022 • The program reveals the story of the creature that is 'the smoker'. How did this species arrive on our shores? Why did it become so sexy - and so dominant in our lives? Was there really a time when everywhere people could be found shrouded in a thick blue cloud? Enlisting the help of Barry Cryer, Stuart Maconie and others, The Smoking Years tells the unnatural history of a quite remarkable - and now threatened - creature. Warning: smoke-filled nostalgia may damage your health.
This documentary cannot be embedded on external websites. It must be watched on YouTube itself. Watch the documentary here.

Legal Smoking Age in England Could Be Raised to 21 – Report

THE GUARDIAN: Independent review also expected to support new taxes on tobacco company profits

The legal smoking age in England could reportedly be raised from 18 to 21 after a “radical” review into plans to make the country smoke-free by 2030.

An independent review commissioned by the health secretary, Sajid Javid, and led by Javed Khan, the former chief executive of the children’s charity Barnardo’s, is also expected to support new taxes on tobacco company profits, according to the Telegraph.

The review is also expected to recommend the NHS increase efforts to encourage smokers, particularly among pregnant women, to switch to vaping and e-cigarettes. » | Miranda Bryant | Saturday, May 21, 2022

If they bring this idiotic policy into law, I hope and trust that they will not expect someone under twenty-one to go and fight in a war. If a person is old enough to go to war, he is old enough to smoke! Conversely, if a man is not old enough to smoke, then he is certainly not old enough to go to war!

It’s time for this war on smokers and smoking to stop. Enough already! Further, e-cigarettes are still in their infancy. I notice that the Government of Canada refuses to endorse them. Check this out here.

Discourage smoking tobacco by all means, but more will be achieved by information and gentle persuasion than will ever be achieved with such draconian measures.

Further, I should add that if a person is not old enough to smoke, then he is not old enough to marry and sire babies. A similar argument applies to women. By the way, I write this as an ex-smoker; but I defend the right of a person to smoke and enjoy cigarettes. Moreover, I am NOT in favour of the nanny state! – © Mark

E-cigarettes : Welcome Back, Big Tobacco - The Fifth Estate

Oct 22, 2016 • Big Tobacco is trying clean up its image, moving into the booming e-cigarette business which continuing to peddle the deadly tobacco products. This has left public health officials in Canada, the U.K. and the US.

Five million Canadians still smoke. Could e-cigarettes help wean them over to a safer nicotine delivery device? Many ex-smokers say 'yes.' E-cigarettes are their salvation.

Health Canada is on the cusp of deciding how e-cigarettes should be regulated. Mark Kelly heads to England -- a country that has taken bold steps in embracing the e-cigarette as a safer alternative. Will Canada? And what will this mean for our e-cigarette industry?

Until now, e-cigarettes with nicotine have not been endorsed by Health Canada. And that's kept Big Tobacco out of the Canadian market. Will new regulations open the doors for a tarred industry to join in the e-cigarette revolution?


Government of Canada: Vaping product regulations »

Smoking Cigarettes : The bête noire of Our Day

Image: Pinterest
The West has gone stark staring mad!
Western politicians make me so angry! They have been waging a war on smokers for years now. They have made it virtually impossible to smoke anywhere outside of one’s home, thus taking away all pleasure of socializing with others in cafés, restaurants, or in any other public space. This, by the way, has led to loneliness in society.

But more than this, they are pricing smokers out of the market. In the UK, the price of a packet of Marlboro Reds is £12.50! Moreover, I have been informed that the price of such a packet will soon increase yet again!

Of that £12.50, probably £12 of that price is tax! So taxing cigarettes so much is a good money-spinner for governments. This is shameless taxation, just as the use of speeding fines is. UK roads are peppered with speed cameras. Another great money-spinner for successive governments. But I digress.

I am fortunate inasmuch as I can do without smokes. In fact, I have gone a week without smoking even one cigarette. Being without is not a problem for me. I have decided that I am not going to fill the coffers of this dreadful government with any more tax than I absolutely must. But I must say that I do resent doing without a small pleasure because our governments are totally and utterly irresponsible re- smoking.

Why do I say this? For a number of reasons… First of all, I do not think that smoking in moderation is particularly harmful. People who have given up smoking look for other pleasures in life, pleasures like sweet foods, which lead to diabetes. I am diabetes-free, and I attribute that fact to being a moderate smoker for most of my adult life.

You see, not smoking is only better than smoking if people do not substitute one ‘bad habit’ with another. But only the few can do that. Most people, when they give up smoking, start partaking of other things to replace the pleasure of smoking.

But what really annoys me about the pathetic Western politicians we are being led by is this: They are relaxing the laws against smoking other substances whilst at the very same time taking the pleasure of smoking a simple cigarette out of the reach of many hard-working people. Such politicians deserve to be voted out of office. Pronto!

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Check this out: A ‘Wild West’ of Marijuana Shops Grows in Toronto: Permitted to operate during the pandemic, even during lockdowns, Toronto’s marijuana shops have flourished and changed the character of an iconic neighborhood. »

Commentary: I Don’t Defend Using Cigarettes or Tobacco. I Defend the Individual Freedom to Use Them.

This Dec. 17, 2019 photo shows a group of cigarettes in New York. About 14% of U.S adults were cigarette smokers last year, for the third year in a row. Meanwhile, the adult vaping rate still appears to be rising, according to a new government report. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE: The once-glorified cigarette graced the silver screen and could be seen in almost every magazine. Lucky Strike advertisements were as American as apple pie. Joe Camel was a four-legged hero and probably more popular than Spuds MacKenzie. Who didn’t want to look as cool as James Dean with a cigarette between their lips? On the battlefield, a cigarette provided tranquility even if just for a moment. Taking a few drags in a foxhole on a French battlefield while German soldiers were heard yelling or reloading was a little reminder of home.

For decades, cigarettes were a normal part of life. People smoked in every setting. From dinner parties, at the office, on airplanes or in the kitchen after a long day. It was normal and accepted. Then we started learning about the negative health implications. Americans became aware smoking cigarettes can have long-term negative effects on our bodies. We learned a lot of about nicotine and its addictiveness. Cancer was then linked to tobacco use. Long-term cigarette or cigar smoking could cause lung cancer. As people became aware, folks changed their behavior. Tobacco use, naturally, started to decline. » | Jess Nuñez | Wednesday, November 25, 2020

As far as I am concerned, the problem of obesity, as brought out in this German documentary started at around the time that the authorities and do-gooders started waging a war on cigarette-smoking and smokers.

I am going to stick my neck out here and state that there is a DIRECT CORRELATION between the decrease in the use of tobacco and the increase in obesity and the incidence of type-2 diabetes. When people smoked cigarettes more, both obesity and type-2 diabetes were far less prevalent in society.

Further, the authorities keep pushing vaping and e-cigarettes as alternatives to smoking real, traditional, combustible cigarettes, yet they have absolutely no reliable data on the long-term health consequences of vaping. This is grossly irresponsible on the part of medical people and governments worldwide.

People have been fed fairy stories, myths and lies about smoking cigarettes. If you listen to what they say about the dangers of smoking, if you dare indulge in the pleasurable habit, you will end up wrinkled, bald, toothless and you'll cough your lungs up! This is all balderdash, of course. I have smoked for most of my adult life and have very few wrinkles, a full mouthful of healthy teeth, a headful of thick, dark hair and I NEVER EVER cough! Moreover, I am not fat and I DO NOT suffer from diabetes. I believe that being a moderate smoker has helped me stay relatively slim and keep diabetes at bay. So, if I wish to do so, I shall continue to smoke real cigarettes despite the nonsense being talked about them. I am as proud to be a smoker as I am to be gay! I make absolutely no excuses for either!

As it happens, I have not smoked a cigarette for about ten days now. I had no intention of giving up smoking—and maybe I haven't long-term—but due to inclement weather, it was too wet to go out and buy cigarettes; so I didn't and did without. I haven't bothered to buy any cigarettes since that time.

Despite having a twenty-a-day habit for most of my adult life, I find it very easy to stop smoking when I wish to do so. Hence, I do not believe thaat smoking is half as addictive as they say it is. In my opinion and experience, smoking cigarettes is a habit rather than an addiction. Smoking is addictive only if one allows it to become so. Personally, all my adult life, I have refused to allow myself to become addicted to anything. When it comes to cigarettes, addiction is a choice: one becomes addicted if one allows oneself to become so. Basta!

At this point, I should add that I find it both maddening and stupid that at the very time that they are clamping down so much on smoking cigarettes, they are relaxing laws on smoking cannabis and other soft drugs. It is maddening because they have made the life of a smoker so difficult and expensive; it is stupid, because they are replacing one habit they say is so unhealthy with an even unhealthier one: smoking cannabis!

I would be the first person to admit that it is far better not to smoke at all. But only if the person doesn't replace smoking cigarettes with a habit which is even unhealthier than smoking cigarettes has ever been.

There is much more I could say about this subject, but for now, I shall leave it at that. – © Mark

The Countries Banning Smoking and Taking On 'Big Tobacco' | 60 Minutes Australia

Dec 26, 2019 • What a fight it's become as governments around the world line up against Big Tobacco to outlaw smoking. Liz Hayes travels to California and Norway where they believe at last they're starting to win the war with tough new laws that say no ifs, no buts, no smoking - full stop.

The world is full of meddlesome people! They are not very consistent, either. At the very same time as the world is clamping down on cigarette-smoking, it is relaxing laws on the smoking of cannabis and other substances. How sensible, or logical, is that?

Furthermore, doctors and medical people are encouraging e-cigarettes and vaping; yet we don’t know the long-term consequences of that habit. Many a young person has suffered from “popcorn lung” because of vaping; some have even died.

Smoking cigarettes is not a healthy habit. That we know. But so many other habits are not healthy either. Moreover, are Americans today that much healthier than they used to be when they smoked a lot? I would say that they aren’t. Diabetes and obesity are huge problems in the States, indeed in the West in general. Diabetes, in particular, leads to cardiovascular disease just as smoking tobacco does. I would therefore posit that by making it difficult, and often virtually impossible, to smoke tobacco, we have merely traded in one set of illnesses for another, namely tobacco-related illnesses for sugar-related ones.

If you truly want a healthier population, find a way to encourage people to quit smoking (voluntarily) without those people taking up other bad habits to compensate for their loss of pleasure from smoking. But the fact remains that people throughout the ages have always got their fun, pleasures and kicks from something or other. If you take one source of pleasure away from them, they will find something else to replace it, something else to fill the void. And that ‘thing’ might yet turn out in the long-term to be unhealthier than smoking ever was! – © Mark

Black Market Tobacco Floods Australian Market

Mar 3, 2016 • As cigarette prices have risen, illegal tobacco or chop-chop is being imported into the country in increasing amounts. The Feed went undercover with Customs to see how hard it was to buy.

Neuseeland will Zigarettenverkauf an kommende Generationen verbieten

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Um sicherzustellen, dass junge Leute nie mit dem Rauchen anfangen, soll es ab Ende 2022 strafbar sein, rauchbare Tabakprodukte an Jugendliche zu verkaufen. Neuseeland möchte so zum ersten rauchfreien Land werden.

Neuseeland will zu einem rauchfreien Land werden und den Verkauf von Zigaretten an zukünftige Generationen verbieten. Jugendliche, die bei Inkrafttreten eines entsprechenden Gesetzes mit dem Namen „Smokefree 2025 Action Plan“ jünger als 14 Jahre seien, könnten in dem Pazifikstaat niemals legal Tabakprodukte kaufen, sagte die stellvertretende Gesundheitsministerin Ayesha Verrall am Donnerstag. Die neuen Regeln sollen voraussichtlich ab Ende kommenden Jahres gelten, berichtete die Zeitung New Zealand Herald.

„Wir wollen sicherstellen, dass junge Leute nie mit dem Rauchen anfangen, also machen wir es strafbar, rauchbare Tabakprodukte an Jugendliche zu verkaufen“, sagte Verrall. Dem Plan zufolge können Raucher dann auch nur noch Tabakwaren mit sehr niedrigem Nikotingehalt kaufen. Zudem sollen immer weniger Geschäfte die Erlaubnis erhalten, Tabakwaren anzubieten. „Dies ist ein historischer Tag für die Gesundheit unseres Volkes“, betonte Verrall. » | Quelle: dpa | Donnerstag, Dezember 9, 2021

Dummheit! Ein typisches Gesetz einer sozialistischen Regierung! Einmischen ins Privatleben der Menschen. Natürlich ist Rauchen nicht gesund, aber auch Alkohol, Zucker oder verarbeitete Junkfoods sind es nicht. Wird die neuseeländische Regierung diese auch verbieten? Und dies zu einer Zeit, in der ein Großteil der Welt das Rauchen weitaus gefährlicherer Substanzen als Tabak lockert und sogar legalisiert. Sozialisten werden nie lernen, Freiheit zu akzeptieren und zu feiern. – © Mark

New Zealand Plans to Eventually Ban All Cigarette Sales: The proposal, expected to become law next year, would raise the smoking age year by year until it covers the entire population. »

Chris Snowden on the Ever-Growing Nanny State

May 31, 2021 • Gary sits down with Christopher Snowdon, author of the Nanny State Index. They discuss vaping; smoking; sugar taxes; Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol; the drive towards increased nanny statism coming from NGOs; & what consumers can do to fight back.

These interfering dudes in government have absolutely no sense of 'joie de vivre'! Further, they forget that they work for us: they are our public sevants. Their positions are paid for by our taxes! They should get off our backs and let us lead our lives as we see fit! I can think of a few people in politics in the UK—I won’t name them – today—who behave like interfering old women! In years gone by, we used to call them Betsys! Even though I have successfully given up smoking, listening to this discussion makes me want to start again!

People are not becoming healthier from quitting smoking at all. Instead of smoking, people now eat loads of junk food instead, and grow fatter abd fatter. As a result, obesity and type-2 diabetes rates are soaring. So, instead of dying from tobacco-related illnesses, they are now dying of illnesses related to obesity, insulin-resistance and metabolic syndrome instead. And that's a fact!

Whilst it is healthier not to smoke, it is healthier not to do so only if one vice is not substitued for another. Political hacks don't seem to understand this. One could speak of the law of unintended consequences here. – @ Mark

How Canada Became a Country of Smokers | The Agenda

Daniel Robinson's new book, "Cigarette Nation," draws a link between cigarette marketing strategies of the 1950s and today's global pandemic and examines the history of smoking to discover why Canadians continued to light up despite the health risks. Robinson, a historian and associate professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the Western University, discusses his research.