Monday, September 14, 2009

Smoking, but not really.

Becoming a non-smoker has made me irritable (yes, hard to believe I know) and snappy and unfocused and easily distracted. The tedium of long nights is unbroken by the puff of cigar smoke these days. I can't even entertain myself with smoke rings on still evenings. Temptation to resume the cigars has been unbearable at times but doctor's orders and all that.

I have never been one to follow orders, and never been interested in 'health and safety' as a concept, but this is my health and safety and that matters to me.

All the same... it's not easy being clean.

A smoking friend of mine has taken up something he calls 'Electrofag' which is a battery powered cigarette thing that looks and acts like a cigarette. It produces steam rather than smoke so has no tar content and none of the deadly chemicals of real smoke. I tried his, which is set up to taste like a cigarette and, you know, it does. Thing is, I don't much like cigarettes. Cigars were always my fumes of choice.

Ah, but it seems there is an electric cigar too. With cigar-flavoured steam. None of the nasties, just the smoking action.

It's on order.

So I expect to be back to my normal jovial and ultra-tolerant self within days. Without compromising or exacerbating any previous lung damage either.

Unless it turns out to be a pile of crap in which case, there will be rants, quite possibly followed by a tearing up of prescriptions and a visit to the tobacconist. There is only so much deprivation a man can stand.

Non-smoking is, I'm sure, the healthy way to live but well, it's just not me. I might not live as long but I'll enjoy it at least.

4 comments:

astrologymemphis.blogspot.com said...

I've been smoke free for just over two years now, and I'm loving it. Plus it's a bonus because the price of cigarettes is outrageous here. They've been 'sin taxed" to death. Every time the government needs to raise more money, they tax cigarettes some more. All the same, I know it's not an easy thing to quit, so I hope the little doodad will be all you hope.

Romulus Crowe said...

All forms of tobacco are taxed to the hilt here too, and even though they're legal to buy, smokers are treated like lepers.

The electric cigar isn't quite the same but it's legal to smoke anywhere because there's no tobacco and nothing's burning. It's just vapour.

You can blow smoke rings with it, and there's nicotine in it, but no tar or other nasties.

The fun part is all the other flavours. There are so many weird ones to choose from.

astrologymemphis.blogspot.com said...

Like what? (flavors)

Romulus Crowe said...

Oh, just name it! There are cigar, menthol, plain tobacco, French pipe, Virginia, and then it gets into apple, strawberry, lots of other fruits. Then it gets really really weird - coffee, absinthe, tiramisu...

Smoking isn't what it used to be with these new toys.

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