Although I couldn't describe myself as a 'smoker' until I was at least 19, I can say that I had had some adventures with smoking and cigarettes on a semi regular occurrence during my preadolescence years.
I am not quite sure when I was first introduced to smoking cigarettes. I was probably around 4 or 5 I suppose. It probably occurred when our family would visit our neighbours across the field. It was a household of at least 5 bachelors and their mother. My sister and I always basked in the attention we received from these wonderful uncles who would carry us around, lift us high into the air, tease us with funny faces...and let us puff on a cigarette whenever they thought mom wasn't watching. These would be the traditional 'roll your owns"...soggy ends, no filter, and ashes dropping at every turn.
. Now, just because a person says they smoked does not necessarily mean they always smoked tobacco, nor does that suggest that they smoked anything illegal. It simply means they smoked..and in my case during my sixth year at school it meant that I smoked pencil shavings. This lesson in "just because something looks like something does not mean that that something tastes or smells like it looks" is still burnt into my memory and my throat.
The actual buying of cigarettes was a rare occurrence for this rural child who did not receive a regular allowance , so when the opportunity arose to buy a ready made pack while visiting a town friend for a sleep over, it did not go wasted. After we purchased a pack of MacDonald's (.42 cents) from the local gas station, we walked out to a grove of trees in the middle of a cultivated field on the edge of town, and proceeded to smoke all 25 of the perfect filtered tubes in one afternoon. The delirium and nausea which plagued us during the night caused only minor concern on the part of my friend's mother who thought we had both caught the flu at the same time.
Besides the act of 'pressure smoking' to avoid the risk of being caught with the contraband in hand, a child who wants to smoke must oft times resort to out and out thievery. The same child who would never think of taking money from their mother's purse or rifle through their teacher's possessions will, from personal experience, steal a cigarette or two from their mother's cigarette drawer while she is napping, or even daringly sneak into the teacher's car during noon hour to pick out a few sticks from the pack so invitingly sitting on the driver's seat.
A smoking child does not only have to contend with the moral decay caused by sly and devious thievery as well as the obvious health concerns. This child must also cope with the most basic of all human emotions; which is the thrill of the gripping fear of getting caught. We , the smokers in the school, would watch carefully as the teacher would go for his recess smoke break in his car. We would sit still, wondering quietly, eyes locked, breath abated, if he would "notice".
I would lie awake nights listening for mom opening the cupboard door where she kept her carton of cigarettes fully expecting her to realize that one package of her duMaurier's had simply vanished. It was indeed a time of adrenalin and stress that is probably not unlike that experienced by any thief or embezzler.
The epitome of this stress occurred one spring evening after a friend had visited for the afternoon. We had taken our stash of cigarettes out to the edge of the road allowance, and after having braved the threat of snakes, thorny rose bushes, and scraped knees we hunkered down beside a stone pile and proceeded to enjoy our ill gotten cigarettes.
It was around 8pm later that evening. Twilight was setting in. I was upstairs in my room. I could hear Mom walking around downstairs. I could hear the voice of our hired man call out. I heard water being poured into pails. I heard the truck start up. I looked out the window to see what was up.
The stone pile was on FIRE!
Now , I won't say that I was a religious child, rarely having been taken to Sunday School, but I can say that it was pretty much then and there that I decided to 'go clean and straight' that very moment. I don't believe I smoked another cigarette until I was 19. I can also assure you that I bought almost every cigarette I smoked from my own money until I quit the habit 10 years ago.
I can only imagine the rigour of the religious experience that must have occurred in the hearts of the youngsters mentioned in the attached link.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2113802/Kosice-Slovakia-Children-burn-14th-century-castle-cigarette.html
Player's, Black Cat, Alpine, Macdonald's, Sweet Caproal, Peter Jackson's,
Alpine, duMaurier, Macdonald's Menthol
If you can think of other brands, please list them in the comments.
I am not quite sure when I was first introduced to smoking cigarettes. I was probably around 4 or 5 I suppose. It probably occurred when our family would visit our neighbours across the field. It was a household of at least 5 bachelors and their mother. My sister and I always basked in the attention we received from these wonderful uncles who would carry us around, lift us high into the air, tease us with funny faces...and let us puff on a cigarette whenever they thought mom wasn't watching. These would be the traditional 'roll your owns"...soggy ends, no filter, and ashes dropping at every turn.
. Now, just because a person says they smoked does not necessarily mean they always smoked tobacco, nor does that suggest that they smoked anything illegal. It simply means they smoked..and in my case during my sixth year at school it meant that I smoked pencil shavings. This lesson in "just because something looks like something does not mean that that something tastes or smells like it looks" is still burnt into my memory and my throat.
The actual buying of cigarettes was a rare occurrence for this rural child who did not receive a regular allowance , so when the opportunity arose to buy a ready made pack while visiting a town friend for a sleep over, it did not go wasted. After we purchased a pack of MacDonald's (.42 cents) from the local gas station, we walked out to a grove of trees in the middle of a cultivated field on the edge of town, and proceeded to smoke all 25 of the perfect filtered tubes in one afternoon. The delirium and nausea which plagued us during the night caused only minor concern on the part of my friend's mother who thought we had both caught the flu at the same time.
Besides the act of 'pressure smoking' to avoid the risk of being caught with the contraband in hand, a child who wants to smoke must oft times resort to out and out thievery. The same child who would never think of taking money from their mother's purse or rifle through their teacher's possessions will, from personal experience, steal a cigarette or two from their mother's cigarette drawer while she is napping, or even daringly sneak into the teacher's car during noon hour to pick out a few sticks from the pack so invitingly sitting on the driver's seat.
A smoking child does not only have to contend with the moral decay caused by sly and devious thievery as well as the obvious health concerns. This child must also cope with the most basic of all human emotions; which is the thrill of the gripping fear of getting caught. We , the smokers in the school, would watch carefully as the teacher would go for his recess smoke break in his car. We would sit still, wondering quietly, eyes locked, breath abated, if he would "notice".
I would lie awake nights listening for mom opening the cupboard door where she kept her carton of cigarettes fully expecting her to realize that one package of her duMaurier's had simply vanished. It was indeed a time of adrenalin and stress that is probably not unlike that experienced by any thief or embezzler.
The epitome of this stress occurred one spring evening after a friend had visited for the afternoon. We had taken our stash of cigarettes out to the edge of the road allowance, and after having braved the threat of snakes, thorny rose bushes, and scraped knees we hunkered down beside a stone pile and proceeded to enjoy our ill gotten cigarettes.
It was around 8pm later that evening. Twilight was setting in. I was upstairs in my room. I could hear Mom walking around downstairs. I could hear the voice of our hired man call out. I heard water being poured into pails. I heard the truck start up. I looked out the window to see what was up.
The stone pile was on FIRE!
Now , I won't say that I was a religious child, rarely having been taken to Sunday School, but I can say that it was pretty much then and there that I decided to 'go clean and straight' that very moment. I don't believe I smoked another cigarette until I was 19. I can also assure you that I bought almost every cigarette I smoked from my own money until I quit the habit 10 years ago.
I can only imagine the rigour of the religious experience that must have occurred in the hearts of the youngsters mentioned in the attached link.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2113802/Kosice-Slovakia-Children-burn-14th-century-castle-cigarette.html
Player's, Black Cat, Alpine, Macdonald's, Sweet Caproal, Peter Jackson's,
Alpine, duMaurier, Macdonald's Menthol
If you can think of other brands, please list them in the comments.
can't get link
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the link should work now
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