Last night I poured myself a nice amount of Scotch Whisky. A pretty little dram of Scotch I must say waiting for me. I sat there, stared at it, swirled the glass, sipped, swirled, sipped again and relaxed. That sounds so good huh? As I'm looking at my glass, I'm thinking of some of my friends, mostly middle aged guys now with a few younger guys thrown in the mix, on a boys night at one of my friend's house many many years back.
A few of the older guys sitting there laughing, telling big stories, taking swipes of their favorite hard liquor drinks, and holding a cigar on their lips while talking. The younger guys of course just gulping down their drinks, and lighting up their cigarettes. Cigarettes, not cigars, so is this just a generational gap I'm noticing?
I'm not a smoker, and it seems like I'm in the minority of friends who don't smoke. I couldn't ever pick up the habit even if I tried to for the sake of being cool. Took one of my Dad's Marlboro during a BBQ and lit it in the BBQ grill. Oh it's just one, Dad won't notice if one is missing, I'm super slick after all. Like all Dad's, they know when you take their shit! Didn't enjoy it that first smoke, and I smoked pretty good for an elementary kid smoking for the first time. Didn't cough once. Tried smoking in high school, could only get a few puffs before I just felt stupid trying to look cool. So I just never felt the need to smoke.
As I was talking with two of my younger friends that are cigarette smokers, I asked how come they aren't smoking a cigar? Jeff was offering from his cigar box earlier in the night. They said, they didn't like the taste and didn't like the harshness and burn in their lungs. Fair enough, I'm not going to force them to smoke someone else's cigar stash.
Later on, the subject of George Burns came up and how he smoked cigars and that was one of his trademarks. For as old as he was, in his 90s I believe, he still smoked right to the end. One of the other guys, Steve, said he would rather smoke a cigar because you don't inhale the smoke, thus he didn't have to be too concerned about lung cancer, and that's why George Burns probably lived as long as he did.
What? You don't inhale?
No. You just draw in the smoke he said, let the smoke roll around the palate of your tongue, basically taste the smoke and then blow it out. You never inhale. It's generally horrible tasting and feeling when you do. Because you are rolling the smoke around your tongue, strong drinks are an excellent compliment to the flavor. Here, take a small puff from my cigar.
I felt like a kid again, taking some rite of passage to join the boys club. Took that draw of smoke, held it, letting the smoke come out from my lips and looking at my friends through squinty eyes behind the smoke. A smirk, then a grin, then a laugh and then everyone was laughing like they've just tempted me with a sinful pleasure.
Took a sip from my drink and it tasted a little different. Enjoyable. Excellent. More robust and smooth at the same time.
Hey Jeff, is there anymore cigars left?
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