Tides turn, pendulums swing, and yes -- seasons change. I've responded a time or three but not four ( I don't think), on Kaplowitz Radio goes, to questions re: why I don't address FDA &/or smoking bans/laws. I continue to be asked these questions, so I figured it was perhaps time to sit down and offer-up a written response en masse. That response will be multi-faceted & manyfold. Have a seat, take a load off, stay a while. Most likely, you'll leave some degree of dissed.
Again: tides turn, pendulums swing, and yes -- seasons change. Societal norms are in constant flux. Housewives, coded gay men, and Blackface minstrel shows, have all had their day. Maybe they'll come back in our lifetimes, maybe not. Although of all these things mentioned, Lil Wayne and the like are closest to ushering in the curious return of Blackface; of flaunted and vaulted negative stereotypes... or perhaps that's Macklemore's Jewface but I digress.
In the salad days of our grandfathers, men smoked. Period. It was as much of what "being a man" entailed as is the... the... what do men do today? Dunno. I don't keep up. They seem to pretend to like hockey as to not have to root for the uncomfortably black NFL. the NHL owes a debt of gratitude to Kaepernick, I say. My, (I do follow tangents.) Simply, smoking is no longer a hallmark nor the stock & trade, of the male experience. Why? Well, simply and again, tides turn, pendulums swing, and yes -- seasons change. How else have they recently changed? Well, in ways that work hard against 'old school' guys who simply like a good cigar.
Firstly, we are living in a sterile era of bubble wrap & whitewash. What is unsavory or yucky for however slight a group, sees their clamor grow to deafening, as folks line up to carry their plight on their own well-meaning (perhaps I give too much credit) shoulders. "Shouldn't they be allowed to not be forced to breathe in your nasty cigar?" To which the obvious reply of, "Shouldn't I be allowed to enjoy my cigar?" plays as well as the "But I have black friends..." rebuttal.
Then there's the militant Nanny State which only wants what's best for you. Then there's the fact tobacco has been given the Reefer Madness treatment for so long, real knowledge is ignored. This sees "us" lumped in with cigarettes & vapes. But then comes the kicker. The underlying issue. We are now, in America, as touched on in the previous block of writing, operating as collectivists and not individuals. The individual is shunned and put forth as a wacko. Imagine our grandfathers being told they couldn't smoke in shops, let alone parks & outdoor public places. It'd never stick. Now it does. Because anti-tobacco sentiment is reinforced by 'good people' and opposed by 'nutjobs.'
Resistance, to borrow from the Borg, is futile. However, I'm a Star Wars guy and I'll close out all this negativity with a New Hope at the end. I practically promise. Soon.
Twenty-one will be the across-the-board legal age of tobacco purchase. More and more towns will pass clean air smoking bans. Maybe all of them. Why should I, quite frankly, be expected to cover the imminent death by a thousand cuts demise of a thing I hold so near & dear to my heart as leaves rolled expertly into tubes? Why do cigar news sources cover this at all is the real question -- not why don't I. I'll tell ya why... Content.
It's easy content creation for bloggers. Most often, it barely even qualifies as 'creation.' It's content regurgitation. It's blog hits that maybe lead to advertisers & w/ minimum sweat-equity involved in a copy/paste manner. Too, it offers pro wrestling's cheap heat. The Rock "finally, coming back to [fill in the name of town performing in currently]." It's not just preaching, it's pandering to the choir. Do non-cigar smokers read Halfwheel? Also, it keeps failing lobbyists like the CRA going, and whom don't like a good lobbyist? Fine, where do I sign the latest electronic petition? Was it Rahm Emanuel who said something like "Never let a good crisis go to waste?" Yes. Yes, it was.
So I don't cover the whole hot mess. Because I am a wacko nutjob who can create true content all on his lonesome & heels don't run on cheap heat as do babyfaces. In true heel form, I'll ask: doesn't Arturo Fuente sit on the CRA board? You think they don't want to see a goodly portion of the competition nipping at their heels struck down overnight? & furthermore, ain't it just a little fun to be entitled as all fuck and to dabble in victimhood? To sit with spendable income and bemoan the lack of your luxury item's acceptance... I mean it's not like there aren't meaningless/worthless online petitions to save children from hunger and homelessness you couldn't lay your eHancock on. If there's anything worse than an armchair activist, it's one sitting in a rich Corinthian leather armchair.
[Quick s/o to all my fellow cigar smokers, lighting up stogies and taking selfies under no smoking signs. Fuck you and your bulletin board material for the other team's locker room.]
What was the question? Oh, why I don't cover the FDA regs. & smoking bans. In short, it's societal and I'm a lifestyle, not a culture writer. Not my bag even if I did feel the odd need to post eight times a day to my blog. Plus, if I wanted to be sad, I'd focus on the fact that I still can't afford to move from a tube TV to flat screen.
Maybe cigars will come back into popular favor in our lifetimes -- maybe not. I kinda hope not now, anyways, because if they do it'll be on the backs of ironic beard-oiled flanneled hipsters. I like my fraternities small and for my brothers to leave me the hell alone; while that may seem a disjointed sentiment, it actually fits here perfectly as I promised a New Hope...
I wrote a few paragraphs ago about the "imminent death by a thousand cuts demise" of the cigar industry and lifestyle. Death here is the Tarot card pointing to change, and that card's been in the spread for a good long time now. I've already more than covered the whys. I'll even add that change is better than being wiped out like any given fad... let's be thankful 'our thing' ain't a that. I've yet to cover what we should do about all this, tho. I will now:
Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.
Even if all ya got three years from now is a Fuente. Even if ya gotta smoke it under your bed with the lights out and the neighbors away on vacation. Invite a pal under there with ya on occasion. Stoke the flames till again the tides turn, pendulums swing, and yes -- the seasons change. I mean it ain't exactly hard labor, it just ain't met with thunderous applause. Still, one might say it's quite luxurious.
I won't be addressing this again.
Report a typo, win a No-prize.
Like Kaplowitz Media on Facebook HERE
& join the Kaplowitz Media Group HERE
Keep me going.
Keep me GROWING.
Donate HERE via PayPal.
Wanna be a K/M sponsor? Start HERE.
"Sixty" K/R