Smoking Bandits

Nisakiman Posted on by 18

As reported by Frank Davis recently, another blog has appeared which promises to be very interesting, called Smoking Bandits. What is interesting about it is that is an international blog, and all the blog posts are in three languages; English, German and French; and the authors of the posts are drawn from far and wide. Thus, we will have the pleasure of seeing reactions to smoking bans etc from the perspective of people from many different countries. On the first page to be published, there are two articles from Dmitry Kosyrev, a Russian author who has his own blog (published in Russian, but Google Translate usually does a fair job of translating it). Frank did a brief and informative bio on him in the above linked post, so I won’t bother repeating it. And there was also a post by Frank himself, on how he started smoking.

When I was reading Frank’s post, I thought back to when I first started smoking, and why.

I was about eight or nine years old. We’d arrived back in the UK from Singapore in 1956 (it was November, I think. I remember well standing on the quayside in Southampton docks, absolutely frozen and miserable; already longing for the tropics I’d recently left), where my father, an army officer, had been posted for a couple of years. After about a year of living in a rented house in Ascot, my parents bought a house in nearby Bracknell. Looking back, it was a rather splendid pile. Four bedrooms, half-timbered, detached and quite imposing, with diamond pane leaded windows, sitting in lonely splendour in two acres of gardens and orchards. But to me at the time, it was just another house, albeit with a big garden in which to play.

It was decided that I should attend a school in Reading, which I was able to get to by bus. It was, as far as I was concerned, an awful school; still mired firmly in the Victorian approach to teaching. We had nibbed pens and inkpots set into the desks (newfangled stuff like fountain pens were forbidden); classroom temperatures were kept at slightly above freezing, and discipline was brutal.

Half the panoramic School Photo. I’m sitting 4th from the right in the front row.

The school was divided into four houses – Angles (my house), Saxons, Danes and another whose name evades me now. Probably Celts, or something. The blazers were dark brown with yellow stripes, which made us all look like a swarm of wasps. I hated it with a passion.

On the bus to school, some of the older boys (from different schools) used to congregate on the top deck and smoke. My parents didn’t smoke, so I found the whole ritual of smoking novel and intriguing. It wasn’t long before I managed to start bumming the odd drag here and there off the older boys when they were passing one around. At first, it made me very dizzy, much to the amusement of the older kids, but I was determined to get the hang of it, so I persevered. When pocket money would stretch to it, I’d buy a packet of ‘Dominos’, which came in a packet of four cigarettes with no lid and no cellophane wrapping (I haven’t been able to find an image of the pack anywhere on the web. If anyone knows of one, a link would be great!). And of course no filter. They were rough as hell, but very cheap (as far as I recall, a pack of four cost sixpence, or 2½p in today’s money), so thus I honed my smoking skills. There was never any problem buying them in those days, despite my being very obviously still in single digits, age-wise.

Fortunately my tenure at that school was short-lived. It was obvious to all concerned that I wasn’t happy there. My results were lousy, and I got busted for playing truant several times – something that pissed my parents off, seeing as they were paying for it. So I moved to another private school the other side of Reading, which although still pretty archaic, was considerably more comfortable. During this period, I was an occasional smoker; an opportunist smoker. It was only after I took my eleven-plus, and insisted (probably much to my parents’ relief, since they didn’t have to pay) on going to a grammar school in Winnersh that I started smoking seriously. I rapidly established a smokers’ club of like-minded miscreants, and we had a smokers’ corner, with a network of lookouts to warn of any approaching teachers or prefects.

And from that point on, cigarettes were a constant companion, always ready to provide succour in times of need. I gave up a couple of times for maybe a year each time because of the propaganda and urging from peers, but decided in the end that I liked smoking more than I liked not smoking.

Anyway, going back to the title of this post, Smoking Bandits is a very polished site, and deserves all the support it can get. I was asked just recently to submit a post, but had to offer an old blog post from here, as this has been a busy week, and I didn’t have the time to write anything new. Next time, hopefully I’ll have the time to to submit an original post specifically for Smoking Bandits. May it have a long and popular life.

My apologies if this post seems a little truncated, but my youngest daughter and her boyfriend turned up today (she works in Malta), and I haven’t seen her for a couple of years, so I’m somewhat distracted.

 

Throwing down the gauntlet?

Nisakiman Posted on by 24

Over the past few days, there has been much discussion on Frank’s blog about mounting some sort of resistance to the juggernaut of Tobacco Control and it’s recent fellow travellers in the prohibition and lifestyle control business. The conversation to date has centred mostly around the nomenclature of this resistance movement, and as usual, when you have twenty or so people discussing something which is based on personal opinion, you get twenty different ideas, none of which all can agree on. This one is set to run for a bit longer yet, I would imagine!

However, once the tricky subject of the name of the organisation has been resolved, what then? How does one set about resisting a many-headed hydra that has a global stranglehold, is funded to the tune of billions, has politicians in every country eating out of its hands, and has been busy entrenching its position for several decades? It would seem an impossible task for anyone but an equally well funded global organisation.

I’ve been giving some thought to how we could progress once the vexatious problem of the name is settled to the satisfaction of the majority.

The first thing to do I guess would be to set up a website, which provides a focal point for all those who are, or who will be involved. It would provide a channel of communication, act as an information exchange and provide a point where any actions decided upon can be co-ordinated.

The next requirement is to get as many people as possible involved. This might seem easy given the 1.5 billion or so harassed smokers out there, but sadly most smokers are pretty apathetic when it comes to resisting Tobacco Control; and understandably so really, given the sheer size and ruthless implacability of TC. The phrase ‘Resistance is futile’ springs to mind when considering what can be done.

Once the website is set up, we would then need to reach out to as many people as possible, using all our contacts, asking all other bloggers and friendly sites to feature a link to the website regardless of whether they are smoking sites or not. Vapers (many of whom are anti-TC) are well organised and could be invaluable allies. As could all pro-choice libertarian sites. We need to remember that although the central issue is the restrictions on and persecution of smokers, the prohibitionist net is widening and enmeshing many more than just smokers now, but the basic modus operandum of all the prohibitionist killjoys is based on the anti-smoking template, using the same devious methods. So even if the organisation approached has nothing to do with smoking, it won’t be difficult for them to see how they are being targeted in the same way, and with the same methods as has been applied to smokers for decades. And if those people are able to use their powers of reason, they will realise that unless the foundations of Tobacco Control are undermined and their lies exposed, they will be powerless to stop the relentless march of the killjoys arraigned against them. Because up to now, it’s always been “Oh, tobacco is a special case”. But that no longer holds true as the rhetoric is ramped up against drinkers and fatties; sugar and salt. They are starting to hit the ‘First they came for the smokers, but I wasn’t a smoker, so I did nothing’ realisation.

So, we have our website up and running, but it has to be paid for. Short of some philanthropic billionaire smoker funding the whole operation (which is an unlikely scenario), there would have to be some sort of membership fee. This doesn’t actually need to be much, maybe 5-10 Euros a year. If we had 1000 members, that would more than cover the costs of site hosting etc, and leave a chunk in the kitty for anything that was deemed to be useful for the organisation. Membership would include a couple of relevant bumper stickers (spread the word!) and maybe a brooch, as has been suggested by someone, as a means of identifying others who are party to the resistance movement. Merchandise like T-shirts, sweatshirts and baseball caps, maybe cigarette box covers with our logo, could be added to the mix to generate more income. Being a paid-up member would merely give access to a wider range of involvement – we mustn’t exclude those who perhaps don’t wish to pay. The non-paying members would be able to register as a member and have full access to the site and (if it was deemed appropriate) an associated forum where issues could be discussed.

What next? Because so far, we have a small group with a website, and not much else. We need to reach out to a lot more people if we are to be effective in any way. Create a Twitter hashtag like ‘#stopthisstupidity’ or something similar and try to swamp Twitter with it? Make a video for YouTube and relentlessly promote it on Twitter in the hope it will go viral? Whatever it is (and I’m sure there are others who have much better ideas than me) it needs to be disseminated as widely as possible. How did they manage to get the ‘#metoo’ hashtag universally recognised? Because there aren’t really that many women who were seriously affected – I’m sure many (if not most) of them just jumped on the bandwagon because a man touched their knee twenty years ago, or they did something which seemed like a good idea at the time but which they now regret. There must be an awful lot more people who have been adversely affected by the machinations of Tobacco Control, and it’s more recent hangers-on than were ever affected by lecherous old men.

This, to my mind, is the crux of the matter. To make people who have been, and will be persecuted for their lifestyle choices aware of the fact that there are a lot of other pissed off people like them. Just that awareness would, I think, create a groundswell of public opinion that runs counter to the plans of the prohibitionists. Once you have a large enough group of disgruntled people publicly voicing their misgivings about the direction ‘Public Health’ is trying to take us, then we start to chip away at the foundations upon which their propaganda campaigns are built. We aren’t going to get any help from the MSM, who are all signed up to the PH and TC narrative, so it has to be all done via social media. I personally have very little knowledge about how to get the most out of social media, but I’m sure there are those among us who understand how it works and how to maximise impact.

Up to this point, I haven’t touched on how we could take the fight to our oppressors, and frankly, given their bottomless pockets and malign influence on government and the judiciary, I’m at a loss as to what we could possibly do. If we had the financial wherewithal, it would be interesting to go for the jugular, and challenge the FCTC in the international courts. They would then have to convince the courts of the validity of the science upon which the FCTC is based, which if we had top lawyers who were actually sympathetic to our cause could probably demolish all their junk science in short order and expose them for the charlatans that they are. However, the problem there comes down to money, because money talks. Knowing how shaky their ‘science’ is, they would probably prevaricate until we ran out of money, and thus win by default. And we would be going head to head with the WHO, which would be no easy task, given their clout on the global stage. Anyway, that’s just pie-in-the-sky thinking, since without billionaire backing we wouldn’t stand a chance.

So what else could we do? Answers on the back of a postcard, please! 🙂

 

Free stuff

Nisakiman Posted on by 12

 

The other day, I needed to buy some tobacco, so I stopped off at a local periptero. For those unfamiliar with Greece, the periptero (περίπτερo) is ubiquitous. They are small kiosks found on nearly every street corner which sell cigarettes, newspapers, ice-creams, soft drinks, beer, crisps (chips to our American friends), phone cards, bus tickets etc etc etc. They tend to be open all hours, and are very handy.

A typical periptero

Anyway, I stopped at the periptero to buy my usual Golden Virginia, and the girl started telling me about an offer on ‘Craven’ tobacco. I’ve never bought ‘Craven’; in fact I thought the brand was long gone – I remember ‘Craven A’ cigarettes from when I was a kid, but haven’t seen any Craven products since. I wasn’t too bothered about trying a new tobacco, so I just said to the girl “Oh, I don’t like Craven”, to avoid prolonging the discussion. “Oh no”, she said “this is a new product (thus negating my lie about not liking Craven), Craven Blue, and you get a lighter and (something I didn’t understand) free”. So I thought she meant maybe a Bic lighter and maybe what I hadn’t understood was a pack of filters (which I don’t use) or something similar.  She was very pretty, and very smiley (something which always tends to loosen my resolve – I’m a complete sucker for a pretty girl), so I said ok, gimme a pack of this Craven Blue and I’ll see what it’s like. When I got back into the van, I had a look at the extra goodies she’d given me, and to my surprise there was a rather handsome tobacco pouch (that was the word I hadn’t understood),

very well made from some synthetic material that is fabric-like to the touch, fully lined and with various pockets for papers, filters etc, and magnetic clips. The lighter, far from being a disposable Bic, was a solid, heavy and well made refillable jobby.

To be honest, I’ve never had much luck with refillable gas lighters, with the plethora of different size and shape nozzles that come with the can of gas. I always seem to spray clouds of gas everywhere but in the lighter reservoir. Still, I may give it another go – the tins of gas are cheap enough.

The ‘Craven Blue’ tobacco is actually not bad, albeit on the heavy side. It reminds me of the Jaava Jongense (spelling?) I used to buy as an addendum to my normal tobacco. Too heavy to smoke all the time, but very nice as an after-dinner smoke, so I may well be buying the odd pack of ‘Craven Blue’ now and again.

I remember a few years ago that it wasn’t unusual to be in a bar or restaurant and to be approached by a cigarette promo girl giving away packs of one brand or another, but I guess the killjoys in Tobacco Control put a stop to that, as I haven’t seen it happen for years. I seem to remember reading that in UK the tobacco companies are no longer allowed to offer any promotional goodies at all. Is that the case? At least here they can give away tobacco pouches and lighters still, although how long that will last is anybody’s guess.

Greece has had the gross medico-porn all over the packs imposed on them by the EU, despite a distinct lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Greek authorities for that particular measure, so doubtless there will be more restrictions to come. Thankfully, the demos doesn’t have the same compulsion to adhere to EU diktat as do the government, so laws like the EU imposed smoking bans, although passed into Greek law, are not taken seriously on the ground. And I haven’t heard any mention of the so-called ‘plain’ packaging being mooted here. I think that will only happen if it is forced on them by the EU, and I don’t think the EU has any plans on that score – yet.

I find it staggering that a small coterie of fanatical zealots have managed, through lies, deception and exaggeration, to have so many antisocial and restrictive laws enacted globally. They have destroyed businesses, lives and social cohesion, and yet continue blithely on without a thought for the swathes of collateral damage that follow in the wake of their ideological pogrom. Like ISIS (and the Taleban before them), they seek to destroy anything cultural or aesthetic that is associated with their nemesis. Like the vandalistic morons who blew up Palmyra and the Bamiyan Buddhas, when they succeed in despoiling something which others value, they dance in glee at their supposed cleverness, and gloat over the ruins they leave behind them. Like the Islamists, they eschew all compromise, and are fixated on making everyone conform to their ideology. And where proselytising doesn’t work, then they use division and force; all the while broadcasting a relentless stream of propaganda designed to stir up hatred and bigotry against those who refuse to submit to their dogma.

As someone who is a natural libertarian, I find it difficult to articulate my contempt for these narrow-minded, sanctimonious, authoritarian bullies. They represent everything I despise. Despite their mealy-mouthed protestations that it’s all about health, and protecting the cheeldren™, the reality is that it’s nothing of the sort. They couldn’t give a flying fuck about health, kids or any other noble justification. The majority of their draconian impositions haven’t had any impact on smoking rates; they just enjoy punishing smokers, because they don’t like them, and because smokers refuse to bow down to their ideological demands. So of course they must be punished. So the multitude of stupid, pointless regulations (like ‘plain’ packs) continue to be rolled out, despite all the figures showing that those regulations have no impact whatsoever on smoking rates.

But the important thing, for the anti-smokers, is that they remove some of the pleasure that the smoker may derive from smoking. Because like with anything else in life, good design and attractive packaging enhance the pleasure of using the product, be it a building, a book, a bottle of wine, a car, or a packet of cigarettes. It’s a small but important part of the experience of using a product. And gross uglification of the product will therefore detract from the overall experience. And that, for them, is a win. It won’t stop people from using that product, but it does remove the visual pleasure one enjoys from the presentation. It really takes a special kind of misanthropy to revel in the removal of pleasure from others. A bit like those nasty kids at school who enjoyed pulling the legs off spiders. Nothing to be gained but a warped pleasure in the infliction of pain on others.

On a more positive note, Dick Puddlecote reports that Austria has vetoed proposals for a complete smoking ban, and a Swiss politician (a non-smoker) is taking the federal rail operator SBB to court, saying the decision to ban smoking on train station platforms goes “too far”.  A little bit of common sense and decency floating on the misanthropic, festering morass of anti-smoking lunacy. We can only hope that other countries take a leaf out of that book and adopt a more sensible approach to legislation concerning smoking. I’m sure they can’t all be blind to the fact that they’ve been conned big time by Tobacco Control.

Can they?