On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 08:19:55 -0500, HeyBub wrote:

Likewise, it's never too late to start! As Mark Twain said: "A woman is
only a woman, but a cigar? That's a smoke!" (Of course Sigmund Freud
said "Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar.")

Having grown up in Kentucky, of course I smoked. Starting at the age of
14 on a dare with an evil black stogie (Marse Wheeling?). Didn't get
sick, but switched to cigarettes as they were cheaper - 12 or 14 cents a
pack for the cheap brands in 1951. I smoked unfiltered ones for about 20
years and then switched to filtered.

When I was 60 I had a small heart attack and was convinced to quit. But
I got my cardiologist to agree that one cigar a month was OK. I did that
for 10 years. When I turned 70 I decided I could go to one a week. If I
make it to 80 maybe I'll up that - 5 more years to go.

One interesting note. I lived in L.A. for 10 years. When I moved to
Boise and went in for a physical, my doctor informed me that I was 40, my
body was 30, and my lungs were 80.

Six years later I moved to Virginia. At my next physical my doctor said
he hated me - I'd been smoking for 30+ years and my lungs showed no sign
of damage.

Ten years of smog followed by six years of mountain air.

Now don't get me wrong. There's no way smoking is good for you. If you
don't smoke now, don't start. Unless you're in your 70s - you'll die of
something else before the smoking can kill you :-).

For those of you who do, if you can't quit, at least cut down. Way
down. If I can go from a carton a week to one cigar a month, so can
you. All it takes is motivation.

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw