for all you smokers out there…

I just ran across a really tastefully (ha) done article in the Wall Street Journal today written by a middle-aged guy who decides to pick up smoking… and loves it. I must admit, the reasons he offers are pretty convincing…

 After years of resisting, a friend in Shanghai gave me the perfect excuse to start smoking. China has become so polluted, he told me, that it’s better to breathe through a cigarette filter than just take in the air on its own. And if your lungs are going to get shot to hell anyway, you might as well enjoy it. So, well into middle age, I figured that it was probably a good time to take up the smoking habit. The result? I enjoy it so much that I don’t know why I didn’t take it up earlier.

And all you “smoke if you got’em” readers will enjoy his “wino-esque” descriptions:

Pandas are made with a dark tobacco and hence are woody and nutty, with hints of pine shavings and hickory. They are a bit strong, and have a very long filter to compensate. But they leave a spicy aftertaste, which perhaps is why Deng, who was from Sichuan, the land of chilies and peppercorns, loved them so much.

And finally, some sound advice for those who may meet an unfortunate end:

I would go so far as so say that, if you ever find yourself in the unfortunate position of being offered a last cigarette, make it a Chunghwa.