Chesapeake Smoke

Well, our friends on Capitol Hill did it again. The FDA can now regulate cigarettes and “other tobacco products.” This from the agency that can’t protect our domestic food supply or do an adequate job of ensuring pharmaceutical products make it to market without lot of help from the drug lobby.

Sure, the main target there was the cigarette industry, but it’s yet another tightening of the noose in our evolving Nanny State. You can’t cook with trans-fats, it’s against the law. Depending on what city you live in, you can’t order foie gras in a restaurant. It’s against the law.

So it was with great delight that I saw this link on the Cigar Inspector website (http://www.cigarinspector.com/other/smoke-lies-and-the-nanny-state-by-joe-jackson). Yes, the singer Joe Jackson, who was in his prime back in the early ’80s. He’s written an erudite essay on his views on everything from second-hand smoke to smoking bans. It’s a hefty 20-page pdf file, but I heartily encourage you to download it, print it out, read it on the can or wherever. But read it, arm yourself for the next time some nanny-state anti-smoking nazi tries to lecture you about the evils of cigars.

Happy smoking, my friends!