Confessions of a Former Smoker
in which was a simple status update, nevertheless in which got more likes in addition to comments than anything I had ever posted before:
Let me step back a bit. My love affair with cigarettes started out as a young teenager hiding with my brother on the roof of the family garage. Somehow we managed to get a hold of some menthol cigarettes in addition to tested them out. They didn’t stick This particular time though – in which happened when I started out as a freshman in college. I fondly recall my dorm neighbour, Jay Stagg, in addition to I sitting from the hallway smoking pack after pack of Camel Lights after the day’s classes. Sometimes we were too lazy to find an empty can to use as an ashtray so we would likely just put them out on the carpet (actually). Those days you could smoke just about anywhere in addition to while they were foul in addition to offensive no one seemed to mind one bit. Or at least they didn’t say anything. This particular was also the time when I discovered clove cigarettes, nevertheless little did I know the role they would likely play in my life much later on.
In my third year of university I studied in Luxembourg, in addition to This particular is usually where the affair moved into something more permanent. through sitting at the back of the plane in addition to smoking throughout the flight, to enjoying all the cafés the continent had to offer, I knew I was truly hooked. During my fourth year – back from the US This particular time – having a smoke was the last thing I would likely do at night, in addition to the first thing I would likely do from the morning. I loved those things so much I wouldn’t even get out of bed.
I moved to Switzerland right after graduation in addition to worked for a bank. In Zurich at the time in which was completely normal for people to smoke at their desks, in addition to I surely didn’t want to be the odd man out. When I worked on the trading floor, just about everyone chain smoked while staring at their multiple screens or yelling into the telephones. The bank moved me to Hong Kong in addition to by This particular time people were forced to smoke from the pantry. in which seemed like quite an injustice at the time nevertheless we were willing to make such sacrifices for the sake of a cigarette. I recall my pride in being able to order my favourite brand – still Camel Lights – in Cantonese (“soon LAW-taw mmm goi”). in which, in addition to learning to count to 10, plus a few swear words, was just about all the Cantonese I managed to learn in 1.5 years.
Rolling Kretek
By the time I moved back to Zurich in 1995 the Swiss had decided in which employees smoking at their desks wasn’t so cool anymore so, like in Hong Kong, we were exiled into the pantry. I am pretty sure I was only smoking about a pack a day at This particular point. nevertheless the transfer to Jakarta in 1997 would likely change all of in which.
Arriving in Indonesia, I remember encountering a smell I hadn’t experienced since college: clove cigarettes. This particular was something very special because in college I didn’t realize they came through Indonesia at all, in addition to the scent of kretek aroused me like a reunion having a childhood girlfriend who has grown up to become a stripper. I was smoking white cigarettes at the time though, in addition to the fact they cost less than a dollar a pack in addition to were available simply everywhere meant in which my affair with tobacco would likely continue in addition to even thrive. In my position as a stockbroker, I got to learn the inside stories of the biggest manufacturers at the time – HM Sampoerna in addition to Gudang Garam – as they were listed on the stock exchange. I recall being so impressed with the size in addition to scale of their businesses – as well as the rich history of the industry.
My relationship with tobacco extended beyond just the habit – in which enabled me to recognize in addition to appreciate something so special as the Indonesian kretek industry. in addition to the more I learned the more fascinated I was. Hundreds of companies producing thousands of brands in addition to employing millions of people – yet so much was unknown about in which. So when I left the bank in 1998, I took a year in addition to a half in addition to wrote a book about the humble yet mighty kretek.
Mark in addition to Pramoedya in 1999
My book research travels took me on a trip through Makassar to Manado, visiting clove plantations. in which took me on dozens of trips across the island of Java to the main kretek centres of Kudus, Surabaya in addition to Malang in addition to the main tobacco growing regions of Temanggung in addition to Magelang. in which enabled me to meet in addition to befriend the legendary writer (in addition to kretek smoker) Pramoedya Ananta Toer. We became so close in which he even wrote the foreword to my book, in addition to I became his publisher. I could argue in which cigarettes are the main reason I am a book publisher until today.
After the kretek book was published in 2000, I got to travel as a speaker to conventions in North America in addition to Europe, as well as experience what in which is usually like to be banned in Singapore. The book was more or less positively reviewed in most major periodicals, which for a first book isn’t too bad. In hindsight I am quite certain in which if I hadn’t been a smoker, I wouldn’t in addition to couldn’t have written the book.
For the past 25 years, cigarettes have been a loyal friend. Camels, Luckies in addition to Marlboros (in addition to the occasional Djarum Super) were a familiar constant in all the different places I have lived in addition to visited – any many of these fascinating trips in addition to experiences were, in a way, because of them. Curiously, in which seems like all of my best friends through the years were smokers as well. Nothing quite bonds people like sharing a cigarette while huddling outside a building in freezing weather or in a cramped room in an airport.
I felt cigarettes defined me in a way in addition to became a permanent part of my character. nevertheless I have recently discovered in which all not bad things, in addition to many relationships, must come to an end at some point in addition to in which’s right now time to move on. in which’s right now been 100 days since we’ve parted in addition to, while I look back with fond memories of our time together, I am certain I made the right decision. in addition to I am very much looking forward to the next stage in my life. Wish me luck!
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Confessions of a Former Smoker
Confessions of a Former Smoker