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In Defense of Tobacco — The Faux Louvre pg254
Colorful companion to my memoir The Incompetent Psychic
2005
I wanted a cigarette, but what I really needed was a more affordable way to smoke with fewer health risks. During the seven years between when I had stopped lighting up until the day my dog died I had gained sixty pounds. I just kept getting heavier and heavier for no good reason. Then I realized that sixty pounds had melted off in ten months. I had gone from size 16 to size 10, which was weird as I had slowed down some. I was even eating more comfort snacks to get through the loneliness of not having a dog buddy.
I like to smoke and despise being overweight — I just needed a better way to indulge. Turns out loose tobacco in pouches isn’t taxed as high as manufactured cigarettes. It also comes as organic, which isn’t tainted with chemicals and insecticides. Rolling my own is like a little craft project, and made me mindful of the ritual. Like a true addict, I justified the habit further by joking I’d given up everything else bad for me: drugs, alcohol, meat and men, so could have one thing. Besides, organic is good for me. Smile face. — From Chapter 14
On the lower right cover of my memoir are wisps of smoke drifting into the picture I drew forty years ago. The image above was cropped out. This…
