Groucho Marx died at 86 and George Burns died at 100. Whether Castro (currently 81) is still above room temperature is largely a matter of conjecture at this point.
Of all those old men you saw smoking through their tracheotomies (not "emphecema holes"), how many did you poll on their mode of partaking? It is a pretty sure bet that few or none of them were pipe or cigar smokers. How many were holding pipes or cigars up to their tracheotomies?
I don't take exception to your well-intentioned approbation in favor of moderation. I merely take exception to your uninformed observation that
all forms are
highly habit forming. With how many forms do you have personal experience?
We're all properly impressed that you have a Japanese Wife, by the way.
@BK:
Yes, we're disagreeing on wording. Basically on the point that the different forms in which tobacco products appear each have their own relative degree of addictiveness...much of which is most relevant as applied to cigarettes and "smokeless" tobacco such as is sold in little round cans, both of which are subject to manipulation of their nicotine content during the manufacturing process.
I have been using tobacco products for 28 years, eschewing them only in the form of cigarettes, which I look down upon as the poorest method of enjoying tobacco and consider to be nothing but a nicotine delivery system. We all know about cigarette smokers and their almost universal trait of having as their first act upon waking in the morning to reflexively reach out for their pack of coffin nails in search of a "fix".
I can honestly say the only time I have ever experienced that was over 20 years ago when I used Skoal and Copenhagen. You want to talk addictive...Copenhagen will make you fiend for a fix like you wouldn't believe. I recognized that disagreeable attribute and promptly quit that form.
Even today, after more than a quarter-century of use, I can honestly say that each and every time I partake of tobacco it is a voluntary choice to relax and
enjoy the tobacco for the sake of enjoying the tobacco. I experience no nicotine cravings whatsover and it bothers me not in the slightest to go days on end with neither using nor thinking about using tobacco. I most typically use tobacco at work. When at home on the weekends or, for example, the recent week-long
Obon holidays I don't use tobacco at all. And, as I mentioned, neither do I have a nicotine deprivation induced craving for it during those times. Doesn't even cross my mind.
So as non-users, which you both seem to be, please don't attempt to tell someone who is intimately familiar with tobacco through prolonged personal experience with 1) cigars 2) pipes 3) looseleaf 4) plug 5) twist 6) dip 7) snuff that because they all contain nicotine they are all equally addictive. It just
is not the case.