Buddy continues to do better. He was given a bottle of pills to tune down his thyroid, and he likes them. He thinks they’re treats. As far as getting the eyedrops in his right eye – that’s still an adventure. He doesn’t like that at all Probably burns. Plus even if you hold his head still, he’s got the upper hand in that you really can’t exactly hold his eye open. So that’s been hit and miss, mostly miss.
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Still not smoking cigarettes. Stopped July 1. But I have replaced them with about two cigars a day. Right now, my favorite cigars are from the H. Upmann line. Either the half- or the full coronas. Of course, anyone will tell you that it’s better to stop altogether, but for an addict, this is a different experience from cigarettes. Cigarettes are simply a very fast nicotine delivery system. You don’t exactly savor them. Cigars are all different. You don’t inhale the smoke, and you sort of roll it around in your mouth like a sip of wine. If you like this sort of thing, it’s an enjoyable experience. I even seem to enjoy chomping on the thing when it’s no longer smoking.
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One project to finish – my Bronx portfolio.
This was my room on University Avenue until I was thirteen. My father and I went back to photograph the apartment about six years ago when I started the Bronx photography memoir. The window looks out on street level at University Avenue. On the right it’s a few paces to the bathroom. You can see the cable wire on the floor. Obviously when we lived there from about ’52 to ’65 there was no cable. How many coats of paint does that room have by now? Must be dozens.
And yes, it is tiny. My two sisters shared a slightly larger room which was off to the left and looked out on the alley where the super kept the garbage cans.
Cigar smoke, like cigarette smoke, contains toxic and cancer-causing chemicals that are harmful to both smokers and nonsmokers. Cigar smoke is possibly more toxic than cigarette smoke. Cigar smoke has:
1)A higher level of cancer-causing substances: During the fermentation process for cigar tobacco, high concentrations of cancer-causing nitrosamines are produced. These compounds are released when a cigar is smoked. Nitrosamines are found at higher levels in cigar smoke than in cigarette smoke.
2)More tar: For every gram of tobacco smoked, there is more cancer-causing tar in cigars than in cigarettes.
3)A higher level of toxins: Cigar wrappers are less porous than cigarette wrappers. The nonporous cigar wrapper makes the burning of cigar tobacco less complete than cigarette tobacco. As a result, compared with cigarette smoke, the concentrations of toxins are higher in cigar smoke.
Also, the larger size of most cigars (more tobacco) and longer smoking time result in higher exposures to many toxic compounds (including carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, ammonia, cadmium, and other substances).
All cigar and cigarette smokers, whether or not they inhale, directly expose the lips, mouth, tongue, throat, and larynx to smoke and its toxic and cancer-causing chemicals. In addition, when saliva containing smoke constituents is swallowed, the esophagus is exposed to carcinogens. These exposures to smoke probably account for the fact that oral and esophageal cancer risks are similar among cigar smokers and cigarette smokers.
Cigar smoking can cause cancers of the oral cavity (lip, tongue, mouth, and throat), larynx (voice box), esophagus, and lung. It may also cause cancer of the pancreas. Also, daily cigar smokers, particularly those who inhale, are at increased risk for developing heart disease and other types of lung disease. Regular cigar smokers and cigarette smokers have similar levels of risk for oral and esophageal cancers. The more you smoke, the greater the risk of disease .
Where do you come up with all this hogwash. Anyone who has watched comedians knows that if they smoked cigs, they died early. If they smoked cigars, they lived to be a hundred years old (see George Burns or Groucho Marx for examples. I could easily list others: Milton Berle, Danny Thomas, etc. But to find a cigarette comedian that lived a long life… or an actor that smoked cigarettes until they were in their 90s is just about impossible.
Ahh the thought of a young Cuban woman (beautiful of course)rolling cigars in a hot,humid sweat shop,using her persparation to help seal the blount,how could you not have cigar..once and a while