This was at the end of 1953, when we lived in a flat at Nazareth Road. I had just become 13 a month earlier and was given a cigarette to smoke by a slightly older American friend. It was a Lucky Strike. I fell in love with it and started smoking those. (I really hated British cigarettes that a couple of friends offered me.)
Lucky Strike
Apart from that I occasionally smoked the following
Camel
Pall Mall
Gauloises
CharMinar
King Stork
Finally, when I was at sea, I even took to the above, a really strong brand from Pakistan. This was when I was in Chittagong. The other US/French/Indian brands were not easily available there and they rarely came Duty Free (except when I ordered a few packs on our European trips).
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Just an aside.
Lucky Strike had L.S.M.F.T. on some advertisements
Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco
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The joke that we all laughed at was
Q: "Who would you like your ultimate mate to be?"
A: "Oh, as long as they fit the 'L.S.M.F.T.' type!"
Q: "What does that mean?"
A: "Long, Short, Medium, Fat, or Thin!"
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But I am getting ahead!
On 28th September that year I was in my room
(Obviously smoking a Lucky Strike).
Part of the flat where we lived looked like this:
As you can see, Ummi (my mother) came into my bedroom door to speak to me. I had the cigarette (my parents didn't know I smoked at all, naturally) so I hid the lighted cigarette behind my back. While talking to her, Abi (my father) arrived from the passage and saw the cigarette. He took it out of my hand and said to me to finish it and then enter their bedroom. Ummi was aghast. I went into my room and had a couple of quick puffs and then went to see them, fearing the worst.
All Abi said was that he gave me Rupees 2 Annas 8 (Rs 2.50 today) for my pocket money and he wanted to know why I spent such a lot of money on cigarettes. In any case, there was no Cigarette-to-Cancer scene at that time and Abi had, at one time smoked. He gave it up because, I think, we had little money to spend on 'luxuries' (though he always bought books if he ever had some money).
Abi said to me that I should not spend this much money and should give up smoking. If I could do that until I was 16, he'd let me smoke then. I agreed (partly because I was shit-scared at his 'coolness' and was not willing to go further into any discussion).
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In another 3 years I never ever smoked but had actually completely forgotten about this incident. On my 16th birthday Abi asked me if I had ever smoked in these three years. I said to him I hadn't.
He was a doctor and had read in a medical magazine that there was a risk of paper in cigarettes that was being investigated these days. So he asked me to accompany him to Rodrigues & Co. on Elphinstone Street (now Zaibunnisa Street) and gifted me a set of two pipes and a box of Tobacco.
The Wooden Pipe was expensive as was the Tobacco.
The Corn Pipe was much cheaper.
He did ask me to stay away from Cigarettes, but I started smoking them when I was at sea, anyway. Life without cigarettes, specially when you were getting them Duty Free, was great. But pipes became my favorites on my Watch on the Ship's Bridge.
This was my ultimate favorite pipe!
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Cigars became a favorite of mine after dinner. The one that I loved was made in Manila for me and I always had one every night, sitting with other friends at sea where we would have poetry sessions.
My personal cigar
You can see Z.A.K. on the cigar.
I also wanted to take my Hookah from home with me to the ship, but was told that it was not allowed on board because of the additional risk of fire. Why, I wondered. Cigarettes/Cigars could also cause fires. Any ideas? For those who might want to see what my Hookah looked like, here is a picture.
HookiePookie
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In 1959 that I learnt to drive a car of a friend. I had an accident that left my left shoulder fractured. I had some pain and was told to stay in bed after Dr. Habib Patel (a close friend of my father from Bombay) plastered it. Abi decided to light a cigarette and helped me smoke it. Imagine this in '59.
Sadly the shoulder joined crookedly (as D J Trump would say it!) and I had to again to Dr. Patel. He hit it (with a soft hammer) and re-fractured it and put it right. The shoulder was in plaster again but is now OK … but in a slightly bent shape.
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In 1977 I was home when Ummi said to me that I had every habit my father had (books, music, poetry) but was not as good as he was. She said he gave up smoking and you continue to do so because you've no will power.
I thought hard about that in my room and then went to her with all my pipe collection and a packet of cigarettes and two cigars and said you can give these to anyone you want. I will never smoke again.
My Pipe Collection
I have never touched a cigarette since then.
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As for my fondness of 'other things',
don't forget that I grew up in the 60s
and use them as they come.
No tobacco in it. Just dried Podeena.
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