M. Borges Accardi wrote:
> Worst/best was a brand called Spartus, strong tobacco, blue box, no filter.? Sold in Prague.? There were only two brands when I smoked--I forget the other. Miserable, wonderful habit.? I quit when I could not smoke on the plane. I saw the end was near. . .and could not face those long flights "jonesing" a cigarette.
>
Before 6th Avenue in Manhattan upscaled into Avenue of the Americas,
there were lots of tobacco shops that also hid the condoms behind the
counter, hawked straight and gay porn both, and those
cigarettes...oy...an Austrian brand called Amneris after the mezzo
character in Verdi's *Aida*: just awful. I picked up some Russian brand
for a play I was in; like the ones Frederick described, they came with a
long cardboard tube and tobacco that could knock the wind out of you.
Smoking was my really great guilty pleasure because I didn't feel guilty
about it back when everyone smoked. Even as late as the late '90s I'd
stand outside Morgan Stanley with other smokers. One of them, a
statuesque brunette at whom I was making occhi di pesce, said "I really
should NOT be doing this." "None of us should," I said. "So what's
your excuse?" "I'm an opera singer," she replied, "dramatic soprano. I
sing at the Met." I checked a program. She really did. And smoked.
Then again...so did Caruso, Vickers, several others not as well known.
Filthy smelly habit. Miss it!
Ken
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Kenneth Wolman rainermaria.typepad.com
"I agree with the Chekhov character who, when in a crisis, he is
reminded that 'this, too, shall pass,' responds 'Nothing
passes.'"--Philip Roth
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