Hartley Neita

I started with the odd cigarette as a social smoker. When I stopped, I was smoking at least one pack of 20 cigarettes every day. The only times I did not smoke during my 'puffing' days were when I had a cold.

tax on cigarettes

I hated every Minister of Finance in those days. Noel Nethersole was the first. Then there were Vernon Arnett, Donald Sangster, Edward Seaga, Seymour Mullings, Hugh Small and, I believe, P.J. Patterson. Every year they increased the tax on cigarettes. Even if they did not, I still hated them. I was so hung-up on tobacco that after rebelling for a day when the price was increased, I returned to the habit and smoked more than I did before.

During the latter years of my smoking, I had to borrow my daughter's car on two or three occasions. Each time she warned me not smoke inside her car. I did, however. Before returning it, I sprayed the interior with air fresheners. Yet, she still smelled the tobacco.

Every table in my house had an ashtray. Whenever Itravelled, a must in my luggage was a carton of cigarettes.

All those years I tried to stop smoking, and failed. Once, K.D. Knight and I had to pay each other a dollar if either caught the other smoking. That did not work.

I do not know why I stopped smoking. It just happened. Since then, I have discovered that tobacco has an awful smell. It also tars the taste buds of one's tongue and spoils the taste of good food. Now that I have stopped smoking, I can really enjoy a steak at Gaucho's. And I do not allow anyone in my car to light a cigarette.

Yet, I must confess that I enjoyed smoking. Lighting a cigarette and inhaling the smoke after my first cup of morning coffee was heavenly. Smoking while sipping a glass of wine was wonderful. So, I do not lecture anyone I see smoking today.

There are now a few places with 'thank you for not smoking' signs, but there are no laws prohibiting the pleasure. I remember the days when, on entering a nightclub, you could not see beyond a distance of ten feet because of the cloud of smoke.

Many of the ladies I dated over the years gave me a cigarette lighter or cigarette case at Christmas or on my birthday. Looking back, I wonder how they allowed me to kiss them with my horrible tobacco-flavoured breath.

They must have loved me very, very much. God bless them.