After smoking a half-pack a day or more a day for about 15 years, I was able to cut back to 5 or 6 cigarettes a day. But I wasn't able to quit completely. Then my girlfriend dumped me for a guy half my age, and I figured I was messed-up enough that I wouldn't notice the nicotine withdrawal. That got me through two years. But I always thought of myself as a smoker who had stopped. Then I met my ex and she told me she was marrying the guy she had dumped me for. I bummed a smoke off her, and by the end of the week I was back to a half-pack a day.

I didn't finally get free until about five years after that. I was invited to a friend's wedding reception, held in a small Legion hall. There were about 150 chain-smokers in a 20 by 50 foot room. I had 3 cigarettes that Saturday night, and my chest hurt until the following Tuesday. The addiction is strong enough that I finished the remaining 4 cigarattes in my pack, but they tasted terrible, and I never bought another pack.

The difference this time around is that I think of myself a s a non-smoker. And I can't believe how bad cigarettes smell! When I was a teenager, my parents used to make a fuss about how bad I stank when I cam home from hangin' with my buddies. I thought they were just putting me down. 'Fact is, smokers can't tell that they smell like a burning garbage dump. I'm in no hurry to get back into playing gigs until there's a smoking ban.