Despite the reasons smokers give for smoking,they know it poses obvious health risks and otherside effects like gross breath and yellow teeth.This means they must constantly deal with friends'objections. One of the "pack-a-day" smokers of theSmelly Rock Smoking Club knows this annoyance onlytoo well. "My non-smoking boyfriend no longer asksme to quit because he'd rather put up with mynasty habit than my mood swings from trying toquit," she says. Burns, on the other hand, is arealist. "I don't mind friends' criticism toomuch," she says, "because I know they have apoint."
On the other side of the friends versuscigarettes debate, another Smelly Rock smoker hasthe opposite problem. She laments a classic caseof denial: "I go through more cigarettes than Ishould because my boyfriend is a big mooch whothinks that if he doesn't buy his own cigaretteshe's not a smoker and won't get addicted." Onceagain, the first step to recovery is admitting onehas a problem.
Though non-smokers are often ignorant of it, animportant aspect of smoking is the cigaretteitself. For one thing, most smokers are attachedto a particular brand of cigarettes. Goldberg, whosmokes Kamel Reds, says, "I can't stand lightcigarettes, and I like the taste of these comparedto others." Although Goldberg expresses disgustwith lights instead of his chosen brand, othersprefer them. One grad student says, "I smokeCarltons because they're light, light as air." Hegoes on to argue that it is easier to quit fromlight cigarettes than Reds. Altshuler has apeculiar reason for enjoying his favorite brand,saying, "I smoke Parliaments because I like tostick my tongue in the recessed filter." Talkabout oral fixation! Other popular brands areCamels and Marlboros. One first-year woman says,"I smoked Winstons regularly, but then I saw an adfor Kamel Red lights, and I bought a pack becauseof the cool box. I liked it so much that I stuckit on my wall after the pack was empty." Thankyou, tobacco lobbyists.
HEY, THAT'S NOT A CIGARETTE!
An little known campus fact is that Harvard hasits own cigar club. The club has an e-mail list ofover 300 students from the College, graduate andprofessional schools. A. Maximo Cuellar '00, vicepresident of the organization, says that the groupis made up of about 10 to 15 percentundergraduates, primarily due to supplylimitations. Wine and brandy tastings are includedwith cigars and conversation. He explains that thegoal of the club is to get people who want tolearn about cigars and everything that goes alongwith them in a social setting where they caninteract. Information about the club is spread byword of mouth, but interested students can enterthe circuit by contacting Cuellar.
Cuellar says of smoking, "I enjoy a cigar aboutonce every two weeks. There is a huge distinctionbetween cigar smoking and cigarettes. Smoking canbe abused, and while cigars offer a ritualisticopportunity for people to sit down and talk,cigarettes pervert that into a quick nicotinefix." Other cigar aficionados agree, such as AlexNettune '98 who says, "What I like about smokingcigars is that they allow you to relax and have agood conversation. Both Casablanca and Upstairs atLeavitt & Pierce offer good conversation. BothCasablanca and Upstairs at Leavitt & Pierce offergood places to enjoy a smoke." Other studentsagree that for those interested in purchasingcigars around Harvard Square, Leavitt & Pierce isthe place to go.
LEAVITT & PIERCE
Leavitt & Pierce--specialist in fine tobaccoproducts--has been a staple in the Square for morethan 115 years. It exudes an old-fashioned,old-school aura--one of the last bastions of theHarvard "old boys club." Images of ancient Harvardsports teams clutter the dark walls (check out the1908 baseball team's sexy knickerbockers).Footballs from long-forgotten Harvard-Yale games,ticket stubs from games back in '92 (that's 1892,mind you), and championship oars hang as remindersof past glory. A century-old Leavitt & Peirce adurges students to order their "class pipes." Anupper-crust masculinity oozes out of the walls.
The store itself is long and narrow, with ablack & white tiled floor, dark green and redwalls, a black painted ceiling, and gilt moldings.To the left is a long cigar display containinghundreds of fat stogies, a smoker's hall of fame.On the right is a long counter dis-