I was in high school during the war and started smoking as a student in 1948 to impress a girl friend. I smoked cigarettes, cigars and a pipe until 1974 when I was working for the Government in Indonesia.
My chief was an Indonesian engineer who chained smoked the local Kretik (tobacco laced with cloves) cigarettes, a fierce concoction which smells like mariuana.
He developed lung cancer, was given 6 months to live and never came back to the office.
He made his pilgrimage to Meccah and returned home to die. He lived two doors away from myself and I used to visit him regularly; he wasted away to a shadow and a few days before he died he said to me, "after you attend my funeral, promise me you will stop smoking". I said I will do that.
After the funeral I went home and took all my smoking gear and smashed it up with a hammer, I have not touched tobacco since. I had several weeks of really bad withdrawal symptoms including all sorts of nightmares.
Regards
Brian Albinson, Vancouver, Canada.
