After all of those politically conscious goths, poetry café types, and other assorted folk who think regular cigarettes are too mainstream helped Barack Obama get elected, what does he do? He turns around and bans their beloved clove cigarettes! How long until he bans cigars too?
The Miami Herald today chronicles the sad story of one such clove smoker in South Miami, Nicole Chipi, as she takes a drag off her last Djarum Black.
Along the way, Chipi met counter-culture hipsters [ed: as opposed to mainstream hipsters, who listen to Girl Talk], goths, and college professors who also shared her love.
If Obama were a true outside-the-box thinker, he would have infiltrated these clove-smoking communities and turned them to community organizing. Instead, he banned all flavored cigs (except for menthols)."We created that sort of clove culture," Chipi said. "Once a day or on the weekend when you go out, when you see someone smoking one and you smell that smell, you automatically have a conversation about where you buy yours and what flavors you like."Now that conversation has shifted to a sadder note."
Some in Miami are concerned that the tobacco-ban backlash could eventually hit Miami's rich cigar-smoking culture. In the words of one tobacco shop owner: "What Hollywood is to actors, Miami is to cigars." But would Obama ban actors? No, he would not.
