I smoked Camels with no filter for 36 years. Two packs a day at the end. I gave them up 10 years and 8 months ago. I had begun smoking tobacco pipes twenty five years ago to quit cigarettes and ended up smoking both. Finally though, I hung the Camels up in December of 2000.

For the last month or more I have been obsessing about them. I don't know why but I finally broke down and spent $8.72 on a pack..... one pack of Camels. The label says don't look for discounts and on the non filter variety you won't find any. None of the buy two get one free like with the filter tips. They know if you're buying these you're hooked and they don't need to try and entice you.

So at work, I ate my Chinese take out and went out back to smoke my first Camel in over 10 years. I got a little dizzy, not staggering dizzy but a little bit. Didn't taste good the way I remembered it and I had a headache by the time I finished it.

I didn't smoke another for three days. On Saturday I had a big tattoo to do and wanted a quick nicotine hit so I grabbed the pack and went out back. Lit up and took two drags. It was terrible. I threw the thing away and ended up giving the pack to a guy that used to smoke them but quit buying them for a cheaper brand.

So it is the nature of addiction that even after 10 years you can fall into the snare again. Fortunately for me the "slip" reinforced my giving up the damn things. Of course I still smoke the pipes but don't inhale so that is a plus. How I ever could have smoked and enjoyed those things is mystifying to me.