The Healing Power of Tobacco

[hotreds]

This is a post from Badger and Blade that Old Man Army made the other day. I asked him if I could re-post and he said "yes." Happily, he also recently joined our wonderful forum!

I had the opportunity to spend some time last week with my son, who is recovering from wounds received in Afghanistan at the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Bliss, TX. He's a 19-year-old, combat engineer that was on a route clearance team when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. He started smoking cigars before his deployment with some of the members on his team when they got back from a mission and got me back into cigars when he visited prior to his deployment. When he first got back to the states, my wife and I went to visit and I noticed how smoking cigars seemed to calm him and open the door for conversation.

Since I am getting ready to go back overseas for a year, I decided to see him again. I've started smoking a pipe since I saw him last and took some pipes and a couple of kinds of tobacco with me. He was very interested and is now a confirmed pipe smoker. We had some very enjoyable times with both pipes and cigars. We ran across a Savinelli advertisement that said, "You smoke a cigarrette, enjoy a cigar, but savor a pipe."

Speaking of cigars, I wanted to recognize a completely selfless individual. In the second picture, on the far right, is a gentleman named Paul. Paul works at the Army Hospital, but in my book his real claim to fame is the cigar club that he's sponsored at the Warrior Transition Battalion for the past three years. He not only provides cigars, but also brings hot dogs and sodas. Paul said when he first started the club, he noticed how the act of smoking cigars facilitated conversation. Paul and I watched and listened as my son and the other young man recounted their experiences in a combat zone; good and bad. I'm pretty sure that was better than talking to a therapist. In fact the one young man commented that cigar club was the main thing he looked forward to each week. To give you an idea of what a great human being Paul is, I offered to contribute some cigars, but he insisted that this is something he wants to do himself.

I would also like to recognize some of the members on this forum, jmallan 5, BigAlum, and hotreds for sending cigars (including some Cubans), pipe tobacco, and pipes.

The first picture is my son and myself. He's smoking a Dr. Grabow Duke and I have a Savinelli Oscar.

Just remeber the next time someone says something stupid about how smoking is bad for you, that's not always the case. For guys like my son it's a much healthier alternative to some of the other things they might turn to in dealing with things.