Speaking of tobacco, how many here have read James I"s Diatribe against the foul stench of this ubiquitous habit, and the poor lungs filled with blackened tar, less tolerable on earth that in Stygian realms

I smoked for almost thirty years and enjoyed the ritual behaviours around blowing out the smoke just so, holding the thing just so, etc. I quit in the early nineties. I just quit one day, had no withdrawal experiences and haven't smoked since. It wasn't until I had quit that I noticed how preposterously, how noxious and nauseous was the odour of these poisonous little killers, these cancer sticks

It is a grievous sin to smoke, because one is knowingly killing his and her bodies
My Grandfather (Who never got ill) was constantly smoking cigar and if it wasn't fresh one in was likely to be a stump which he keep smoldering for hours. One must admit that cigar and pipe smoke has a certain rich pungiance if coming from newly lit cigar; even moreso a fresh pipe. But they are killers just he save,

Very clever parody!

I never smoked but my father smoked Pall Mall cigarettes for many years and then switched to a pipe in an effort to quit. The sense of smell is supposed to be closely connected to memory and I do enjoy a whiff of cigarette or pipe smoke as it reminds me of my dad. Obviously a bad habit, but thanks for the memory, MJO.

MJO

Do you drink alchohol?

I have a club that I started called the ATF... We gather often.

[IMHO, alchohol and tobacco are only a crime if they control you and you are not controlling them. One can also die of eating too much meat and drinking too much water. We must be masters of our bodies and all of their appetites. A little scotch and tobacco can be a good remedy for mind and soul! (Yea, you can quote me on that)]

If my boys were to take up smoking, they would likely be committing a mortal sin because they know that three of their great uncles have died of smoking-related cancers, and that, therefore, the sensible description of their actions as suicidal.

On the other hand, my grandfather (born 1904) smoked a pipe for many years and I remember fondly the aroma, the presence which filled the rooms in which he smoked, even when he wasn't smoking or in them.

Hobbits and English professors smoke pipes. I find it hard to describe it (blanketedly) as a mortal sin.

My dad stopped smoking in 1977, from maybe a pack a day to zero overnight. He lives on, now 88.

My associations with tobacco are pretty similar to Liam’s.

But as for mortal sin. How -- crucially in this age of information and data -- do we judge the morality of taking on risk? especially when the risk is obscure due to our or common error and ignorance? When does "I might die" become a culpable and reckless roulette?

Not much to do with music, except the risks of playing the bagpipes at 2am.

In an age where smoking is considered more deadly than abortion, I take todays proscribers of justice with a pillar of salt, a beer and Virginia No 1.