Posted by CP on 10/30/2001, 4:51 pm Note # 2: like probably everybody else here, I have had the good fortune to "meet" non-SF people as well through cyber space. One of them I met face to face in Tokyo. She is Chinese but has been in Tokyo the past 17 years teaching Chinese at various schools. I just happened to find out that she smoked, so naturally that increased my desire to meet her face to face. I even had the courage before meeting her to ask in an email what brand she smoked. (VS was the answer; alright by me!) So we meet in front of Shinjuku station and go to a coffee shop that is big enough that we can talk in privacy, which is pretty rare in Shinjuku, especially at 7:30 p.m.! We spoke all in Japanese, which was great, though obviously her Japanese is much better than mine. (She originally came here as a student, to study Japanese; I was unfortunate in that my entire time in Japan has been on the job.) It didn't take her long to ask if she could smoke, as she took her pack of VS out before even waiting for my response. I said of course, and took out my King Edward Cigarillos. Her eyes kind of opened wider when she saw me put those on the table. She lit up first. And you would not believe her style...she was a straight nostril exhaler! And get this, she said she did that so the smoke wouldn't get into her lungs! (If any smoker who reads this can verify that this is even possible, please do.) She would inhale (or at least appear to inhale) a long time. And then she would wait awhile, with her cheeks puffed out just a little. And then she would exhale (or at least appear to) from her nose. Solid streams. Nothing from the mouth. She smoked many cigarettes there, though she said in an email that she only smoked 3 or 4 a day. And each one she smoked down very close to the filter. After an hour or two, we switched to a jazz bar not too far from the coffee shop. I love jazz, and was happy they didn't have live music that night because it would have made it more difficult to talk. It was a very small bar, with about as many staff as customers when we got there. We had a small table on one side of the place, my back to the bar and her facing it and with a big something between her and the rest of the bar. What I'm trying to say is, everyone in the bar could probably see me, but maybe only the bartender could see her and only if he/she moved to their far right. Because I knew the other customers couldn't see her, after we had been there a while (and she had downed a good-sized mug of beer), I offered her my King Edward for a puff. She took a looong toke, the ash red the entire time, and then coughed really bad. That is one reason why I think she actually inhales when she smokes; if not, she wouldn't have coughed so much, if at all. She drank some more beer and put the cigarillo back in the ashtray. But later she tried it again (totally on her own, with no coaxing from me), with about the same result but not as much inhale and not as much coughing. I really didn't care that she didn't ask for her own because she was putting on such a show with her Virginia Slims and her nostrils! After I had smoked the first cigarillo, I decided it was cigar time. I had just bought some at Kagaya earlier. To be honest, I can't remember what kind I smoked there but it was a premium cigar cause that is all I bought. I think it was a Montecristo, but can't remember which kind. Naturally, after a while she asked what it tasted like. That I took as a hint that she would like to try it, so I handed it to her and she took a pretty big hit from it, but this time exhaled through her mouth for the first time all night. Well, suppose I had better save this post in case Boardhost has another server hiccup. Hope you like the post; if PH or anyone else has a way to post her picture here or somewhere, I'd be happy to email her picture. I should have mentioned that she is 43 and looks very innocent and regular in her picture (which was obviously taken a few years ago...) but seems like a real tiger in person.
While in Tokyo a few weeks ago, I came across a great tobacco store in Shinjuku. It is located in the first floor of the "old" Kinokuniya bookstore and it is called Kagaya. (In the first floor there are some small shops not affiliated with Kinokuniya.) I bought a lot of cigars there, a few Japanese special edition magazines, and was lucky to see a lady of around 25 looking at Japanese-style pipes! I noticed her in the shop while I was selecting which cigars I wanted to ask the help to get for me when I first noticed her in the shop. They sell other things there, notably knives, but she was not in the knives section so I was naturally curious. About 10 or 15 minutes later, after I paid for my stuff, she was still in there so I kind of made my way by her on my way out of the shop. Was happily surprised to see her looking at some kind of pipe, not your regular pipe with a big bowl and not the classic Japanese kiseru with its super-small bowl, but something in between. Had a long, straight "handle" like the kiseru, about 22 cm long, but the bowl was around 15mm in diameter. Wonder if she was shopping for herself or a significant other, and what was going to be smoked in that bowl....She was good-looking and fashionable, but no street gal or brand princess.
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