The Baccy/Alcohol Experiment (2)

Just to complete the the experiment, today I rolled a fag with my own stuff alone. It was the wadded stuff. That stuff is the stuff which I over-fermented as a result of compressing the leaves by rolling them up into a wad and tying the wad tightly with string.

Yesterday, I said that there was no difference between the whiskey flavoured fags and the unflavoured, but, having tried my unflavoured stuff again, there is a difference.

The big problem is that it is very hard to describe tastes, or even to remember them sometimes. I suppose that a little example might explain a little. Suppose that you are used to having only half a teaspoon of sugar in your cup of tea, but someone adds another teaspoon full of sugar, when you take a sip, you would screw your face up and go, “Ugh! Far too sweet!”. The wadded stuff is a little like that. The taste is still of tobacco, but far too intense, and it lingers in your mouth. The stuff treated with whiskey was not so intense.

Anyway, I took the opportunity, this evening, to make a 50/50 blend of the whiskey flavoured and lemon Virginia (which is a mild tobacco). The taste of that blend is pretty good.

I haven’t finished yet, though. I’m going to have another go with rum (the rum will not go to waste even if I use only a little in the experiment!).

Another idea is to ‘toast’ the stuff. I read something somewhere that suggested that it was a good idea. Can’t remember why or how. It will be simple enough, as an experiment. Just spread some stuff on a baking tray and pop it in the oven for a little while on a low heat. It will become extremely dry and brittle, but will all the more readily absorb flavours – such as rum. I must be careful not to crush to flakes, otherwise they will turn to dust.

The thing is that, since I have had the experience of making mistakes, I have a better idea of how to improve, and I have the raw materials to experiment with.

Is it worth the time and effort? You bet! This is my hobby, and is worth as much time as I choose to give it.

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There have been some peculiar consequences of the smoking ban. There is a disco bar in Magalluf, Mallorca, which I frequent around midnight to two am, or thereabouts. I used to go inside and watch ‘the yoof’ bouncing about on the floor. Erm… I mean dancing. A bit too old to be bothered to indulging myself, you understand, but fun to watch people having fun. In that respect, non-smokers must have indulged in similar ‘people watching’ when they went to pubs. No wonder that non-smokers rarely go to pubs any more since there are no amusing smokers to watch any more. Now, when I go to Chaplin’s, I sit outside where I can smoke. ‘The Yoof’ is still amusing outside.

Before the smoking ban in Mallorca, from time to time, as part of the fun, ‘dry ice’ (CO2?) would be pumped into the air inside the disco. I don’t know why, but it seemed to amuse people. They do not do that any more. Further, in the dining room of of the hotel, on a guest’s birthday, they used to bring out a birthday cake with lit candles on it. Real candles. Now, there are no candles. The staff still troop out and sing ‘happy birhtday’, but no candles.

I trust that you can see my point.

NO SMOKE!!!

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It seems to me that there is a massive scientific fraud being perpetrated by Tobacco Control, and they know it. The fraud is that only VISIBLE smoke matters.

Suppose that someone has been smoking in a smallish room some time ago so that the tobacco smoke is no longer visible. A person walking into that room will be able to smell the smoke (initially, but would soon have his ‘nasal smoke sensors’ filled up, and thus thing that the smell has gone away when it hasn’t). Some people find that smell unpleasant and complain.

But the constituent elements/molecules of that smell are not much different from the constituent elements/molecules of any natural substance which is burnt. For example, grilling sausages burns the sausages. You can tell because the skin of the sausages goes brown and hard. The same happens if you grill chops or salmon.

But wait! There is something that we need to understand. How does ‘heating’ work?

When I light a cig, I apply a burning gas flame to the tip of the cig. The temperature of the flame, even though it is a very small flame, is very high (900C?). That way of applying heat is called ‘conduction’. It means that a hot thing ‘touches’ a cold thing and the heat transfer is immediate and dramatic.

The second way that heating works is by conduction. Most central heating systems work in this way. Water is heated in the boiler and pumped around the system through pipes, and, as it passes through radiators, it spreads out and gives up its heat to the air. The warmed air rises, circulates, falls, and is reheated by the radiators again.

The third way is by radiation. There is no absolute scientific certainty about radiation. It certainly happens, but there is no certainty about HOW it happens. Heat from the Sun is radiated heat, but there is no certainty about how that transfer of heat from the Sun makes its way to the Earth through the ‘nothingness’ of Space. [Note that I am implanting the idea that Space is not ‘nothing’]

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When sausages etc are grilled, they are subjected to several heating systems. First, although the heat source is not actually in contact with the sausages, it is near enough to hit the sausages with a high temperature via radiation. One might imagine warming ones hands by putting them very close to a fire. Also, the air inside the oven is heated to a high level, even though it might be extruded by a fan; and the metal of the oven is heated.

The result of the ‘burning’ of the skin of the sausages and the fan venting of the oven, is to circulate in the air the mu-2.5 bla-bla particles of combusted sausage skins. These particles spread throughout the house, often via keyholes and gaps between doors and door jambs. THERE IS NO SAFE LEVEL! Further, if your neighbour cooks sausages by grilling, the fumes will drift into your house and poison you. THERE IS NO SAFE LEVEL!!

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Ever since the ‘Master Settlement’ in the USA, Tobacco Product Manufacturers have become silent. It is a matter of fact that, as part of the Master Settlement, tobacco companies agreed to ‘shut the fuck up’ (I do not often swear). You cannot blame them, since the Master Settlement was enormously to their advantage. Their advantage was gained from the totalitarian aspect of the Master Settlement – all tobacco companies involved just increased the price of a packet of cigs by 50 cents, collected that money and passed it to the State Treasuries. But what is important is that the main tobacco companies, collectively, gained a monopoly of supply.

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The stench of corruption is like the stench of carbon monoxide – its presence cannot be detected by smell or sight. but it is a killer.

There is no intelligent or scientific justification for the smoking ban. None at all. All the blather about plain packs and car smoking bans are idiotic. Is that why the Prime Minister has decided to let these ridiculous dictats go through? Is it because they are like banning skiing in Barbados? Is it like banning mountaineering in Belgium?

Cameron and his pal, health sec Hunt, via the prostitute, Alison, have decided to cave in to the New Aristocracy. Or rather, they have not decided – they have capitulated.

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I am an adult and I can decide to enjoy tobacco. I can also decide to enjoy alcohol and coffee and tea and roast beef, etc. ‘Children’ will become adults, and thus bans which apply to children will no longer apply to them when the become adults. Thus, it is reasonable to ban children from enjoying tobacco, if, in fact, such enjoyment is dangerous.

Parents will stop their children from doing stupid things until those children become independent. Even then, parents will act as a backstop if their children do something stupid. ‘The Bank of Mum and Dad’ comes to mind.

There is a conclusion.

Why is it that billions of dollars are being spent upon tobacco control world-wide when Ebola is killing thousands NOW, and only a few millions of dollars are being spent?

It is because of the ORGANISATION. The ORGANISATION is more important than the result.

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To the WHO, deaths NOW from Ebola are not important. A few thousand deaths NOW do not matter. What matters to these aristocrats is how millions of putative deaths from smoking can make them wealthier.