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| I can quit you baby! |
Back then, a stick of my brand can be had for a measly twenty five centavos.
It was 1983.
Together with my grandparents, we moved in to an unfinished duplex house in the middle of that same year.
An uncle who grew up in Manila and just a few years older than me detested the fact that he'll be living in some barrio from then on. Maybe for many years or maybe for the rest of his life. Who knows?
The same barrio where you have the streets practically deserted by nine o'clock in the evening.
Aside from a handful of "barangay tanods" chatting while patrolling the streets, all you could hear are the chirping of crickets and the roar of motorcycles passing by intermittently.
My uncle and I would reminisce and talk about a lot of things just to kill time because the days seemed longer and the nights endless.
He was also the one who taught me how to be a cowboy. If you're familiar with a particular commercial in the 80's, you'll catch my drift. The first time I dragged those fumes, there was a head rush. "Don't worry, it'll wear out later." he said.
But I never blamed him for introducing me to this vice. It's a rite of passage.
Back in my college days, cigarette vendors were allowed inside the campus. I mean they were practically everywhere - the catwalks, beside the cafeteria, in the front gates and along the corridors.
Times were different then. Smoking was still cool. Malls, movie houses and joints like McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts used to have smoking sections.
As the years passed, the coolness that was once associated with this vice steadily dissipated. The medical profession became more aggressive in their anti-smoking drive and bombarded the media, both print and broadcast the dangers and perils of lighting it up.
Soon, the advertising community would also join the fray. Business establishments such as malls and restaurants gradually banned smoking inside their premises.
If you want to take a puff, you have to step outside. Well, it's not really humiliating but you somehow feel isolated, like you're stricken with some kind of a contagious disease or something.
In 2013, the sin tax measure was approved. The result? Unprecedented price increase on all cigarette brands.
The way things stand, it ain't gonna get cheaper. The vice will literally burn a hole in my pocket in the days to come.
Health wise, it's a no-brainer. The many years inhaling all those harmful smoke surely must have taken a toll now on this aging body.
Time to quit.
That's the hardest part.
