A Sterling Silver Zippo Lighter

The Important Things In Life

It's amazing how quickly we adapt to somethings but not to others. I guess like most folks today I can't visualize trying to get along without my cell phone in my pocket, but I wish it came in bright yellow so it'd be easier to spot amidst the clutter when i put it down someplace. I never did adapt to disposeable lighters. I've carried a Zippo with me since the 1950's. I've been a coffee addict since age two or three when my grandfather would put a tablespoon of the Sacred Brew in a little egg cup so I could join him for afternoon coffee.

I never did like filter cigarettes. At various times over the years I've either smoked Camels or rolled my own, mostly with Bugler tobacco which like Camel cigarettes is a Turkish blend and has a similar flavor. I've gotten in the habit of rolling up a day's supply over morning coffee. People give you some strange looks when you whip out a pouch of tobacco and a package of papers and absent mindedly roll a smoke in the middle of a conversation. A couple of years ago I was at a city council meeting and during the break I was chatting with the new police chief when I did just exactly that. Her eyes bulged out, she was speechless! I quipped that I rolled them a bit on the skinny side out of habit because I didn't learn the technique by rolling tobacco. She laughed, and then I went outside and lit up.

Having an ex-wife in the antique business resulted in my getting a couple of elegent sterling silver cigarette cases , probably from the 1920's, for carrying the smokes, so I usually roll a day's supply while having my morning coffee, while I'm still to groggey to consider what a boring task it really is. This sterling silver case is marked Tiffany, and it has a minimalist art deco exterior. My other case has a couple of gold bands running down the front and is intricately engraved in an art nouveau pattern.