Smoke is closely linked to the essence of the Sacred. With its elusiveness and its tendency to rise up in the air and vanish, the smoke of sacred pipes, ancient shamans and oriental and western incense is linked immediately and metaphorically to divine nature. Some might object that its mystical quality comes from the smell rather than the evanescent presence of the smoke, but this is not so. Can you imagine the priests in the Vatican handing the officiant a diffuser of invisible aromas in place of the smoking incense-holder at the Holy Communion?
The attraction of smoking for a man is the sum of a variety of elements:

• The psychotropic effect, generally mild for tobaccos and increasingly intense for intoxicating drugs.
• The comfort given to the smoker by the articles related to smoking and its accessories, such as the holding and handling of a pipe and its equipment, a cigarette and a lighter.
• Immediate pleasure to the palate and nose.
• The unfathomable gratification of the smoke in itself, due to its symbolic quality. Who would ever light his tobacco in the dark? What would be the point in smoking if you couldn't see the virgin smoke rising blue from the embers, the grey swirls issuing from the mouth in a creative gesture?

Its enemies will be sorry to know that the pleasure of Smoking is an ancestral pleasure, which somehow reaches and gratifies the most intimate fibres of our nature. This is why it is the final refuge, the only effective balm, in extreme situations such as that of the prisoner, the condemned man, the soldier in the trench, the student before an exam or the gambler. What is more, smoking is the only pleasure which can happily be combined with others of a different nature, like gambling, chatting, travelling, drinking or courting a girl. It is the ideal complement and the grand finale of everything which actively involves the senses or emotions. Instinctively we feel the desire to smoke or appreciate it more after a sumptuous meal, after making love or solving a problem.

So, given these underestimated attitudes, let us say that the most noble, most transcendental thing to smoke, that which elevates us and brings us closer to what we want to be more than anything else can, is a Cuban Cigar. Otherwise how could its huge attraction be explained among aficionados, whose loyalty is such that they overlook the considerable expense involved. Lined up on their shelves, these items are proud armies of brave and loyal veterans, ready for any battle. In the hand, they give the voluptuous feel of possession. In the mouth, they bestow the pleasure of awareness, of self-confidence, of a boldness which in some obscure and unexplored area borders with extreme refinedness, and vice versa. The ample swirls of a cigar are cathedral naves. The baroque boxes are its traje de luz, just as the showy brightness of the ring recalls the odd pink stockings of the matador.
A Cigar gives the same pleasure to both mind and senses.

The sense of sight enjoys the matchless colour and the brightness of a well-rolled strip.

Touch - its elastic consistency, which shows just how much care and time is needed to give it its majesty.

Taste and smell – that infinite range of notes, which the expert smoker knows just how to match with his moods and situations to achieve harmonies incomprehensible to the uninitiated.

Nevertheless, we cannot fail to note the growing, increasingly hysterical intolerance towards Smoking typical of modern times. We therefore feel obliged to take a stance on this irritating polemics in order to simplify and investigate it further according to our own criteria and then leave it behind for ever.

In our view the issue lies in the following terms:
- First Principle: those who do not smoke have the right not to be bothered by smokers.
- Second Principle: smokers have the right to smoke, as long as the First Principle is respected.
- Third Principle: since the irritation caused by smoke is not otherwise measurable, it may only be considered such on the basis of criteria of Good Manners and Good Sense, the limit and foundation of the first two principles.
To those who protest that this is mere conjecture, our immediate retort is that the same could be said of politics, football, justice, food or, indeed, any other human activity. It is a fact that denying the supreme advisability and necessity of Good Manners and Good Sense would compromise the possibility of any human cohabitation.
Once and for all – and this goes for every other field – our view is that as long as our neighbour is not troubled, everyone should be free to choose to do what he likes.