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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Focus Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Smoke
In this age of health conscious living, even mentioning cigarettes is taboo. I only smoke three cigarettes a day, but my history as a smoker is a long one. I started smoking in my first year of secondary school; I remember I would hide my cigarettes and go to an empty lot where we played football. There I would sit for a while and have a smoke. It makes me laugh to think how long ago that was: imagine, I've been smoking for nearly 70 years!
I'm a moderate smoker, though, as I said: I am always amazed at people who smoke two or three packs a day. Smoking, for me, is a pleasure: I have never chain smoked, that's for sure. I wait until I really long for a cigarette, and then I really enjoy it, unlike people who smoke as if they were eating the cigarette, or those who smoke non-stop because they are nervous. Smoking, for them, cannot be an enjoyable experience: it is a compulsion, or a bad habit, like biting your nails. I don't have the urge to light one cigarette after another. Some of my friends have said I actually check my watch before lighting a cigarette, to make sure it's time for another one.
There was only one period of my life during which I smoked a pack a day, but that was an exceptional time.
I learned to smoke the shisha at Al-Fishawi, the coffee shop in Al-Hussein. Sometimes, I used to go to the Ezbekiya Gardens and buy a ticket; with that, plus one piastre, I would have one of the excellent shishas they prepared.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
