After quoting the statistic that, ” 70,000 Frenchmen/women/babies die from smoke- and second-hand smoke-related illness every year” you then sigh for your own singular passing fancy with statements like, “cigarettes often go well with wine” and “those little things that help take the edge off of work and generally make life more enjoyable. Casual smoking is one of them.”

It reminds me of many grand narcissists defeated in history, such as those slave owners who submitted to emancipation, but pined for the good ‘ol days of ownership.

Public smoking is as déclassé as it gets, and one of the more archaic habits of the French that I’m thrilled they’re abandoning. Viva the waiters and waitresses who’s death by second hand smoke judgment will now be pardoned.

Anyway, as vices go, I would have to contend that the drinking of wine is the much more sophisticated and far less plebeian of the two. Here is an attempt at describing the taste and mouthfeel of both instruments of pleasure (see if you can guess which is which):

#1: A nose of peaches, sweet, combined with something akin to the aroma of crushed ice and ginger ale. On the palette, sweet peaches continue with tons of mouthwatering sourness to provide a delicate balance that blankets the tastebuds. A taste of slate at the finish.

#2: A nose of Guangzhou factories with a light admixture of sulfur and gasoline. On the palette wisps of hot fumes expand quickly into bilious clouds of thick, gray vapor – strong notes of barbecue chicken, far beyond well done. Aftertaste of campfire and burning plastic at the finish.