We usually use this space, when we do previews, to show photos that have just been released or are on the way.
But we wanted to let you know about something different that we’re pleased about…a story that will be in the upcoming issue of Smoke Signals – it’s about an enterprising smoking fetishist who takes a trip back in time.
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Peggy appeared to be about 19 or 20, wearing a slim-fitting long summer dress with heels. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was curled in a flip, with several barettes. She was wearing fairly heavy makeup but it looked good on her – overall, Joseph’s impression (from the reading he’d done on the styles of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s) was of a stylish, well-to-do young woman.
But most importantly, Joseph noticed the overflowing ashtray with heavy-lipsticked butts, the two unopened packs of Pall Mall Reds (a common unfiltered brand of the day) on the dashboard, the open pack of Pall Malls in Peggy’s lap as she chain-lit her next cigarette, and the two thick streams of smoke flowing from Peggy’s nostrils as she deeply inhaled her new cigarette hands-free and put the old butt out in her ashtray.
“Ah, that’s much better!” Peggy said, her new cigarette bobbing in her lips as never-ending smoke seemed to flow from her mouth and nose. She began to put her pack back in her purse, but then stopped.
“Gee, where are my manners? she said with a giggle. “Would you care for a cigarette?” she asked, holding the pack out to Joseph.
“Thanks, but I just quit smoking last month,” Joseph said. A life-long non-smoker, he had prepared his answer for what he assumed would be an inevitable question in the past.
“Gosh, really?” Peggy said, putting the pack back into her purse and taking another enormous drag before finally removing the cigarette from her mouth. “I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who quit smoking” – again, her words came in enormous clouds of smoke – “well maybe my grammy, but that really doesn’t count, because she was pretty sick at the time.” She inhaled deeply again on her Pall Mall, took it from her mouth, then after a second of apparent thought, took another enormous inhale with smoke flowing through her nostrils as the cigarette’s cherry glowed bright orange.
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The full story will be in the April issue (online and print) issue of Smoke Signals 
