I try to discourage discussions of religion on the forum. But anti-tobacco beliefs bring some people very close to a religious outrage at things tobacco. But this mindless zeal has been growing steadily for at least a couple of decades now.
In the summer of 1998, my oldest brother as well as my son and I were preparing for a multi-day backpacking trek from Damascus, Virginia down into North Carolina. Now, one piece of survival gear that is a genuine no-brainer is a Bic lighter--the most useful and least expensive survival item anywhere. [At least, that was the opinion of the instructors at the USAF Survival School, when I got my training, way back in 1982. You can drop it into a bucket of water, and as soon as the flint dries, it lights right up.] We were picking up last minute things at Mt. Rogers Outfitters.
employee: "What can I help you find?'
Me: "I need three Bic lighters."
employee: Face goes flaccid. He lowers his head. After a pause, says, "We don't carry those. You really shouldn't be smoking on the trail."
This employee, and probably everyone working at that outfitters, deemed the Bic lighter to be morally corrupt and unclean. A tobacco product. Something to be shunned. Haram! (They did sell flint and steel.)
Bob
