My fellow Brothers and Sisters of the Leaf were talking the other night at our local cigar shop, and we start to reminisce about days gone by. The topic of the old fashioned drink fountains (soda fountains if you are from NY) and the fine shops they were in. It was quite clear to me, that we all spent time in those shops when we were young. It was the center of our community, the place we gathered to enjoy a Cherry Coke, Malted Shake, or a delicious NY Egg Cream (recipe), while we discussed the days or weeks events. We all got along and enjoyed those moments together.
The soda fountains were usually located in drug stores or candy stores. I always liked the candy store variety because they had pinball machines. We used love to play that game. Later on came the video games but I still preferred pinball. Hey, The Who even wrote a song about me…well not really but it was pretty good. The candy stores had plenty of sweet candy and baseball cards with that interesting tasting stick of gum.
Parents even liked the places; they knew where we were for hours. Perhaps if you left, you and the crew would shift next door for a slice of Pizza then head home or back to the shop.
Yea – Those were the days.
But wait – What are we doing now that we are all grown up?
We are hanging out with friends of all walks of life, sitting around enjoying each other’s company. We talk about the days or weeks events, though this time a little more insightful and instead of eating chips or cheese doodles we are smoking our favorite cigar in the local cigar shop. We relax for hour(s) and our wives or significant others don’t worry about us because they know where we are, unless of course they enjoy the scene and accompany you.
We may even order a pizza to share. Some of us still drink a coke but we know that is not the same as the soda shop ones. Others will pair a special beverage with their stogie like coffee, beer, wine, whisky, and rum to bring out the flavor.
So times may have changed, and we may have gotten older, but we all seem to have that same young heart, to gather together socially and enjoy doing what we love.
Please support your local cigar shop and Stop the FDA from taking away our freedom.
Life is grand – Fine Ashes
Boston Jimmie
