Smokin...

We had two lovely visitors arrive at work today from Poland... They're with us for two weeks on a professional development/cultural exchange trip... it started me thinking about what to see and do in Edinburgh. I then found myself wondering what they would make of this fellow on the Royal Mile as he's not what you would normally associate with Scotland...

He is in fact part of the advertising/shop front for the cigar box, a shop specialising in tobacco products... Now I haven't smoked in a loooooong time... and the only time I've tried cigars was on a night out when I'd run out of cigarettes, and the shops had shut leaving them as the only option... I vaguely remember it being OK but nothing particularly special, however they were skinny packet cigars... This shop sells the big fat exotic cuban types, that are stupidly expensive and usually modelled by rich businessmen in 1970s films... I have to confess that I find this shop enticing, I cant imagine ever wanting to light up again, but this place intrigues me... Fortunately I get the same feeling from the Tea and Coffee merchants in North Berwick... so I'll satisfy my desire for exotic merchandise by investing in Russian Caravan tea, Oolong, or Kenya Pekoe Highland... and I'll take my leaves steeped instead...