Tobacco and caffeine

Two tried and true brain performance enhancers. Coffee has even been lauded in recent years for its antioxidant properties. But did you know that pipe smokers who do not inhale have a lower probability of contracting cancers of all types than the median population? Did you also know that the second hand smoke health risk has been proven to be an untenable assertion? And that tobacco, because it is such a labor intensive crop, is a significant crop for small, family owned farms? And that with proper crop rotation, that its soil depleting tendencies can be overcome without chemical fertilizers? The anti tobacco lobby is largely correct about the well known health hazards of cigarettes, but pipe smoking is altogether different because the chemical composition of the smoke, most notably its PH value, renders it relatively harmless. Am I on my soapbox here? Sorry. I should be saying something about drawing in a sketchbook. But I did my morning sketch, which inspired my little verbal spew, so they really ARE related.

Larry Roush and John Crosby pipes, 8 1/4 x 11 9/16, 7B graphite and watercolor pencils