When Tim and I were in High School in the mid 1960’s, it was “cool” to smoke. In fact, we both started smoking around age 14 or so. Of course, all this time we had to do it clandestinely. However, I’m sure our mother knew about it. She never let on, but in those days parents found out about everything bad that kids did. On some occasions, after she found out about something dangerous or bad we had done and confronted us with it, we would ask her how she found out. Invariably, she would say, “A little bird told me.” As kids, we wanted to find that “little bird” and strangle the day lights out of it! Even though our mother knew about our smoking, I think the main reason why she never confronted us about it, was that at least we weren’t drinking. During our entire childhood and teenage years, we all played an unspoken mind game. We smoked, our mother knew we smoked. We knew she knew, but we pretended she didn't know, and she pretended she didn't know that we knew, but we all knew. Did you get all that? I hope so, because maybe you can explain it all to me! In turn, it's good that these were the days before kids started to fool around with psychedelic drugs. Even if they were used in those days, I highly doubt I would have tried them. After all, I was on a natural "high" that no doubt would rival any "high" I could get from any illicit drug use. Another probable reason our mother never confronted us about our kid smoking was that she knew she couldn’t follow us around 24 hours a day to make sure we didn’t smoke. She was certainly realistic, indeed. Therefore, I think she just resigned herself to the fact that we were going to smoke anyway in spite of her objections. However, she did try to discourage us from smoking by repeating the standard “scare tactic” in the 1950’s and 60’s that if kids smoked, it would “stunt their growth”. Well, I smoked as a kid and I’m 6' 2'' So much for that! Hmmm, come to think of it, maybe I could have been 7' 2" if I hadn’t have smoked then! Oh well, it’s just as well since I would have had a long line of basketball recruiters always bugging me. I’d also have difficulty getting into my Jeep.

 

During High School, our smoking buddies and we had secret out of sight places we smoked in so we wouldn’t get "caught" by any adults. They all knew we smoked, and we knew that they knew, ... Whoops, sorry about that. Refer to the 2 above aforementioned descriptions. The details of this are in some of the stories below which you can pause to peruse when you’ve completed this story.

 

Although we usually only smoked in our “hidden” places, Tim and I eventually got very bold and in one place, we smoked out in the open. This was in Phil’s Restaurant. It was owned by Phil Breay and his wife Helen. He also worked as a custodian at the school. He had some fingers missing, that I always assumed was from some industrial accident, although we never asked and he never said. Every school day morning and lunch hour Tim and I sat in a booth and lit up. Phil never said anything to us about it. I think the reason for this was as long as we were behaving ourselves, he didn’t bother us. On other occasions when we did “act up”, he would kick us out of the restaurant. The amusing thing of it was that we figured in a restaurant full of “locals” that no one knew who we were and “squeal on us” to our mother! The only person we didn’t smoke in front of was when Elton Green came into the restaurant. Since he was a family friend, he was sure to “squeal on us” to our mother! When he came in, either Tim or me, depending on who was sitting facing the door, would say in a loud whisper, “It’s Elton!” Instead of putting out the cigarettes, since he would no doubt would have seen us, we hid our hands with the cigarette under the table and moved them back and forth rapidly thinking the smoke wouldn’t pour out and rise from under the table! When he wasn’t looking, we’d quickly put out the cigarettes in the ash try on our table. Of course, we were only fooling ourselves, but we never admitted it! I suppose in our teenaged niavetivity, we really thought we were getting away with it. However, Elton knew we smoked, we knew he knew.... Oh Oh, here we go again! Oh, never mind, just refer to the aforementioned mind game we played with our mother which was the same one we played with Elton J

 

One cool thing about Phil’s Restaurant was that he would put model cars we made in the window in front of the place. I made a large model of a hot rod roadster called “The Big T”. I wish I had a picture of the old restaurant building, but unfortunately, it was torn down a few months ago! It is unfortunate that I didn’t come up with this story before then! Oh hey! I checked one of my early Berlin Heights photo books that our Berlin Heights Historical Society published, and I did find a picture of the building before it was a restaurant.

 

Since Tim has always claimed that I started him smoking as kids, it’s ironic that he still smokes and I quit years ago. I still deny that I was the one who started him smoking as a kid. Well, on second thought, I DID, but after you read this and tell him I admitted it, I'll deny it! (Just like a politician, huh). As very young kids, around 12 or 13, we would steal one of our father’s Camels and go to a hiding place and smoke it. Since these have no filters, they are easy to get the end wet and “N----r lip” it, as we called it. There’s an art to not doing this that only adults seem to have. Since we only had one, we had to pass it back and forth while smoking it. When it was Tim’s turn to take a drag, afterwards the paper on the end of it would be wet from saliva. In turn, I’d always say to him in the vernacular of the day, “Quit N----r lipping it!” In today’s vernacular it would be, “Quit minority lipping it!” or,”Quit N word lipping it!” Tim would try to avoid this by turning his lips in while taking drags. I would then tease him by calling him “no lips.” I would rarely have this trouble. The secret I discovered was to keep my mouth slightly open and let my lips air dry by breathing deep (and quietly of course), before and between drags. It really worked, but I wasn’t about to tell HIM about it and ruin all my fun in spite of the fact that when my turn came to take a drag, it was always wet! I noticed that when he became an adult and could smoke in front of everyone (including Elton Green); he has always smoked FILTER cigarettes. With those, you can “N word lip” it all you want and no one will notice. Since that time, I have consistently seen his lips. Over the years, he certainly has ruined all my fun!

 

When we could, it was highly desirable to "filch" some of our mother's Winston cigarettes, which have filters. The only problem with this was that all my fun teasing "No lips" was squelched since there was no wet paper end when it was my turn to take a drag. Later on in our kid clandestine smoking capers, we pretty much always got the Winstons. This was just as well since I finally got tired of keeping my mouth open and deeply inhaling a lot of air between drags while smoking Camels and suffering from lips that were too dry and resulting in chapping, cracking, and bleeding. It’s a wonder I didn’t hyperventilate by breathing rapidly in my quest not to “N word lip” those Camels before we switched to the filtered Winstons. We were so “sensible” in those days!

 

BONUS Link!: Things You Used To See as a Kid, But Don't See Anymore (Original from the dusty bins of my
"gray matter". My brain not my hair!)