In memoriam

Famed German Ace Gunther Rall Passes Away
Gunther Rall, the world’s third ranking fighter ace of all time, died at his home in Germany on Sunday, October 4, 2009, after suffering a heart attack on Friday, October 2. He was 91.

How to make clove cigarettes at home and save money

Okay folks, let's do this.

You will need:

1 pouch of your favorite cigarette tobacco (I use Midnight Special)
1 pouch (about 3-4 ounces) of Clove buds (you can get them usually for a small amount at grocery stores)

A coffee bean grinder

Paper towels
Tupperware container
Ziploc baggie

Take some paper towels, dampen them and put the cloves in the middle. Nuke on 50% power for about 30 seconds, let sit for 2 minutes or until the cloves have absorbed some of the water and are less hard.

Place them a little at a time into the coffee grinder and grind the hell out of them until they are shredded into smaller bits. Don't use clove powder as a cop-out. It does not have the amount of essential oils necessary

Measure out how much clove you have, and make it into a 40% clove and 60% tobacco split into the Ziploc baggie, shaking to incorporate it all. Squeeze out the air and let sit for about a day.

While you're waiting, take some filtered cigarette tubes and dip the filtered ends in a sugar solution of 1 tbsp sugar to 2 tbsp water, let dry.

To make a clove cigarette:

Add a small amount of the clove tobacco into the cigarette maker.

Take one of the sugar-treated filter cigarette tubes, place into your cigarette maker, and follow your cigarette maker instructions.

You can also roll them filterless, and spray the resulting cigarette lightly with the sugar solution, and let dry.

Enjoy your clove cigarette, and fight the powah!

FDA passes tobacco ban under our noses.

Goodbye, sweet prince.

Thanks to the FDA and BigGovt playing Nanny State 1984 HOLY CRAP WHY on us, the sale of flavored tobacco, including my beloved Djarum clove cigarettes, are banned under Federal Law.

Go HERE for more info.

Fortunately, my darlings, there is a way around this, as always.

One can go to Canada or other countries, buy the acceptable personal amount, and then come home with them.

One can also make your own, using a blend of shredded clove buds and loose cigarette tobacco. Mix in a 50/50 split (originals are a 60 tabaccy 40 clove mix), store in a dark jar in a cool, dark place for 3-4 weeks, and then use with a rolling machine or papers.

OR, you can go online to foreign companies and buy either the loose tobacco or the cigarettes themselves.

http://www.mykretek.com/ - it's international, which is a good thing. One Indonesian site has THIS to say about the ban:

"The new regulation has ban clove cigarettes to be distributed in all states but you can still purchase them online since the law addresses the sale of these cigarettes ONLY in the US. Our company is located and registered in INDONESIA. The law also doesn't ban private citizens from possessing and smoking the clove cigarettes. You just cannot find and buy them on your local store."

So, while you were paying attention to the Wag the Dog Health Care bill and other things, THIS was passed under your very nose.

What was this about a "transparent" government, Mr. President?

Edited to add:

You can now sign a petition to have the ban removed

State Fair Hijinks

The State Fair in New York is always a must-go. Food, rides, vendors selling useless junk, and enough "New York State" culture to make your head spin.

We went back on September 2nd, to see the famous chef Bobby Flay. As usual, the human crush was AMAZING, and the amount of self-important twittery was, as usual, astronomical.

What always amazes me about humanity is the self-absorbedness that most people have now; the rudeness is amazing.

However, there were some great people as well. The Tiki Turtle was trying to get Bobby's attention to challenge him to a throwdown. They have a fried Reuben sandwich using his sauerkraut recipe, (which I unfortunately did not get a chance to sample, but promised myself that I WILL next year) and wanted to see if he would... bite.



All in all, it was a great time spent at the Fair. I've been going nearly every year since I was very little, and it's always a wonderful day spent with a picnic lunch, dancing at the dusk with the Native Americans in their Village, munching on fry bread and things deep fried that you would never think were edible deep fried, and the swag is usually pretty decent, if you're a kid, that is.

Your feet hurt at the end of the day, and when you drive home under the lights of Interstate 690, you have the feeling that this is, indeed, the end of the Summer and the beginning of Fall.