Hats and Hooters

Friends,

I just got back from an embroidery shop to pick up a test batch of Devil's Weed apparel. They came out nicely and we'll be going into mass-production mode soon. We'll be sure to have a promotion for you loyal lovers of the leaf that support Devil's Weed so that you can get some of this customized merchandise. Keep tuned in to the blog for updates to get free goodies.

In other news, I would like to share a story with you guys. A friend of mine and I were driving from Molina Cigar headquarters in P-Cola (Pensacola for the anti-brevity types) to our homes in NOLA (New Orleans), and it was dinner time. My friend, Joey, is a big fan of Hooter's and there happened to be one in Gulfport, Mississippi. We stop in and the waitress asks us whether we want to sit in the smoking or non-smoking section....WHAT? It must be 10 years running since I have heard that question uttered in a restaurant in this country! Joey, being a Camel man and I being pro-tobacco (at this point I wasn't sure if cigars were allowed), obviously respond enthusiastically, "SMOKING!"

So we give our order and Joey lights up a cig at the table. No one gives us any trouble. We were shocked. Even New Orleans, a rather liberal life-style embracing type of a city does NOT allow smoking in restaurants (bars and casinos, yes, but no restaurants). I ask our waitress if cigar smoking is allowed. She is puzzled and says of course. This is the smoking section. I freeze. I cannot seem to comprehend the situation. I can actually sit at the same table to eat AND smoke? So we finish our meal and I ask the waitress the same question once more before lighting up. She laughs and assures me that the staff would not throw me out if I light a cigar. So I blaze up....nothing happens. Not even a lift of eyebrows from other smokers. I am smoking a cigar in a restaurant and not getting the outcast's treatment. Wow.

This is amazing and I have a great smoking session. I even meet up with fellow statesmen from Lafayette and we exchange business cards so that I can send them some Devil's Weed samplers. It's great knowing that there are parts of the country that still allow a business to make its own decisions and actually run its own operations. Kudos to Hooter's of Gulfport and to the rational Mississippians. I hope they do not change their smoking laws because it seems to good to be true.

And for those wondering, the caliber of the staff was actually better than the New Orleans area Hooter's restaurants. 8 out of 10. Nice. Salud, friends.







-Luis