Over the years there were some people who, upon learning that I was a smoker, became very interested in getting me to quit. When they learned I worked in the wine business, they almost inevitably crafted a "stop smoking argument" that looked like this: "Tom, you're in the wine business and really NEED to be able to taste and evaluate wine. How can you do that when you are layering smoke over your palate. If you quit, just imagine how…

The implements and tools associated with the simple act of drinking wine are so varied and so numerous, you'd think it a complicated thing, when in fact, it's merely a matter of opening a package, pouring a liquid into a vessel and lifting that vessel to one's lips. A simple corkscrew will do. A glass of any kind will hold the wine. And any functioning mouth and throat will deliver the wine to its destination. Still we apparently need 600…

For 28 years my sensual relationship with wine has been marred by a self inflicted handicap. I smoked. Cigarettes, Cigars, and Pipes. Not any more. Yesterday at 8am I stopped smoking. I've done this before. Successfully too. I've successfully stopped smoking four different times….The joke is old isn't it? So has the smelly clothes, ashy desk, bad breath, sneaking out of events to secretly smoke, offending friends and lovers, and shortening my life become old. This won't be easy. That's…