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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 1997)
er 16, k, Tuesday • September 16, 1997 Lifestyles With the increased popularity of cigar and pipe smoking, medical experts warn the trend poses adverse health effects >u Vl iL By Michael Schaub Staff writer I a Tltat do Rush Limbaugh, Demi |^/% / Moore, Kramer from “Seinfeld” IV V and that professor outside Ster- ligC. Evans Library have in common? Not just their high salaries. These peo ple are leading what seems to be a growing national trend — cigar smok ing. The New York Times has called cigars “prop(s) for the ’90s,” and stogies do indeed seem to be gaining popularity, especially among young people. J. J. Ruffino, owner of J. J.’s Pack age Stores, said he has seen a mete oric rise in cigar sales at his two Bryan-College Station liquor and to bacco stores. “We started with a display box that held six boxes of cigars,” Ruffino said. “Soon we had a humidor that held about 40 boxes. Now we have in excess of 400 boxes in our walk-in humidor.” Ruffino said the rise in the popularity of cigars has been building for 25 years, and is probably due to the effects of Hol lywood and the media. “Celebrities have had more to do with [the popularity of cigars] than anything,” Ruffino said. “You’ve got Cosmo Kramer (actor Michael Richards) on the cover of Cigar Aficionado magazine. Who knows that Kramer smokes cigars? Anyone who watches ‘Seinfeld’ knows.” Cigar sales at J. J.’s have increased 40 to 60 percent a year over the past five years, Ruffino said. Matt Cowan, a sophomore anthropol ogy major, said he has smoked cigars for four years. “I like the taste better than cigarettes,” Cowan said. “I don’t consider myself a ma jor cigar smoker. It’s mostly just a matter of when I can afford to smoke.” Cowan said he has noticed the increase in the trendiness of cigar smoking. “When I first started smoking, it was kind of different,” he said. “Now it seems very en vogue. It’s just fashionable to be seen smoking cigars, I guess, and that’s cool. But five years from now, it won’t be as fashionable.” Other College Station tobacco stores have enjoyed the rise in popularity brought about by the cigar trend. Just Smokes, a tobacco store on Uni versity Drive, opened four months ago. Store manager Michael Penny said Just Smokes sells about 2,000 cigars a week. “It’s picked up quite a bit,” Penny said. “Cigars are popular with some students. Our most popular (brands) are probably the Macanudos and Arturo Puentes.” Ruffino said he plans to open another J. J.’s in the Lone Star Pavilion on Texas Ave. The store will specialize in cigars and tobacco accessories. “It’s going to be a premium store with a heavy emphasis on cigars,” Ruffino said. “We’ll have an exclusive smoke room — kind of a membership situation.” Although more and more celebrities seem to be lighting up, a cigar backlash has begun. Television personality Jenny McCarthy appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine, holding a cigar away from her in evident disgust. Sharon Arnold, director of nurses at A. R Beutel Health Center, said cigars pose sev eral health risks. “Cigars have more nicotine and tar than cigarettes,” Arnold said. “They pro duce 30 percent more carbon monoxide.” Arnold said the research of ETR Asso ciates indicates a high percentage of oral cancer among cigar smokers. “The ETR pamphlet says that one cig ar a day can cause addictive changes in brain cells,” Arnold said. “Plus, cigars pro duce 25 times as much secondhand smoke as cigarettes.” Nevertheless, the demand for cigars con tinues to outweigh the supply, Ruffino said. “We’re making a major investment in this industry,” Ruffino said. “Supply has n’t caught up with demand yet. But it’s get ting close.” GRAPHICS BY DAVE HOUSE & BRAD GRAEBER P o or dye: Agsies show their true colors Rv runic IVIaijthvi narpntal snnervisinn handful of onlookers. However, not evervone looks Colored hair is seen in an adverse lieht bv som By Chris Martin Staff writer nthropologists have long studied the curious social practices that surface among a certain species of mammal. From time to time, a few ©embers of the herd artificially enhance the color of Jeir woolly crowns. Each year a few students see one of the colored [aniums around campus. They are students with ir tones above and beyond what their maker pro- ied— and color them anything but ashamed. Hair dye is a medium some college students use express themselves. For a few, their expression is tisfied with red highlights or a set of golden bangs, r others, expression may manifest into a person- interpretation of multi-colored modern art in pia: Hyper Heir locks. ■rge with the! F° r those inspired by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss’ com- iew” -UCI Dli:rc i a ^ Si an y l° ca l retail or drug store has adequate provisions for a natural-looking dye job. ?H,S K F 01 ' those inspired by Dennis Rodman, a bit more ourse Hours ffort is needed to locate the essentials, s Of Materiai 1 F actor y at Northgate carries a wide palette of ( |aii dyes, including orange, pink, blue, green and sil- h ProctoredlW er Adreon Henry, owner of the Factory, said stu- ialyzed Score Rifents dye their hair for various reasons. Full-length Mf “Some people will dye their hair just for Halloween e Extra Help 01 some special occasion,” Henry said. “Others do it to stand out and be different.” RUCTORS ■ s ome freshmen dye their hair when they get to Students W tbllege as a symbol of their freedom from direct he MCAT In Tk| ave PreppedWE' parental supervision. “A lot of students dying their hair just got away from home,” Henry said. “They do it because they just want to be themselves for a while.” College is a time of self-discovery. Unfortunately, many students discover too late that having a drag on tattooed across their back is not the kind of ex pression they want. The uniqueness of brightly col ored hair lasts only as long as a person chooses. Henry said most semi-permanent dyes last from two to six weeks, depending on the method of application. “If you want it to stay longer than two weeks, then you should let the dye soak in for an hour instead of thirty minutes and use a hair dryer,” Henry said. The conservative reputation of Texas A&M leads many to believe that all Aggies are dyed-in-the-wool maroon. An outstanding few, such as Betsy Roll, a se nior biology major, happen to have their hair dyed neon red. Roll jumped into the dying game “head first” her sophomore year. “I’ve almost lost track of the times I’ve dyed it,” Roll said. “It’s been fuchsia, bright red, bleached blonde and now it’s kind of a neon red.” Roll said she has no particular agenda for dying her hair. “I guess I just do it to do it, to say that I dyed my hair,” Roll said. “With the color I have now, I definite ly stand out. I like it when random people come up to me and go ‘Hey, cool hair.’” Since a large majority of A&M students have their natural hair color, neon colors garner more than a handful of onlookers. However, not everyone looks on in admiration. Roll said a few people treat her unfavorably be cause of her hair, but it is to be expected at A&M. Juan Munoz, a sophomore political science major, said he feels students with colored hair are treated differently at A&M. “It’s not very common here,” he said. “It’s interest ing to see people with strange hair, but it makes them difficult to look at when you talk to them.” Colored hair is seen in an adverse light by some people. Munoz said people should be more accept ing of people with different hair. “It’s only hair, basically,” Munoz said. “As long as they don’t make other people do it, it’s perfectly fine by me.” While the thought of multi-colored Aggies puts many students into a purple haze, the brave few that are left see a colorful life ahead, unstained by pig ment prejudice. ROBERT MCKAY/The Battalion g-Medical Di 1 >GE raphics Editor iadio Editor : News Editor 'eb Editor i Editor ice Manager Ihris Huffines, Jew id Johnston, Dorniji ason Jackson, Anna S on, Kendall Kelly, rtie Alvarado; MarissaS lurk, John Adam Hales logers, Derek Demeie.S my Dunlap, PatJames Bollom. ratro Oakley; Ed Go<»i , lam, David Hoffmaa,)* Gabriel Ruenes,!* II Chavez. Student Publications, a le 45-3313; Fax: 845-26# us, local, and national disb and office houisareSaiiF The Battalion. Mail site®®* .call 845-2611. ind Monday through Itii# ge paid at College StatimiL :ge Station, IX 77843-llH- Marvin Hamlisch with the Austin Symphony Pops T T IXe most recently played for two sold out capacity crowds of 18,000 at the Hollywood Bowl. Now he's coming to Rudder Auditorium. Don't miss Marvin Hamlisch as he leads the Austin Symphony Pops through orchestral versions of his biggest hits from the stage and screen, including highlights from his Pulitzer Prize winning musical, A Chorus Line. One night only! September 27, 1997 8:00 PM Rudder Auditorium Marvin Hamlisch, Award-winning Composer For tickets, call the MSC Box Office at 845-1234 Student life is hectic enough. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get the information you need without spending your valuable time surfing the Web? Enter the PointCast® College Network. PointCast broadcasts news and information - personalized to your interests - straight to your computer screen. By replacing uninformative screen savers with breaking news, PointCast takes the work out of staying informed! You get news from your campus, career tips and grad school information, plus up-to-the- minute world, local and entertainment news from leading sources like CNN, Rolling Stone, E! Online, The New York Times and more. And best of all, it’s absolutely FREE! No download or subscription fees and no hidden costs. So sit back, relax and let PointCast simplify your life. Get PointCast free today at www.pointcast.com. 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