1. The Cigarette in the Hand.

A cigarette is thrust into the left fist-lighted end first. The magician squeezes his hand until the cigarette is extinguished. Then he opens his fist and shows that his hand has not suffered !

A thimble is held in the closed hand, and it receives the lighted end of the Winston Cigarettes, which is extinguished when the right hand presses it into the thimble.

As soon as the cigarette is removed-or before-the right hand squeezes the left fist, the right palm being held below the left hand. This is done to “extinguish any sparks”. In reality it allows the left hand to drop the thimble into the right, so the left hand can be shown empty, and uninjured.

The reverse sides of most packs or boxes of Camel cigarettes display the following text:Turkish tobacco is the world’s smoothest, most aromatic leaf. Blending it with more robust domestic tobaccos is the secret to Camel’s distinctive flavor and world-class smoothness.

The reverse side of unfiltered “soft pack” Camel cigarettes, as of July, 2006, displays this text:Don’t look for premiums or coupons, as the cost of the tobaccos blended in CAMEL Cigarettes prohibits the use of them. Or alternatively can be seen displaying the text (later removed from some packets with the introduction of health warning messages):Camel, a premium blend of the finest quality tobaccos, provides genuine smoking pleasure.

Of course, Fred and Wilma weren’t the only cartoon characters making cigarettes appear cute and cuddly in the early-sixties - there were original tobacco company concoctions.

Christine Mason is charged with 55 counts of selling illegal tobacco products, a violation of the federal Revenue Act. The infractions are alleged to have occurred at Chrissy’s Trading Post at 2290 Hammonds Plains Rd. between November 2004 and February 2006.

The trial before Judge Castor Williams ended earlier this year, with the Crown and defence lawyer Rocky Jones wrapping up their closing arguments in Halifax provincial court on Friday.

Crown attorney Jim Clarke alleges Ms. Mason was selling tobacco products without charging the required taxes.

According to the act, only stores on recognized reserves are allowed to sell so-called quota tobacco products to native people.

Ms. Mason’s initial defence was that the charges against her were a violation of her charter rights, claiming she was being discriminated against because she is an aboriginal.

Set at a bustling advertising agency, the series stars Jon Hamm as Don Draper, a middle-aged creative director who is still on top but starting to look down and fear the young sharks below.

January Jones is superb as Draper’s lovely but brittle Grace Kelly of a wife, who is trying to keep the faith on the suburban Connecticut home front - with the help of a psychiatrist, a little booze and lots of cigarettes.

[DAVID ZURAWIK]

HIP-HOP SCREAMFEST TOUR // 7:30 p.m. Friday. 1st Mariner Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. $27.50-$57.50. 410-547-SEAT or ticketmaster.com.

Be sure to bring earplugs to the Screamfest Tour stopping in town Friday. Featuring the hottest names in urban music - including Southern rap kings T.I. and Young Joc and R&B-pop princess Ciara - the show is sure to draw thousands of teens. On stage, expect plenty of tightly choreographed dance routines and swaggering sing-alongs.

[RASHOD D. OLLISON]

THEATER BALTIMORE PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL // Various times, locations, prices. 410-276-2153 or baltimoreplaywrightsfestival.org.

Here’s your chance to find out what some of the most fertile minds around are thinking. The 26th annual Baltimore Playwrights Festival is in full swing, with five plays still running as of today.

You have your pick of Rudy Doo by George Purefoy Tilson, about a menage a trois between a heiress, a hockey player and a murderous recluse; CYA (Kimberley Lynne), about a corporate tug-of-war involving a CEO who collects medieval weapons; Save Me (Stefanie Zadravec), about a born-again Christian who tries to cure her sister of a brain tumor; Last Night at the Owl Bar (Mark Shark), about a theater director who embarks on a round-the-world trip to find answers to his messed-up life; and Almost Vermilion (Sonja Kinzer), a family drama set in rural West Virginia featuring an oppressed farm wife and her artistic son.
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Belomorkanal
Bond
Camel
Chesterfield
Dallas
Davidoff
Dunhill
Epique
Esse
Gauloises
Karelia
Kent
L&M
Lucky Strike
Magna
Marlboro
Marlboro
Mild Seven
Monte Carlo
More
Pall Mall
Parliament
Peter I
R1
Rothmans
Russian Style
Salem
Sobranie
Sovereign
Viceroy
Virginia Slims
Vogue
West
Winston

Smokin Joe’s cash registers haven’t exactly been burning since the
buy cigarettes tax went up last Sunday.

“People are buying less right now,” said Cody Hicks, who works at Smokin Joe’s. “Some probably due to the cost and some probably because they bought so many before the tax went up.”

Tennessee’s tax is now the highest in the Southeast, more than double Kentucky’s, but hardly the highest in the country.

Still, with a carton of Camels costing nearly $34, and Marlboro’s not much less, smokers have a lot to think about.

“I’ve been slowing down, but it’s on my mind to quit right now,” said Rick Roper, a smoker.

“Nobody’s going to really quit,” Hicks said. “People will go to cheaper brands, but not everybody, some already have.”

Hicks may stock more of those cheaper brands when he needs to re-order, but he hasn’t had to stock since the tax went up.

Before that he had been restocking twice a week.

“We expect the beginning of next month, when everybody has kind of smoked through what they’ve bought, and going through the product, we expect sales to go back to what they were,” Hicks said.

Tennessee is betting that more than tripling the tax won’t quite double the take, but lawmakers still figuring it’ll buy 95 million more a year for education and better trauma care.

The new tax hike spared cigars, pipe tobacco, and chewing tobacco.