what is a good gift to get for a 26 year old man graduating from medical school?
he is a pretty simple guy.. doesnt place too much value on “name” brand things.. very out doorsy, LOVES fishing, cigars, politics, old man things (haha) etc. .. im looking for a creative idea that might combine his lifestyle with medicine.. hes going into an internal med residency and eventually wants a fellowship in cardiology.. helppp!
How about a cigar box made of a really nice wood (burl maybe) with the the Staff of Asclepius or other medical type symbol burnt or carved into the top. A matching lighter would be nice, too. This would combine his love for outdoors (wood) and medicine.
You must be living in a dream world if you are one of the few people left on the planet who think that smoking is not that bad for your health. It has been proven to be one of the leading causes of emphysema and many other breathing disorders among those who smoke. Millions of people have already stopped this terribly hazardous habit and millions of others are trying to quit or at the very least thinking about it. After you have been addicted to smoking for years or maybe even less time, it can be extremely difficult to quit for some.
Another consequence that smokers have to bear other than what they are doing to their own bodies, is what they might be doing to other people as well. There has been a huge uproar among non smokers about the detrimental side affects that they have to be exposed to because of those who smoke. They believe that it is unfair for smokers to be allowed to smoke anywhere and anytime they want to and they are exactly right.
When a person chooses to smoke, that is their own affair and they have the right to kill themselves any way they want to more or less, but that does not mean that they have a right to expose others to the smoke they create and exhale. It is almost akin to saying if I want to urinate in the spot you are standing in, I have a right to. That would just be crazy and no one could deny it. No one, not even smokers would want to stand next to you if you wanted to urinate or worse in public because it would be unhealthy. Smoking is a similar unnecessary thing.
We all have rights, but others have the right to not be affected by your rights. Yes, it can be a very complicated and controversial subject when it comes to who has the right to what, but we have to use a little common sense. If a smoker has a baby or child, they would not want people with the flu to come up and cough and sneeze all over that child on purpose. People who do not smoke themselves or have children, also do not want themselves or their children to be exposed to your cigarette. This is common sense. You have a right to smoke, just not anywhere you like, any time you want.
The indigenous inhabitants of the islands of Mexico and the Americas smoked cigars as early as 1100 A.D. This is evidenced by the discovery of a ceramic vessel at a Mayan archaeological site located at Uaxactun, Guatemala. A painted figure of a man smoking a rudimentary form of cigar adorns the vessel.
It was the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus who officially inaugurated Europe to the pleasure of smoking tobacco. Because of this, he is credited with being the catalyst for the advent of the modern handmade cigar. He visited the indigenous population and noticed that they used tobacco for medicine, tribal rituals and for spiritual practices.
Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, two crewmen who sailed with Columbus, are said to have been introduced to tobacco for the first time on the island San Salvador in the Bahamas. There, during the famous voyage of 1492, natives offered them fragrant dry leaves with an aroma that lingered after it was lit. Further exploration revealed that tobacco was widespread among the other island tribes, such as Cuba, which is the location where Columbus and his men established their first official settlement.
Columbus exported tobacco back to Europe and it was immediately all the rage. In fact, tobacco was such hit that, to much of the European population, the idea of farming tobacco served as a rationale for the colonization of North America, South America and the Caribbean.
Ship manifest records of 1592 recorded that the Spanish galleon, San Clemente, brought 50 kilograms, or 110 pounds, of tobacco seed over the Acapulco-Manila trade route to the Philippines. There the seed was allocated to Roman Catholic missions, where the clerics discovered that the climate and soil were ideal for growing high-quality tobacco.
In the centuries that followed, the use of tobacco became widespread. Its use for recreational purposes and as a stimulant became popular among people who worked long hours. By the 1700’s, Cuba became the premiere location for the best tobacco and for the development of what we know today as the modern cigar. The origins of the English word “cigar” come from the Spanish word cigarro, which in turn was a derivative from the Mayan word for tobacco, siyar.
From the 1700’s to today, Cuban cigars and Cuban tobacco became recognized as the world’s finest. However, the Communist take-over of Cuba by Fidel Castro in the early 1960’s, and the subsequent U.S. embargo, challenged that country’s title. Former Cuban cigar-makers took their skills and seeds to the Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Honduras and Mexico, producing high-end cigars categorized as premium and super-premium.
Today, the exquisite pleasure of the premium cigar remains one luxury that connoisseurs enjoy worldwide. Handmade cigars that are part of this remarkable heritage may be obtained online through premium companies.
