I have something to confess.

Having spent many years consuming Philip Morris products, from the ripe salad days of my youth to the dirty old Cowboy Killer to Wintergreen's 3mg Ginatinos, to keep my poor lungs and gums out of the hands of Big Tobacco , a very special product was required. But as it turns out, I may have smoked my last Marlboro cigar last Friday after making a 30-foot birdie putt at my local Muni, and just today, while writing this column, I smoked my last Zyn. He might have finished polishing the puck.

I have so many fond memories of beating the Reds on the tee box and popping lip pillows on the upper deck right before our first date to get the perfect talking point while chatting with the beautiful Sheila. And what about the drunken congress I had with her sons outside the Exiles bar at 2 a.m.? How could you give up on that?

Philip Morris, My Captain, My King, My Chief: Hestia Tobacco Company was founded in 2010 by David Slay and is also known as “.millenial marlboro man” may have created the first (and last) tobacco product that forever changed the way I smoke this great cannabis. (Related: It's been a long time since Congress did something useful)

On the Hestia website, Sley beautifully explains the process. Dare I say it, I'm completely convinced.

“We have stripped down tobacco to the perfect ecological ideal: pure, naked tobacco plants left in the wild to grow without any additives. To care for these plants you have to do it in a difficult way. In a meaningful way. And the knowledge for planting, pruning, harvesting and treating it is still based on oral tradition. It is an art form that is passed down and guarded like a family secret. Our tobacco family is at the heart of our business. This is their ritual. Their skill and rite of passage. Hestia's art began with “It's about consuming and participating in their stories. To be a page, not a footnote,” he said. write.

He also explains how smoking a cigarette is an essential part of his morning routine, his “meditation and prayer.”

This is also my rite of passage. My morning meditation and prayer. On my balcony. Comes with a perfectly designed and constructed cigarette or two and a bubbly ceramic French press. Drink piping hot beans that are ripened in the hills of Costa Rica and roasted down the street. Breathing deeply into the burning leaves of a farmer's field. I sympathize with their technique. in their rituals. And then you make it a part of who you are and it brings you together for the day. It is certainly a myth that smoking is good for you. And, as it turns out, there may still be a kernel of truth in it.

Three's passion for quality cigarettes is evident in Hestia's two main products, Hesper Foam and Stone Foam cigarettes, along with a few stickers, matches, a #HaveAHestia lighter, a neat little button, and a guitar pick. Shipped in boxes and scoops. and a handwritten note from the founder.

Hestia's orange-filtered cigarettes, the Hesper, were particularly smooth and the perfect nicotine delivery system for the casual person who enjoys an occasional cigarette, as well as a long-time smoker like me who wants to quit Big Tobacco once and for all. (Related: How to sneak out of Thanksgiving dinner and smoke cigarettes with your edgy cousin)

It is clear which one we are choosing…#HaveAHestia pic.twitter.com/Nd8mvM7Nfl

— Hestia Cigarettes (@HestiaTobacco) February 27, 2024

Hestia also offers a second blend, Stone Form, with a white vent filter that turns the cigarette into a lighter. However, several people have told Scoops that the orange blend feels smoother than the white, despite the lack of a perforated filter. This is not to say that the white ones are not smooth. It's certainly smooth, so it's ultimately a matter of preference.

And of course, don't just take our word for it. My colleague, Daily Caller editor John Loftus, described his first Hestia dart in a drug review as “buttery” and admired John Daly's easy swing. He said they were very similar. Even Daily Caller media reporter Nicole Silverio (not much of a smoker herself) found her first Hestia so impeccable that she was almost speechless. (Related: Fairway Tobacco and its Enemies)

“While our Big Tobacco brethren are racing towards the full potential of nicotine products created in Frankenstein’s lab, Hestia will continue to do one thing: It's about growing the best-tasting tobacco and rolling the leaves to make the finest tobacco on the planet,” Slay told Scoop.

“Whatever links Scoop passes through, it's an honor to know that the merry smoke of naked wild tobacco is with him.”