Silly Photo to Fill Space- Camels

Since the state of North Carolina passed a smoking ban which went into at the start of the year, we thought we'd go with some silly images of camels today.

The city of Winston-Salem, NC, is still called Camel City because Camel Cigarettes were made there. The city is home to Wake Forest University, and the historic/tourist site Old Salem.

Cartoonist Garry Trudeau brilliantly lampooned the company's mascot Joe Camel during the 1980s in "Doonesbury."

The product was also made with tobacco from Turkey, my late father's home country.

Interestingly enough, Turkey- a country where 90 percent of the population once smoked is seeing a smoking ban in cafes, bars and restaurants as well! As "The Atlantic" reported last year, the transition has been a difficult one. I saw a bus driver smoke while I was on a bus from Istanbul-Ankara. No one is supposed to smoke on Turkish buses, but I guess 'sofor bey' (Mr. Bus Driver) thought no one would notice. But, I think everyone on the bus, including myself, did!

True Confessions (10 of 11)_ The Camel Days

As I was walking on campus today, I held my nose with two fingers as I walked right past a smoker.

It's a bit ironic since I used to be a smoker myself!

For a brief while in 1989, I did actually indulge in this very bad habit.

My cigarette of choice was mostly Camels.

The habit formed purely from peer pressure. In the summer of 1989, I traveled to my father's country Turkey for the usual summer trek.

While there, my friend Muzzafer and his gang of friends would all smoke. After a while, it seemed socially appropriate to fit in and smoke with them.

I actually brought a whole carton of Maltepe-brand Turkish cigarettes from Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul which I brought with me to Roanoke, Va.

I would smoke these cigarettes and share them with friends who smoked when I attended Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke.

The story of how I quit smoking is perhaps the more interesting one though. A few years later, when I was attending Radford University, my friend Bahadir and I went to a bar in downtown Roanoke.

Though we were both smoking Camels, we told a couple of attractive women who saw us that we weren't really smokers. They didn't buy it. I quit smoking after that.

Alas, I now live in an area along the Virginia-North Carolina border where many people still smoke regularly.