108-year-old starts smoking again

Link : http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/09/27/cigar.smoking.ap/index.html



GREAT FALLS, Montana (AP) -- After receiving gifts of cigars from as far away as London, a 108-year-old man started smoking again.

Retired railroad worker Walter Breuning spoke at his birthday party Tuesday of how he reluctantly quit smoking cigars at the age of 99 because he couldn't afford them.

The Great Falls man heard from people like the English cigar fan who sent two Havanas after his story was widely distributed.

"They were $12 cigars and they were good," Breuning said. "You can't get good Havana cigars like that out here."

He also got a birthday note and a few more cigars from a former Great Falls resident now living in Oregon.

"They were pretty good cigars, too," Breuning said.

As Fred Aimi, of Lolo, read newspaper stories to a group of blind neighbors, he came across an account of Breuning's birthday. "That hurt," Aimi said. "I like a good cigar myself."

Aimi said he sent a box of two dozen cigars on Friday to Breuning. "At 108, they can't do him much harm," he said.



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