Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[4KSuited]

Talking of trains, you must be loving the series on Channel 5 about Paddington station.

[4KSuited]

In Sunday's £250 Freezeout in Cardiff, Ed Aris, one of the splendidly mannered & handsome sons of "Doc" Aris, calmly sat playing the comp......smoking a cigarette! Or so it seemed.

It cetainly LOOKED like a ciggie, in a cigarette holder, & he sat there puffing away, inhaling happily, then apparently exhaling clouds of ciggie smoke.

Challenged, he claimed it was an "Electric Cigarette" (patent presumably pending). It cost £65, & can be smoked for as long as he wishes, it contains nicotine, but it was "lit" as such. He alleged that the "smoke" we could clearly see was in fact water vapour, which the device absorbd from the air & somehow heated up to appear as steam, or imitation smoke.

He also claimed the device could be "smoked" anywhere, & had been cleared for use on Civil Aircraft!

Not everyone believed him.

Do you think he was telling the truth, or do you think it was a ruse? I must add that Ed Aris is not the sort of lad who'd break any laws intentionally or knowingly, he's a lovely lad, & his Dad has every reason to be proud of him.

Electric Cigarettes indeed......

Whenever I'm in between books, I have a read through of one of the Blonde diaries. As you might imagine, it's taken some time for me to take on tikay's blockbuster. But I have, and I thought it might be interesting to pull out the occasional highlight. So here's my introductory issue. An early sighting of an e-cig. Just over 10 flipping years ago. I recall seeing one of these in the hands of a random in my local Coral; he claimed to have the distribution rights for his model. I told him I thought they'd do well and wished him luck. Sometimes I need to be more searching in these matters, but I've always been inclined to be a wall-flower (to my cost).

Let me know if you want any more. I promise not to hijack the thread 😐

[RED-DOG]

In Sunday's £250 Freezeout in Cardiff, Ed Aris, one of the splendidly mannered & handsome sons of "Doc" Aris, calmly sat playing the comp......smoking a cigarette! Or so it seemed.

It cetainly LOOKED like a ciggie, in a cigarette holder, & he sat there puffing away, inhaling happily, then apparently exhaling clouds of ciggie smoke.

Challenged, he claimed it was an "Electric Cigarette" (patent presumably pending). It cost £65, & can be smoked for as long as he wishes, it contains nicotine, but it was "lit" as such. He alleged that the "smoke" we could clearly see was in fact water vapour, which the device absorbd from the air & somehow heated up to appear as steam, or imitation smoke.

He also claimed the device could be "smoked" anywhere, & had been cleared for use on Civil Aircraft!

Not everyone believed him.

Do you think he was telling the truth, or do you think it was a ruse? I must add that Ed Aris is not the sort of lad who'd break any laws intentionally or knowingly, he's a lovely lad, & his Dad has every reason to be proud of him.

Electric Cigarettes indeed......

Whenever I'm in between books, I have a read through of one of the Blonde diaries. As you might imagine, it's taken some time for me to take on tikay's blockbuster. But I have, and I thought it might be interesting to pull out the occasional highlight. So here's my introductory issue. An early sighting of an e-cig. Just over 10 flipping years ago. I recall seeing one of these in the hands of a random in my local Coral; he claimed to have the distribution rights for his model. I told him I thought they'd do well and wished him luck. Sometimes I need to be more searching in these matters, but I've always been inclined to be a wall-flower (to my cost).

Let me know if you want any more. I promise not to hijack the thread 😐

Oh deffo more please, once is not enough to get the full effect.

It's like putting a stick into a bucket of random shite, giving it a stir and then basking in the aroma.

[tikay]

In Sunday's £250 Freezeout in Cardiff, Ed Aris, one of the splendidly mannered & handsome sons of "Doc" Aris, calmly sat playing the comp......smoking a cigarette! Or so it seemed.

It cetainly LOOKED like a ciggie, in a cigarette holder, & he sat there puffing away, inhaling happily, then apparently exhaling clouds of ciggie smoke.

Challenged, he claimed it was an "Electric Cigarette" (patent presumably pending). It cost £65, & can be smoked for as long as he wishes, it contains nicotine, but it was "lit" as such. He alleged that the "smoke" we could clearly see was in fact water vapour, which the device absorbd from the air & somehow heated up to appear as steam, or imitation smoke.

He also claimed the device could be "smoked" anywhere, & had been cleared for use on Civil Aircraft!

Not everyone believed him.

Do you think he was telling the truth, or do you think it was a ruse? I must add that Ed Aris is not the sort of lad who'd break any laws intentionally or knowingly, he's a lovely lad, & his Dad has every reason to be proud of him.

Electric Cigarettes indeed......

Whenever I'm in between books, I have a read through of one of the Blonde diaries. As you might imagine, it's taken some time for me to take on tikay's blockbuster. But I have, and I thought it might be interesting to pull out the occasional highlight. So here's my introductory issue. An early sighting of an e-cig. Just over 10 flipping years ago. I recall seeing one of these in the hands of a random in my local Coral; he claimed to have the distribution rights for his model. I told him I thought they'd do well and wished him luck. Sometimes I need to be more searching in these matters, but I've always been inclined to be a wall-flower (to my cost).

Let me know if you want any more. I promise not to hijack the thread 😐

Ha, what an amazing find.

Times have not changed, have they? I waffled then, I still waffle.

Think Tom has my number - buckets of random shite.

That post reminds me of so many happy memories - see following post.

[tikay]

In Sunday's £250 Freezeout in Cardiff, Ed Aris, one of the splendidly mannered & handsome sons of "Doc" Aris, calmly sat playing the comp......smoking a cigarette! Or so it seemed.

It cetainly LOOKED like a ciggie, in a cigarette holder, & he sat there puffing away, inhaling happily, then apparently exhaling clouds of ciggie smoke.

Challenged, he claimed it was an "Electric Cigarette" (patent presumably pending). It cost £65, & can be smoked for as long as he wishes, it contains nicotine, but it was "lit" as such. He alleged that the "smoke" we could clearly see was in fact water vapour, which the device absorbd from the air & somehow heated up to appear as steam, or imitation smoke.

He also claimed the device could be "smoked" anywhere, & had been cleared for use on Civil Aircraft!

Not everyone believed him.

Do you think he was telling the truth, or do you think it was a ruse? I must add that Ed Aris is not the sort of lad who'd break any laws intentionally or knowingly, he's a lovely lad, & his Dad has every reason to be proud of him.

Electric Cigarettes indeed......

Mention of Doc Aris had me scrambling through my mind, he was such a lovely fellow.

"Doc" frequented, mainly, the Cardiff & Swansea cardrooms. Tom & I used to drive down on a Sunday & play their monthly £200 Freezeout, along with all the locals - Doc Aris, Iwan Jones, James Fisher (sofa-king), several snooker lads - Ken Doherty, Mark Williams (who was quite handy at poker), Stephen Hendry - and a few other rascals. After the MTT, we'd all play cash until we got thrown out, or we went busto. Boy, those games - PLO - got big.

A spot of googling & I managed to find a photo or two of "Doc". Actually, his real name was Sabah Aris, & he was an Iraqi lawyer, who had a lot of dealings with Saddam Hussein & his Government. However, he had to get out of Iraq in a bit of a hurry. I don't quite recall why, but it was Saddam-related.

Here's the Doc. Not sure who the chap with him is - fairly sure it is one of his sons. He had several sons, all of them lovely lads, but I'm afraid my memory of them is now a bit hazy.





Doc wrote a book, too - "The Baghdad Lawyer".

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

And here's The Doc with Saddam Hussein;








I wish there was a nice postscript to all this rambling about The Doc, but I'm sorry to say he died a few years ago - the last Tweet here confirms it;



https://twitter.com/baghdadlawyer



"I'm sorry to confirm that Dr Sabah Aris has passed away. The world has lost a gentleman and a unique character who lit up people's lives."


He certainly lit up my life, one of the greatest characters & Gentleman I've ever known. Great humility, of course, & wonderful manners.

[tikay]

I'm trying to figure where & when this photo of The Doc was taken, but I think it is Mike Tyson with him. Pardon my ignorance, I should know what Mike Tyson looks like, but I can't quite grasp what he & Doc would be doing together.


 

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

I just had a text asking me why The Doc is seen on that book cover grappling with a bear.

What you see is what you get - in those parts of the world, it was quite normal back in the day, & The Doc wrestled many a bear.

You think I'm making this up, don't you?

He owned a Zoo in Baghdad. And a cigarette factory.

[tikay]

And here's The Doc doing his day job whilst in Baghdad;

Click to see full-size image.

[Tal]

I'm trying to figure where & when this photo of The Doc was taken, but I think it is Mike Tyson with him. Pardon my ignorance, I should know what Mike Tyson looks like, but I can't quite grasp what he & Doc would be doing together.


 

Click to see full-size image.

1.01 this will be at a memorabilia shop in Las Vegas (called Field of Dreams in the Caesar's forum). It and one in Venetian, the name of which escapes me, often have guest appearances by Iron Mike and the baseball great Pete Rose.

[tikay]

some days, i suspect Mr Pinter may be my spirit animal

Click to see full-size image.

Ha, love that Tighty, thank you.

I wish I had the self-assurance or confidence to say or write stuff like that.

I get all sorts of invites to social occasions, meals etc, & they scare me to death.

God knows how many folks I've offended by declining invites. I dodge people who invite me for meals in Vegas every year, I dodged one chap - who I like immensely - for 6 or 7 years.

Weird thing is, once I get there, I actually enjoy myself.

Think it's an age thing, I've become very anti-social.

[tikay]

I'm trying to figure where & when this photo of The Doc was taken, but I think it is Mike Tyson with him. Pardon my ignorance, I should know what Mike Tyson looks like, but I can't quite grasp what he & Doc would be doing together.


 

Click to see full-size image.

1.01 this will be at a memorabilia shop in Las Vegas (called Field of Dreams in the Caesar's forum). It and one in Venetian, the name of which escapes me, often have guest appearances by Iron Mike and the baseball great Pete Rose.

Ahh, well done Tal Bloke. And yes, that fits - I bumped into The Doc in Vegas a few years back, so he was a Vegas visitor. In fact I'm pretty sure it was in the old (now sadly closed) Caesars Poker Room. At the time, it was the best room in Vegas, not even close. Not for structures or stuff, it was just such a beautiful, grand, room.

[Marky147]

I did my conkers in that room, in 2008!

Agree that it was a very nice room, and the cocktail service was remarkably good, given the size of the tournament area.

Great reading all that stuff about the Doc.

Superb posting bump, Mr 4ks.

[RED-DOG]

Happy days Tony. I loved everything about those trips to Wales, not least the journey.

BTW- I still have a spare set of keys to your Beemer.

[Tal]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment

Enjoy.

[Jac]

Just love reading the stuff above

...
Sam might not be in a great mood tomorrow btw