Bumwados
When I was 11 or 12 years old at summer camp, my cabinmates and I made home-made cigarettes called “bumwados” - because we used toilet paper, or "bum wad" as rolling paper to make them. We scooped up dried pine needles from the forest floor, rolled them in toilet paper and set them alite. That’s just the sort of thing 12-year-old boys do at summer camp. We were mimicking our counselors, many of whom smoked (underage), and flexing our 11/12-year-old machismo. Puberty. Wow.
I’ve thought more about bumwados in recent years, and I decided to try rolling one again for old times’ sake. But I kept forgetting it every time I saw a quantity of pine needles on the ground. Until Sunday, October 9th, when I remembered and collected the materials when I had a chance.
On Monday, October 10th, I rolled and smoked a bumwado for the first time in nearly half a century. It burned okay, and I immediately re-experienced that zingy pine taste, like chewing a car air freshener.
The known risks of tobacco smoking are so well established that I think any criticism of my bumwado doesn’t bear consideration.
I went to Camp Kitchikewana, operated by the Midland, Ontario YM/YWCA on Beausoleil Island in Georgian Bay, Ontario. I only went once. Once was enough. I hated it. I hated it first, for the physical, psychological and sexual abuse we were subjected to by camp counselors. Second, I hated being away from the comforts of civilization - hot water, a clean bed, a toilet, and electricity.