If you want noir, just take a look at the new graphic images Uncle Sam is requiring now as warnings on cigarette packs. Let's see, we've got a tracheotomy hole, oxygen tent, and ragged chest scar. Or a mouth of brown teeth. How about a weeping widow? Nice melodramatic touch there.

Actually, I applaud the inclusion of the images. It couldn't happen soon enough. As any of us who've lost loved ones to cancer already know, the final exit is never pretty, just especially raw and agonizing.

How many noir actors and actresses have died of tobacco-related diseases? Bogie, of course. Still, I see the smoldering cigarette as a necessary prop used in the film noirs. "There is a lot of smoking in all noirs, even the modern ones, because it goes with the territory," says the great movie critic Roger Ebert.

So, we'll now hopefully bid further adieus to Joe Camel, Marlboro Man, and Virginia Slims lady from our popular culture.

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Nice addition to anyone’s summer beach reading schedule."
Florida Times-Union