For some time Joni Mitchell held a weekly social gathering (a drop-in potluck) at her cottage in British Columbia. "It was usually outside with candles and two strings of yellow Camel lights," she explained. "I smoked 150 packages of Camels and sent away for two strings..."

Mitchell was not pleased when the paint peeled off her cherished lights. "You wouldn't believe how cheap the plastic on them is and I'm really pissed off," she later fumed, "because that was a lot of smoking!"