All Nicotine Weekend, or ANW, is many things. from the outside it may just look like a “guys weekend”. Just a bunch of middle-aged men, dwinking (ed. note: see ANW rules as to why ‘dw..’ is used to start this word) too much and playing adolescent games. But it is so much more…
ANW started in 1996. Brothers Leo and Vin trekked North to close the family cabin for the winter. Leaving at home the stress of a recent family tragedy and the commotion of everyday life, that Saturday night was spent consuming way too much beer and whiskey, reliving old-times and generally renewing the brotherhood that both had been missing for years. Though that first – as yet un-named ANW was just a short day and a half, the seed was set. The brothers realized that this escape was just what they needed. but more than that, they realized that they needed to share the experience. So before the first ANW was even over, they laid plans for the following year’s closing weekend.
In October of 1997 the original two were joined by two more. And since more is better than less, they also decided that they better go up on Friday instead of Saturday. More beer and whiskey were consumed, more brotherly bonds were renewed, and with all that extra time, they even ate well, played cards, smoked cigars, chewed tobacco and even tried their hands at some old dwinking games from their college days. It was also during this trip that the weekend was named. Since most of The Wives frowned on tobacco use, for some, this was the only time of the year that Cigar smoking or tobacco chewing could be celebrated. A cigar before breakfast? no problem. Want to throw a plug of Redman in on the disc golf course? Go ahead! How about a pinch of Skoal after dinner? Hell yes! All Nicotine Weekend seemed like an appropriate title.
In 1998, ANW really came to look like what it is today. Six guys, all frazzled from the demands of the work-a-day world, made the weekend even longer. Now Thursday thru Sunday, there was a lot of time to fill. Disc golf was added as a way to fill that time during the day and Mexican was introduced as a way to… well, as a way to get dwunk at night.
In the years since that time, a few of the original crew have fallen off the ANW bandwagon and a few others have jumped on. We’ve added rules, added games, added yet another day (we now start on Wednesday) and we have organized the willy-nilly throwing of Frisbees into the now legendary Disc Golf Tournament. We even changed the location. But what hasn’t changed is what ANW really is. Take away all of the rules and the silly games, take away the competition, the food and the beer (actually, please don’t take away the beer) and we would still have ANW. Because what ANW is, and what it has always been is the much needed chance for some of the best guys in the world to get together once a year to decompress, to rejuvenate, to let loose, to reminisce and to just be GUYS.