Welcome to the Dinner Party Download. This is your icebreaker.

Here's a little literary joke. Charles Dickens walks into a bar.

Orders a martini.

Bartender asks, Oliver Twist.

I'm Rico Gagliano.

I'm Brendan Francis Nuneum. And from American Public Media, this is the dinner party download, the show that equips you to win your next dinner party.

Our icebreaker this week came from author and roller derby queen Alex Cohen.

And coming up, author and chef Gabrielle Hamilton, the peacemaker, a drink fit for vampires, and morning.

Good morning.

First, time for small talk.

All week long, you've been reading the big headlines.

Now it's time for a smaller one you might have missed.

We're speaking with Jessica Cohen, writer for women's culture website Jezebel.

Jessica, what story are you going to be talking about at your dinner parties this weekend?

I'm going to be talking about the latest trend of hipsters growing their own tobacco.

Oh, no. Weird, but not illegal. I think that's kind of interesting. It's interesting. They're growing their own tobacco because taxes on cigarettes are so high. And, you know, it's, of course,

everything hip originates in Brooklyn, so that's where this is going on right now.

And the taxes are so high.

This is a way around it.

That'll show them.

I'm just going to buy seeds, buy containers, plant it, tend to it, grow it, dry it.

It's a little complicated.

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