Allen Parked Firmly in the Smoking Section

Source from:  Mon Jul 7, news.yahoo.com By Mike Nahrstedt 07/08/2008

For a guy who trains intensely and has become exceedingly careful about what he puts in his body, it's interesting how prominent a role tobacco plays in Jared Allen's hunting. On the drive to the hunting lodge, Allen stops at no fewer than three gas stations before finding one that sells the chewing tobacco he wants, Red Man. "You spend a lot of time waiting when you're hunting," he says. "Chew is great to help pass the time. It's one of those things I feel naked if I don't have it with me." And then there's the matter of his traditional smoke before the hunt begins. It's just one cigarette, and it is pulled from the same pack he bought last year. But he won't start his hunt without it. "It's just the one superstition I have about hunting," he says. "I'm really not superstitious," says his guide, Gary Stueve. "Neither am I," says Allen, smiling. "It just gives me an excuse to smoke a cigarette." After firing off three rounds to test his scope before the bear hunt, Allen lights up a Parliament Light. "I don't drink. I work out like a madman. I eat great," he says, taking a puff. "So for people to see me smoking a cigarette, in my mind, it's hilarious." Mike Nahrstedt is a managing editor for Sporting News. E-mail him at mnahrstedt@sportingnews.com. Enditem