Our logo was developed from a cartoon that appeared with a 1923 QST article titled "ROTTEN QRM" that was written by "The Old Man" himself, Hiram Percy Maxim, W1AW.   Otto Eppers, W2EA, a commercial artist and a Charter Member, made some minor modifications to the drawing, added some sparks, the letters "QCWA", and our QCWA logo was born.

A Ham once told me; "I simply cannot be associated with an organization whose logo celebrates what we all know to be a serious public health concern in the United States and the world."

Our logo does not Celebrate smoking, it mearly is a snapshot of a bygone era.

From http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_age_do_people_start_smoking_at
Q: What age do people start smoking?
A: 11 years old, as teens or preteens. The average age of starting is 13, ninty percent start by age 18.

Our logo hardly influences anyone to start smoking. The youngest Hams don't become familiar with our logo until they are 30 to 40 years old (licensed between 5 and 15, then wait 25 years to join). If they are influenced to start smoking at that age by our logo, they have bigger issues to deal with in their lives.