I don't smoke for over a decade now, but I'll always say. It was the best bad habit I have ever had. It's the best bad habit you can have. And if you think about it, you'll know it's true. It's better than alcohol, pills, drugs, gambling or whatever else habits people have.Health hazards aside, smoking was fantastic and I loved every minute of it. Smoking has calming effect, it doesn't affect your mental abilities, no one has ever abused their family in a nicotine induced rage, no accidents were ever caused due to someone smoking several cigarettes directly prior to operating mechanical vehicle.
People say it stinks, but there is nothing unnatural about aroma of humidor. Most of people smell of something every day, be it too much aftershave, kebab, vinegar chips, half digested pint from your mouth, or that generic London Underground smell of moist armpits and trainers worn for few months too long. Once you discard the "I don't want my clothes to smell of tobacco because I don't want to be associated with smoking" kitten/wuss approach, the smell of smoked humidor isn't actually offensive in comparison to most of smells you have contact with in civilization. In all honesty I think if world spent as much time developing less carcenogenous strains of tobacco as they did fighting pubs, clubs, restaurants and tax payers under "you make my pink shirt stinky" or even worse, under "I'm silly enough to think traces of tar in your secondhand smoke will kill me faster than the ethanol, or fermented hopes extracts I intend to pour in my mouth by a gallon tonight" banner, the world would be much happier place.
Of course as with everything, smoking has its time and place. Not around children. Not on an office floor. Not where people enjoy their food. But in adult life, if you ever tried one, there aren't many things more pleasurable than a cigarette break. Is it cool? Ef yeah, it's cool. It's a part of certain old school coolness. Coolness that might be impossible to comprehend in these softly times. Why was smoking cool? It was cool for the same reason why we let jeans wore with time, instead of buying them with holes for "oh I had them forever" look. Or the reason why we liked engine roar and smell of petrol from carburetor car without kitten footing around some CO2 malarky.
As I said, I no longer smoke, health reasons and all that. But I'll be absolutely honest, if tomorrow I sat down in doctors office and he said "Mr. V0n, I have bad news for you, all of those people wearing cheap parfume, fabric softener and graffitti spraying Lynx across their body several times a day around you in the city for years have caused your body to develop funny bone cancer via second hand metrosexualism, you have two months of life left", the first thing I would do after walking out of his office would be to buy a carton of Lucky Strikes. I am glad I lived in times when smoking was popular. I even had smoking office in High Holborn. Those were the times. Ef yeah!
