| |
|
Intresting. I agree that there's a lot more to smoking than getting a nicotine fix. I'm pretty conscious of smoking behaviour. I dwell on mine quite a lot - the small routines, the acquired and specialised little dexterities and sensations... I also observe it quite closely in others. I think I can tell quite a lot about a person by the way they handle a cigarette.
I smoke Benson & Hedges. People try to convince me otherwise, but I suspect one's choice of brand is entirely to to with its image. I prefer the taste of a Benson over any other, but I think this is just a preference I have acquired through familiarity. I've smoked a few brands in my 22 year career, but there's something about B&H. They're the cig Jack Duckworth smokes, and men called Stan. I was quite happy to discover that they're called 'Senior Service' in the US. I have a soft spot for Rothmans, but I have far far more brand loyalty toward B&H than I do to any other product. Hmmm, I could talk at length about the associations I make with different brands, but that might be a thread on its own.
I smoke exclusively right-handed, but envy people who are
ambidextrous with cigarettes.
I hold the cigarette beteween the first and second knuckles of index and middle finger, gripping it at the top of the filter.
When seated at a table, I tend to plant my elbow down, with smoking hand raised vertically beside my face. I've been told that this is vaguely camp. I do resist the more traditionally butch styles.
I never grip the cigarette low, where the fingers meet the palm (like my dad did), unless I'm typing with it in hand. Even then I'll push it back up with my thumb to take a drag.
I only ever hold it 'overhand', between finger and thumb, if I'm pulling on the last millimeter of tabacco, or squeezing through a crowd and want to shield the burning end with my palm.
I sometimes exhale through my nose but don't make smoke rings. I tend to blow it in a directional jet away from other people - normally up at the ceiling.
I am festidious about extinguishing them, and dislike smoldering butts in ashtrays.
I don't have a zippo or the tricks (although I did as a youngster), but I'm reasonably playful in other ways. I sometimes find myself worrying the cigarette in my fingers with my thumb, rolling it between my fingers a little, that kind of thing. I also like to flick the butt away at the end. I'm pretty good at that, in both range and accuracy. Oh, and I tend to roll the ember into a cone on the side of the ash-tray, but at the same time prefer the look of a long, grey, teetering, flat-ended stack.
I'll always cup the lighter with my hand, whether indoors or out, and dip my head to meet it.
I smoke in bed. I'll smoke pretty much anywhere I can; I'd probably smoke in the shower if I could (and yes, I have considered on of those plastic visors).
I smoke constantly when nervous, drinking or in unfamilar company. Those three generally go together so it's hard to know what's the important factor.
I take big drags. I smoke about 20% faster than most people I know.
I no doubt stink of fags but it doesn't bother me too much. I like the smell on other people.
I prefer kissing smokers to non-smokers.
Things I don't do:
Reverse one cigarette in a new packet for luck. What is all that about?
Tap the cigarette on a surface, like Bogart would on a silver cigarette case. I see this quite a lot and can never understand the point, particularly with filters. I'm told it tamps down the tobacco, but I've never noticed the need. Anyone do this?
Keep a cigarette behind my ear.
I will very rarely put a cigarette down once lit, even when typing. I'll stall doing anything that I can't achieve with fag in hand. It's a habit I'd like to break. I've always thought it looks rather sophisticated to periodically rest a cigarette in an ashtray, and it would no doubt eke them out.
I also smoke a couple of joints a day, and am very particular about construction quality. It should have the same consistancy and 'pull' as a ciggie. The cone should be made to fit the roach, not the other way round. A Benson should be used. I'll top and tail it with scissors. I like them to have pleasing proportions and look nice. People mock me, but I think it's something to take pride in. If a job's worth doing it's worth doing well, and all that toss.
I work in an industry where smoking is, it seems, uncommonly popular. Being a smoker has definitely benefitted my career. Most of the people I work with smoke, and socialising with colleagues offers a rich opportunity to observe smoking behaviour.
I should confess that the first thing I observe in smokers is that I like them. In terms of first impression, few things attract me more than a cigarette in hand. There's something of the club tie about it, which I suppose is pretty loathsome, and possibly Just Another Kind Of Racism. Nevertheless, it does sometimes seem as if the kind of people who smoke are often the kind of people I like. I suspect that there is a certain 'type' who is attracted to smoking (we don't smoke simply because we are addicted to nicotine - none of us was an addict when we started smoking), and that type seems to have other charateristics I enjoy. Huge generalisation, obv, but that's how it seems to me.
I don't know what all this says about me. Probably that I'm waaaay to into smoking. I'd be interested to know more about that book, Trebor. |
|
|
