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I greatly enjoy my ability to indulge the occasional cigarette. It's truly an experience, and nothing feels quite as cool as leaning against the wall outside a

I greatly enjoy my ability to indulge the occasional cigarette. It's truly an experience, and nothing feels quite as cool as leaning against the wall outside a venue and lighting up under the mercury lights. It's amazing how romantic (not just romanticized) smoking is.

freediver 4y ago
Isn’t this perception a result of falling under the influence of carefully crafted marketing and not an objective observation?
- rpmisms 4y ago
  I just know how it feels, and if marketing created that entire experience, that marketing team is the best on the planet. Obviously not an objective perspective :)
  - freediver 4y ago
    Great answer.
- pantalaimon 4y ago
  The psychoactive effects of the nicotine surely will help too
  - rpmisms 4y ago
    Nicotine is an absolutely amazing chemical, and on its own is relatively innocuous, even beneficial. It's only part of the smoking experience, though. Vapes are pleasant, but not the same effect by any stretch.
- willcipriano 4y ago
  A lot of people are aware of how jaywalking was pushed by newspapers to favor cars at the request of automobile manufacturers. Your probably know about wedding rings, valentine's day, mother/fathers day, etc getting pumped up by De Beers and the greeting card companies. Those of course aren't the only times this has happened. Huge swaths of human behavior is driven by advertising campaigns that finished a century ago and have become a meme traveling down the ages.
- dlivingston 4y ago
  I was a (hand-rolled) cigarette and pipe tobacco smoker during my university days, and there was definitely a feeling of romanticism that's quite hard to explain. Sitting outside alone, late at night, watching your cigarette smoke drift up to the stars, listening to Bob Dylan with a glass of whiskey in hand: it feels like you're the star of your own indie film. How much of that feeling was a byproduct of marketing? It's hard to say. Smoking tobacco (1) gives you a rush of dopamine, and (2) was viewed as edgy/counterculture by my 20-year-old-self, and I think those two alone are enough to explain the 'romanticism' I felt back then. However, in hindsight, that 'counterculture' vibe I got was from two aspects: 1. I was big into 1960s counterculture & beatnik culture in my early 20s, and all of my 'heroes' smoked cigarettes or pipes: Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Alan Watts, etc. That's definitely marketing, or at least marketing-adjacent. 2. Smoking is a nasty habit that people (including myself, now) rightfully are grossed-out by. My younger self interpreted "people find smoking gross" as "smoking is counterculture".
- lapetitejort 4y ago
  My thought is that going out for a smoke is a socially acceptable way of stopping whatever you're doing and letting down your guard. Working hard? Stop everything, stand up, walk somewhere, think about whatever, and also have a cigarette. Partying hard? Stop dancing, go outside, get some fresh air, talk to people without pretenses, and also have a cigarette. Marketing certainly influenced the appeal, but they also found a release valve that humans need while we're playing one of our characters.
  - freediver 4y ago
    People still need a break, what replaced this today? Also "getting some fresh air while having a cigarette" is a funny selection of words.
    - olyjohn 4y ago
      I quit smoking earlier this year. I still haven't found something to replace those breaks. I can go out and sit in the same spot for 10 minutes, and look around outside... but it's not the same. I just get anxious sitting there doing nothing, and want to go do something else. The end of the cigarette was the natural conclusion to my break. Without that, I just don't sit there very long. It's a gap in my life that I have yet to figure out how fill.
      - Fatnino 4y ago
        You fill it with tiktok. It's just as bad for you and also comes in short blocks of time.
werdnapk 4y ago
And the non-smokers perspective of watching smokers outside (especially in wet or cold weather) just looks like an addict getting their fix.

freediver 4y ago

Isn’t this perception a result of falling under the influence of carefully crafted marketing and not an objective observation?

rpmisms 4y ago
I just know how it feels, and if marketing created that entire experience, that marketing team is the best on the planet. Obviously not an objective perspective :)
- freediver 4y ago
  Great answer.
pantalaimon 4y ago
The psychoactive effects of the nicotine surely will help too
- rpmisms 4y ago
  Nicotine is an absolutely amazing chemical, and on its own is relatively innocuous, even beneficial. It's only part of the smoking experience, though. Vapes are pleasant, but not the same effect by any stretch.
willcipriano 4y ago
A lot of people are aware of how jaywalking was pushed by newspapers to favor cars at the request of automobile manufacturers. Your probably know about wedding rings, valentine's day, mother/fathers day, etc getting pumped up by De Beers and the greeting card companies. Those of course aren't the only times this has happened. Huge swaths of human behavior is driven by advertising campaigns that finished a century ago and have become a meme traveling down the ages.
dlivingston 4y ago
I was a (hand-rolled) cigarette and pipe tobacco smoker during my university days, and there was definitely a feeling of romanticism that's quite hard to explain. Sitting outside alone, late at night, watching your cigarette smoke drift up to the stars, listening to Bob Dylan with a glass of whiskey in hand: it feels like you're the star of your own indie film. How much of that feeling was a byproduct of marketing? It's hard to say. Smoking tobacco (1) gives you a rush of dopamine, and (2) was viewed as edgy/counterculture by my 20-year-old-self, and I think those two alone are enough to explain the 'romanticism' I felt back then. However, in hindsight, that 'counterculture' vibe I got was from two aspects: 1. I was big into 1960s counterculture & beatnik culture in my early 20s, and all of my 'heroes' smoked cigarettes or pipes: Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Alan Watts, etc. That's definitely marketing, or at least marketing-adjacent. 2. Smoking is a nasty habit that people (including myself, now) rightfully are grossed-out by. My younger self interpreted "people find smoking gross" as "smoking is counterculture".
lapetitejort 4y ago
My thought is that going out for a smoke is a socially acceptable way of stopping whatever you're doing and letting down your guard. Working hard? Stop everything, stand up, walk somewhere, think about whatever, and also have a cigarette. Partying hard? Stop dancing, go outside, get some fresh air, talk to people without pretenses, and also have a cigarette. Marketing certainly influenced the appeal, but they also found a release valve that humans need while we're playing one of our characters.
- freediver 4y ago
  People still need a break, what replaced this today? Also "getting some fresh air while having a cigarette" is a funny selection of words.
  - olyjohn 4y ago
    I quit smoking earlier this year. I still haven't found something to replace those breaks. I can go out and sit in the same spot for 10 minutes, and look around outside... but it's not the same. I just get anxious sitting there doing nothing, and want to go do something else. The end of the cigarette was the natural conclusion to my break. Without that, I just don't sit there very long. It's a gap in my life that I have yet to figure out how fill.
    - Fatnino 4y ago
      You fill it with tiktok. It's just as bad for you and also comes in short blocks of time.

werdnapk 4y ago

And the non-smokers perspective of watching smokers outside (especially in wet or cold weather) just looks like an addict getting their fix.