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 explai

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".