Because smoking is almost universally denigrated and I am a hopeless contrarian,[ref]Social anathemas like smoking instinctually make me look for ways to defend them. A similar impulse animated my CFL post.[/ref] I will extol the virtues of smoking tobacco.[ref]The health problems associated with smoking are many and obvious and, lest anyone should think otherwise, I am not advocating that anyone reading this picks up the habit. Nor am I trying to improve the lot of large tobacco corporations, who cannot be relocated to their special place in hell soon enough. Finally, mass-manufactured cigarettes are the ass-end of tobacco—much as Budweiser and its ilk can only be called “beer”—and can only technically and begrudgingly be included in this list.[/ref] [ref]Because you’re naturally wondering: I smoked cigarettes from the age of 16-19, after which I quit. I’ve been smoking hookah and pipe tobacco semi-regularly for the past four years.[/ref] Long footnoted qualifications aside, I want to draw some attention to a few virtues of smoking to contrast with its obvious vices.
The first virtue is that it gives one the regular opportunity to stop and think. In a relentlessly driving world that hardly ever pauses to catch its breath, smoking provides the regular opportunity to break from whatever you’re doing, change your scenery and, well, pause. Pause and reflect, perhaps, or maybe pause and think about nothing for a while. In any case, it’s a pause, which is virtue enough in and of itself.
And, in an increasingly isolated—if supposedly more “connected”—culture, smoking promotes sociality. Whether it’s the shared ritual of the hookah or the simple act of asking a colleague to join you for a smoke break, smoking is at its best a shared activity. I have few fond memories of my teenage years, but flirting with coworkers on snuck smoke breaks is one of them.
Smoking also give rhythm to life, introducing a cadence to your day, a way of marking time in a world where we march inexorably towards 24 hour everything. A way to start the day and end the day; to cap off a meal or making love, smoking gives structure to the time in our lives. It’s precisely the sudden absence of well-worn routine that makes quitting smoking so difficult for addicts who face much more than chemical withdrawal.
Finally, smoking can also be an aesthetic delight, especially the further one gets from mass-market cigarettes. Exploring the different varieties of tobacco and modes of smoking it can produce a lifetime of experimentation and enjoyment. And few things can compete with the simple pleasure of blowing a series of perfect smoke rings.
As already (foot)noted, none of this diminishes the fact that smoking comes with profound health risks, not only for yourself, but for those around you. Smoking can—and does—kill, and should not be blithely approached as just another hobby. But, particularly if one embraces the non-inhaling modes of tobacco smoking such as pipe or cigar, smoking has its virtues.
4 responses to “On the Virtues of Smoking”
amen brother.
This is great. I’m no regular smoker, but I very much see the virtues in cigars for the many reasons you pointed out. Though I find it hard to communicate this with people in a world where smoking is so frowned upon, and in a world that moves so fast, giving little time to actually ponder the positives of smoking. You’ve been able to say all this better than I would have.
Out of all the workers I have employed over the years I can only tell you the smokers are a scourge. Especially with many construction sites being non smoking. Either smoking or day dreaming about smoking their production is unfailingly lower than non smokers. I realize that in Manitoba the connection between your production and your paycheque is often misunderstood so I am sure I sound like some fat cat type-A capitalist here.
@Blair Thanks for dropping by, and your kind comment.
@William You are surely describing addicted cigarette smokers, who are all-but excluded from the virtues I’ve listed in this post. Still, I wonder if the correlation you’ve observed actually entails the causation you think it does.