Life Was Better With Cigarettes

Never mind any health related complications caused by smoking. Yes I know they give you lung, throat, mouth, teeth, and brain cancer. But my cell phone will give me brain and testicular cancer, the sun is giving me skin cancer, everything at the LAX airport will give me cancer, my microwave will give me cancer, red meat will give me cancer, and so will processed foods. That being said, everything was simply cooler when people still smoked.

When I first turned 21, Wisconsin was still fending off bordering states and their push against cigarettes by still allowing smoking in bars. What developed was smoke-filled dens called bars. They were packed with sleazy women and horned up men, which created a lot of hookups. On any given night, no matter what the weather was like, people were crammed in any dumpy establishment to chain smoke and binge drink until they either found a way to get laid or passed out in the street.

At the time, these events were normal. Twelve short months later however, I quickly realized that I had just fit into the last great period for bars in the area. Once cigarettes were banned, the bars emptied out. Whether you were a fan of smoking or not, the realization I quickly became aware of was that the majority of fun people who filled the bar smoked. Once the air was clean and clear the pterodactyl across the room seemed even less attractive than before.

What I also realized was that men were way more badass when they smoked. It’s not that smoking really turns you into a badass—it’s just something about the type of man that was portrayed during the height of men who smoked. Mad Men shows cutthroat business men. Marlboro portrayed kickass cowboys. The concept of a man in jeans and a beater drinking a PBR and smoking a cigarette is just simply cooler than some sissy in an affliction t-shirt drinking his apple martini. And unfortunately that is what society has developed into. Men are no longer hard-ass pussy slayers. They are now dolled-up wussbags.

10039-Marlboro_Man_16.05.2012

Additionally, while I despise the taste of cigarette smoke during a kiss, the appeal of a woman smoking a cigarette does wonders visually. Plus it provided quite possibly the two best openers of all time, offering a cigarette, or offering a light; acts that were both chivalrous and manly. The closest option you have these days is attempting to buy a drink; a move that betas have all but ruined.

Woman-Ends-Smoking

So what made me recollect on these ideas? For starters, as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I had been on a 80’s movie kick. Clint Eastwood smoked and every character he played was awesome. Paul Newman smoked too. In fact, I challenge you to find an action flick in the 80’s that didn’t involve smoking. It’s virtually impossible,  because every action star got laid, smoked cigarettes, and blew stuff up. It was the 80’s, that’s how they rolled, and it was awesome!

Clint-Eastwood-150dpi2

The biggest push towards my recollection of how smoking made things better was going out in St. Paul for Saint Patrick’s day. Outdoor tents were setup with makeshift bars downtown, and inside was filled with drunken youth listening to live bands, smoking, and chugging booze. It was a one night only refresher of the good ol’ days. And as I participated in a night of social smoking and drinking I realized it’s more a symbol of freedom and carelessness than anything else. The concept of cigarettes killing you is important to note, as life is good, but the idea of forever enjoying your youth is mostly founded on the idea of capturing the days of being carefree. And when people smoked frequently, it was the ultimate symbol of not caring. When cigarettes were present, zero fucks were given. And that is a symbol that America has lost.

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120 thoughts on “Life Was Better With Cigarettes”

  1. I had a girl who kept pouting whenever I smoked. Getting her to spread that pussy was effortless because I was basically passing a shit test with every puff I took. It was like having 20 little wingmen in my pocket.

  2. I just went to my 10 year old phone to capture some videos and photos from the military times today. Also checked sent SMS’ where I had asked my friend to go and grab a beer with me as smoking ban in the bars would kick in that midnight. Man I felt nostalgic. It read: “It’s going to be retarded sitting in a bar where no one smokes”. Also, I just recently moved back to Finland from Japan. There I had enjoyed once again smoking indoors, bars, clubs, cafes and friggin McDonald’s. I gotta say one thing though. I do not miss the smoking times too much in Finland. Now smoking outside is the number one spot to pick a chick up. You get to engage strangers in convo in peace and quiet. It’s like picking up rebounds on the streets after closing hours, only you can do it winter time too.

  3. This is because our society places a premium on life instead of enjoyment. And by life I mean a long, eventless, danger-free existence that ensures greater contribution to the system.

    1. Bah, our society places a premium on the kind of enjoyment it glorifies. It doesn’t care, for example, that a fifth of women are infected with herpes.

      1. The “risk” associated with herpes is not life-threatening. Not directly anyways. Of course, with the prevalence of some of these superbacteria STDs, that might actually alter the risk v. reward of random hookups.

    2. Don’t know about that one. Government has done nothing to stop smoking, they only found a way to make tons of money off it. Also, look at our food, again, nothing to stop companies from poisoning us with there foods that numb our brains and shut down receptors to tell us to stop eating. It seems to me the Government wants you to pay into the system just long enough till you become a taker and then drop dead after years of booze, smokes, and eating garbage. The 95 year old health nut who knows everyone in the hospital by first name costs far more than the fat guy who smoked 2 packs a day and dropped dead at 62.

      1. The government has forced companies to post the danger labels on every pack in addition to banning smoking within 50 ft. from federal buildings. And taxing the hell out of tobacco products to the point of diminishing returns on their revenue. They seem to be doing quite a bit to discourage smoking and it is working based on the significant reduction in the percentage of smokers. Though the 95 year old will cost more over his lifetime, his net contribution will be greater compared to the fatass that drops dead prematurely. As an ancillary to that, obesity is one of the primary reasons we have such disproportionately expensive health care costs in America.

        1. Actually, John, that 95-yer-old WILL be more of a drag: Check the costs in the gerontology section of medicine. 😉
          Whereas, the 62-year-old is still in his productive time, most likely (retirmenet getting to be older and older, so you keep chasing that carrot on the stick.)
          And Gov’t WANTS you to die before you start taking more from the system, like a Good Little Prole… That way there’s more for the Gov’t parasites. And always a new body coming up to replace you…

      1. Bullshit.
        Go look at what’s on the runway now – they look like adolescent boys and skeletons.
        Then go look at the print ads for the times – Sears catalog, for example – and see the models.
        The women then were heavier (Marilyn Monroe would be BBW today, and I don’t mean 500 pounds of lard, but “I’m a BBW princess” vomit-inducing slugs that think they’re “Buxom” instead of just Morbidly Obese.) But they had CURVES in the right places. Their curves were at their hips and on their chests (and in their ribcage, if you look at the skeletons), and they fit VERY well into a man’s arms. AND he could carry them.
        Somehoe they didn’t have curves around their knees or cankles, or under their chins, or around their waists… You didn’t have to roll them in flour and look for the wet spot, after downing a few gallons of alcohol so you couldn’t see what they looked like any more.
        And of girls today? Many seem to ADOPT cmoking to try and stay “thin”. Compare Audrey Hepburn to Heidi Klum – you can do it. How about runway models instead of lingerie models? Heidi or Audrey to … Dorian Veigh, or Dovina, or Sunny Hartet (Grabbed those off Harper’s, thank you Google), or Andrej Pejic – a MAN who models women’s clothes? And is not alone, either, not even unusual any more.
        Just make the comparisons. Smoking good or bad, the women have changed in the NEGATIVE direction, and could USE some softening up. They are TOO THIN or TOO OBESE now. Not then.

  4. I love this site , but I deeply despise women that smoke. That shit is a disgusting habit and it ages women skin faster than tanning beds. I can accept a woman that only smokes when she drinks on weekends, or weed smokers, but a 1 or 2 pack a day woman is not the one….for me anyway.

    1. one or two pack a day is beyond smoking in my book. When you need 20 breaks a day you’ve gone too far.

    2. ” it ages women skin faster than tanning beds.”
      Irrelevant. By the time those effects sink in, you already exchanged her for someone younger.

      1. Unfortunately it is relevant because you are talking about an overall decline in a society the more women smoke- it’s a bad lifestyle choice almost on par with obesity when it comes to degrading female looks.

        1. Marriage is dead in America so the only downside to having an older un-attractive woman would be with being stuck married to one. So long as women can maintain their looks through mid-40’s you should never have to deal with the fallout that comes later in life.

        2. “So long as women can maintain their looks through mid-40’s you should never have to deal with the fallout that comes later in life.”
          What do you mean?

        3. Like Roosh said “by the time those effects sink in, you already exchanged her for someone younger.” inevitably as you get older the women you pick up might be older. But really if you do it correctly you should never have to settle for a woman older than her mid 40’s.

    3. It might be one reason why Russian/Ukrainian women age so badly, in general. They smoke a lot.

  5. Smoking in bars is nice, but its also nice to be able to rewear clothing the next day and not have the stench permeating your skin and hair. You can still smoke in a lot of bars in AK which is fun every once in a while.

    1. I can agree with that. Wearing an outfit for a few hours only to have to wash it due to the smell sucked. On the bright side if you did bars on Fri and Campfire on Sat you could wear the same clothes. Just had to make sure you were there when the fire was first lit.

  6. Ironic that ROK should post this the morning after I read this free e-book: In Defense of Smoking
    I don’t like cigarettes, but I do enjoy some good cigars and pipe weed on occasion.
    When I grew up in the 80’s, I remember many of the adult men of my small home town all smoked pipes and cigars. I used to see them smoking while doing yard work or working on their cars, or while they coached little league or simply taking the dog for a walk. I always did like the smell of good tobacco, despite my parents warning me to NEVER SMOKE OR YOU’LL DIE OF CANCER.
    All the local stores and shops sold pipes, accessories, and they had humidors. The anti-tobacco hysteria campaigns and smoking bans in the 90’s basically killed all appreciation for puffing on good tobacco in pipes and cigars.
    Now, I almost never see anyone, anywhere (at least here in Hawaii) publicly enjoying some good pipe weed. It’s a travesty.
    The more you research it, the more you come to realize that tobacco is nowhere near the evil killer we’ve all been propagandized into believing.

  7. WTF Roosh? First the “race differences in intelligence are as important as race differences in throwing a ball through a hoop” article, then the “how I ignored the advice of my elders and embraced Jezebelian carousel riding now “cell phones give you cancer, and slutty smokers are hot.”

  8. You might be surprised at how many owners of small bars will give you a cup filled with water if you ask for a makeshift ashtray on a slow night. Even though Chicago is non-smoking by law, I have my regular spots I go to where smoking isn’t frowned upon.
    Check out some cop bars or firefighter bars, especially. They’ll always have a smoking bar present, even on busy weekends.
    I carry with me a few tickets I’ve gotten for smoking in California bars and getting caught and “fined”. Always a fun thing to whip out if some progressive bra protesting slut asks me why I think I can smoke when its illegal.
    My reply?
    Because I can afford the fine, and she can’t.

  9. That being said, everything was simply cooler when people still smoked.
    Try saying that after caring for a parent with terminal COPD for 10 years (as a result of 40 years of smoking). Until you have had this experience, you should shut your hole!!!

    1. Pent up aggression much? This article doesn’t say you should chain smoke which you just stated your parents did for 40 years. Sucks they left you in that position but you should put your blame on them.

      1. Like I said before, I say it again to all three of you bozos.
        Try caring for a family member with COPD for 8 years before opening your traps about the supposed “benefits” of smoking. I have this experience. You bozos obviously do not.

        1. I accept your argument. Then you are OK with marijuana and psilocybin use on an occasional basis.

        2. nothing wrong with that. And i do support your argument on the negative affects from tobacco. you can’t really argue they dont exist, it’s been proven. but they are due to 2 factors. 1 lack of moderation. 2 cigarettes changed from tobacco to a hybrid blend with a bunch of crap in them. if people put say a 10 year period of moderate use though, you get the benefit explained in this article and would probably be ok health wise.

        3. Let me clarify. I believe people have the right to smoke if they want. I certainly have no desire to ban cigarettes. I even think people should be able to smoke in bars and nightclubs. Likewise, I think ALL drugs should be legalized as well. Its time to end prohibition 2. I even think prostitution should be legalized as well.
          Having said that, respecting people’s right to smoke and do drugs is not the same as saying that it is cool. There is nothing cool about any kind of self-destructive behavior.

        4. Actually NONE of that bullshit has ever been proven.
          Of all the people in the world over 100 (there aren’t many) over 80 percent of them SMOKE.
          World’s oldest man (122) HAS BEEN SMOKING FOR OVER 100 YEARS.

    2. 40 years of smoking. Everytime I read about smoking victims, they smoked something like 40 cigarettes a day for 30, 40, 50 years. So one should never know, ever, the pleasure of smoking? What about just moderating yourself the fuck up or just stop smoking eventually?

      1. There are ways to enjoy nicotine without breathing in the products of combustion. Its not the Nicotine that causes the damage, but the fact that one is breathing in the smoke from a fire.

    3. How can you be so certain that the cause was smoking? How do NON-smokers get to suffer from COPD? (yes they do!). Why have actual cases of COPD continued to increase despite the reduction in smoking?
      Try working out why there are so many contradictions with anti-smoker propaganda slogans! Try not to be an unthinking drone!

      1. 85% of COPD cases are due to smoking. This is well-known in the medical literature. The remaining 15% of cases are nearly all caused by long-term exposure to dust and particle environments, usually work environments.

        1. I ask again – Why then are actual cases of COPD increasing ? (approx 50,000 in 1979 to 125,000 in 2007: CDC) DESPITE the reduction in smokers.
          It is also apparently ‘well known’ that 80% of lung cancers are caused by smoking (as claimed in 1950’s studies) BUT we now know that in actual fact the opposite is true – 80% of new cases of lung cancer in the US are now diagnosed in NON-smokers (Dr Lynn Eldridge US cancer specialist)
          Invariably, those who quote these frightening exaggerated stats are paid to do so. Don’t fall for anti-smoker propaganda slogans

        2. Every one I know with either COPD or lung cancer has gotten it as a result of long term smoking. All of the medical literature on both diseases say that nearly all cases (like 99%) are due to either long term smoking or long term exposure to dusty environments (for example, working in a saw mill). Avoid either of these environments and your chances of getting either condition is nearly nil.

        3. Still avoiding the question and reverting to the old ‘everyone knows’ fallacy and anti-smoker propaganda. This requires that you use your brain and rational thought, instead of deferring to your ‘experts’.
          There is a very big downside to stigmatizing lung cancer as a ‘smoker disease’. It gives non-smokers a false sense of security, cons them into believing that lung cancer (LC) is a ‘self inflicted’ disease that can be eliminated merely by forcing smokers to quit. As a result, LC care and research to find real causes and cures is starved of funding. LC is the number 1 cancer killer in most western countries yet it receives a fraction of the funding of other, less prevalent cancers. Non smokers and smokers will continue to die unnecessarily while people continue to believe this deception.. The same could be (is?) happening with COPD?
          Cast your mind back a few years and anti-smoker propaganda conned people into believing that throat and oral cancer was ‘smoke related’- Second only to LC. We now know that most of these cancers are caused by the HPV virus, so it was quietly dropped from anti-smoker propaganda (but they will STILL claim it is smoke related’ if challenged).
          This should give you food for thought along with all the other contradictions that are easily identified using rational thought.

  10. I’m trying very much to give up my own cigarette habit in favor of cigars. Much less of a risk of cancer, more manly, more sophisticated, and more something you choose to do, rather than be addicted to. Even in non-smoking states you can still find cigar clubs and cigar bars where you can gather with friends and light up. Because these often establish themselves as private “clubs”, they can bypass the kinds of rules that restrict smoking in your average watering hole.

  11. You can smoke electronic cigarettes inside. Plus, some of them glow different colors. Massively easy to grab people’s attention in bars and start conversations with them. Plus the smoke smells flavored, so you can blow it in a girl’s face and say “here, smell.” It’s a great lazy passive opener.

    1. i’ve seen them but always wondered how they were similar or different compared to traditional cigarettes.

  12. The late, great Joe Strummer once said that: “the best art and the best literature come from people who smoke.”

  13. Although, I’m NOT a smoker I fully understand the ‘social’ attraction of smoking. Offering a light, carrying your cigarettes in a nice case, nice lighter, etc., creates a ‘presence’.
    Another idea is ‘pipe’ smoking which was HUGE in the 60s. Check out old TV shows of Hugh Hefner puffing away.

  14. Smoking tobaccco eventually destroys your ability to get an erection due to scarring of the blood vessels that feed the penis.

    1. I hardly doubt cigarettes could affect my erection any more than the processed food served in this country.

    2. Anti-smoker propaganda – absolute rubbish. Studies have shown that smoking improves vascularisation.
      In addition, a study of men over 50 found that smokers retained MORE testosterone than non-smokers – ie the sex drive hormone for both men and women. Smokers are randier and enjoy sex more than non smokers. It also gives an indication as to why smoking women DO appear to be sexier.

      1. I googled(Studies have shown that smoking improves vascularisation) but could not find any. Can you provide a link? Thanks.

        1. Interesting study you quote there (Minnesota) elmer ! Did you read it?
          

What you must first realise is that ‘research’ into erectile dysfunction/smoking, to my knowledge, has been done/funded almost exclusively by ‘tobacco CONTROL’. To state that there will be bias is an understatement. One TC study was even titled; “Erectile dysfunction and smoking: SUBVERTING tobacco industry images of masculine potency”. No need for imagination to understand their motivation here!


          Back to your study. After a raft of anti-smoker propaganda it states; 
“Erectile dysfunction (ED) has been reported to be associated with smoking, and antismoking advertising campaigns have tried to use this information to their advantage.” [but] “…despite the media attention, the association between smoking and ED is NOT well established…”.
          So the scary claims regarding ED /smoking are just unsubstantiated hyperbole, designed to frighten the life out of adolescents and young adults. This con or ‘error cascade’ is on a par with the ‘black lung lie’! http://cfrankdavis.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/the-black-lung-lie/
          But, this study concludes smokers suffer from double the ED of non smokers? Not that simple unfortunately! It states; “…these cross-sectional data do not prove cause and effect”. In fact, not one of the results it produces is statistically significant. The results indicate that it is feasible for smokers to have less/more or the same ED as non-smokers. any other conclusion is rhetoric, matter of opinion, appeal to authority.
          It does list a few studies that show smokers have higher levels of testosterone and other relevant hormones and this is very relevant to erectile health.

  15. I too do not like cigarettes, but also find I agree with the article. And yes there are tons of other things that will give us cancer.

  16. First of all government has no right to decide what you can and can’t do with your life. If Govt. can tell us not to smoke they can also start telling us what to eat and so forth, until we all end up in a global version of North Korea.
    Second of all the Smoking = Cancer / Health nightmare story, will slowly be revealed to be the exaggerated BS. cover up that it really is. Most household cleaning products that you breath on a daily basis are far more cancerous than burning tobacco leaves, a natural plant. So is that new car smell from PVC products, so is the dust from brake pads on cars that fill every roadway worldwide. So is the fumes from glues in particle board Ikea type furniture. Not to mention the residues from all plastic bottles, also used as liners in all tin cans….so healthy that mineral water yes…..
    If the real cancer causes came out, it wouldn’t just be Tobacco companies being sued, 1/2 the blue chip companies would be up for massive law suits. Ah… but he / she was a smoker…. problem solved. Cancer rates are going through the roof despite all the smoking bans…. strange huh ? I never heard of anyone with Cancer in their 30s and 40s when I was growing up and people smoked 30-40 a day, but now it’s almost like getting a cold and smokers are down below 20%. A friend of mine, non smoker, died at 35, riddled with Cancer.
    As for heart disease and clogged arteries, research is starting to show the real culprit as wheat and sugar laced products. Start trying not to eat wheat and sugar and see how difficult it is to find products. Imagine how many food manufacturers would be up for billions in damages if the truth comes out about wheat and sugar.
    Finally the Tobacco plant is basically the sea level cousin of the coca plant. Nicotine is one of the best drugs around. Like Cocaine without the psychotic addiction, it makes you think sharp and clear, it makes you relaxed but alert, it makes you think independently. The good old Malboro man, and the Clint Eastwood cowboy is not just a marketing myth. Soldiers like Tobacco for a reason. The American Sniper, mentions in his book, how he needed a bit of chewing Tobacco to shoot better. Tobacco makes you more functional. The socialist state doesn’t want sharp functional people, it wants lifeless drones that obey laws.
    Winston Churchill smoked and he won the war, he also lived until 91 years old. Pass me a cuban.
    Einstein smoked, and he found a totally new way to look at our entire reality. Pass me the pipe. He died at 76.
    1/2 of smokers mysteriously don’t die of so called “smoking related causes”. Medical research never focuses on that little glaring mystery. Perhaps the smokers that die of those causes were actually just exposed to more toilet cleaner, more air freshener, more plastic bottles, more brake pad dust etc.
    You can’t smoke in here…. But I can, because I am not a socialist :-)~

    1. Hate also prevents them from seeing the truth – that there are bigger things to worry about like how their government is screwing them everyday.

    2. it’s not about government. it’s the freedom that i have to not get lung cancer from your second hand smoke when i go out to a bar for a drink.

      1. See the common ground would be “i don’t want second hand smoke so there should be bars that are smoke free.” what happened was people like you went “i dont like smoke so ban it everywhere.” and now bars suck ass.

        1. They probably tried and the owners probably kept choosing smoking because they got better business. So the non smokers do what everyone in America does when they dont get their way. whine until they ruin it for everyone.

        2. Actually, the non-smokers would often say “First Available (Table)”, then complain if they were in the smoking section.
          Then, crooked / cooked research showed up claiming one after another disease is directly, intimately connected to smoking. (Paid for by the Lung Cancer Society of America, or American Heart Foundation, etc.) They are (a) LYING, (b) dishonest, and (c) wrong.
          For instance: Drunk driver sitting at a light is hit and killed by a sober person who lost control of the car. It’s an alcohol-related fatality.
          Also, “children” killed by guns includes people up to 25 or so, including gangbangers, and I’ve speculated it may include those shot by police as well… In comission of a crime, mind. Not talking accidental discharges or bystanders, just inteded, known criminal targets.
          Nicotine DOES work on your brain: Direct stimulant. OTOH, the tobacco is treated with SHITLOADS of chemicals, including stuff like formaldehyde. Enbalming fluid. Preservative. TOXIN. Mercury is in there too, IIRC, and ammonia, and what amounts to industrial cleansers. Guess what? They are in your water, and air, and food, too. Grill a steak? That burning fat is LOADED with carcinogens! (Gas or coal doesn’t matter.)
          I WISH people would GROW UP, but they’re all too busy making sure NO monkey can have the banana, they never think of breaking out of the cage and killing the researchers. (Alluding to an experiment with monkeys caged, and a banan is suspended from the top. Every time a monkey goes for the banana, the troop is hosed down. Eventually they attack any monkey climbing after the banana. You can cycle out ALL the original monkeys, then, and even when they are all removed, if removed over time – the new monkeys still won’t go after the banana. The original ones were hosed, then punished each other, then punished newcomers, and no hose was needed. Until finally, none of the monkeys know why to NOT go after the banana, they just… Won’t. Because the other monkeys will beat them if they do.)

        3. People don’t read research papers anyway. Can’t say I read papers often, but at least I don’t say, “Research has shown….” Pretentious bullshit. It really is like Animal Farm. Some bullshit article about some research comes up and everyone is, “Yeah, yeah, we should so totally do that.” All these research about cigarettes are cherry picking. There’s no comparatives – what about your chances of dying in a car accident? Or just walking on the side of the road? How dangerous is smoking compared to a diet of McDonald’s? Increases your likelihood of dying – when? Now? In my 50s? In my 70s? In my 70s isn’t so bad. What about smokers who live past 80? They fail to mention genetics, don’t they? What if I only smoke every 2 weeks (that’s my pattern)? If smoking is banned, what about all the other smokers who only smoke every now and then? Another pleasurable activity robbed. And how often do you see someone walk to a smoker and say, “Excuse me, your cigarette smoke is bothering me.” If someone told me that, I’d go smoke somewhere else. But noooo…… They assume every smoker is a gangster. So you can’t smoke anywhere. Judgmental pricks.

      2. Gaetano: ESAD.
        My father smoked, my grandfather smoked; until 6 months ago, I had never smoked. I still hate cigarettes.
        THE RESEARCH WAS FIXED. It often is.
        And you have the freedom to LEAVE, so exercise it: Don’t patronize establishments that allow smoking.
        Leave others to enjoy what they want. We’ll leave you to lick your own balls like dogs do…

    3. You’re right Richard W1, when I quit nicotine the VERY worst part is that for better than a week my brain would not reliably cooperate with my will…I felt VERY dull.

  17. Interesting article. I would add that women who smoke are much more PROMISCUOUS ( yay!!) . This has been proven in multiple studies. People ( gals and guys) who smoke tend to engage in more risk taking behavior ie BONING ( yay). So fellas ,a gal that smokes is the one you should concentrate all your BANG mojo on.

  18. On my last visit to Argentina, I noticed that the majority people smoked, or did at least during their nightlife. The atmosphere was very much how you described it, a symbol of freedom and carelessness. Combining with the hospitality of the argentines and the allure of beautiful women, it made for a dreamy landscape during the late hours of the weekend. Perhaps America would benefit from a re-introduction of cigarettes into its bars.

  19. Countries where smoking is demonized: USA, Canada
    Countries where smoking is prevalent: Romania, Lithuania, Ukraine, Croatia
    I generally hate smoking, but when I find myself annoyed that everyone smokes, I’m also surrounded by very beautiful women.

    1. Add Ireland to that list of countries that hate smoking. We were the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace.

  20. I never was a smoker myself, but I saw what the indoor smoking bans did to the communities I was a part of in the early 1990s…the clubs I hung out in went from being full of people to being virtual graveyards. (I also think the expansion of the Internet has hurt real-world communities)

    1. the pitfalls to society. Smokers were social and now they’ve been cast aside. and the society left cant communicate outside of a screen. America has fallen

  21. I disagree with this article.
    The cancer risk, and adverse health and psychological effects, of smoking are subjectively, statistically and epidemiologically, far more significant than the other things that the author of the article tries to compare in the first paragraph. A visit to the airport being compared to being a smoker? Give me a break.
    Nicotine is addictive as hell, and very soon you are not smoking due to all these “benefits” listed in this article, but because you can’t help yourself function without a cigarette.
    I hope nobody starts smoking with the hope that that will help him land more lays.
    A man who is willing to give up his health for landing a bar chick has no self-respect.

    1. “Nicotine is addictive as hell.” My first cigarette was more than one and a half years ago. I don’t smoke daily or even weekly, just when I want to. I guess it depends on the person’s will too.

    2. Have you ever been to Los Angeles? Every sign there is “warning this building is cancerous.”
      the point of this article wasn’t that smoking will get you laid, the point is when smoking was allowed more people did get laid. it was an indirect influence.

    3. Visit an Airport: Get X-rayed.
      Smoke a cigarette: Inhale lots of potential carcinogens.
      Radiation causes cancer. Cell phones, sun, microwaves, radios, TVs (tube-style, not sure about plasma, but definitely not LED), computers, nuclear plants, normal radiation (Helium isotopes exist naturally, for example, as does Radium, Uranium, and Arsenic, which can come in radioactive isotope).
      Six of one, half dozen of the other, maybe – but unless you LIKE being groped…?
      OH, You’re a NON-Smoker, of COURSE! That’s the best action you got all month! 😉 (Teasing)

  22. I smoke when I drink and maybe have one during the week, been doing that for years. While I agree cigarettes are cool, I don’t feel they need to be deeply analysed for their sophistication and style. Basically you just light it up and smoke it. I find guys who romanticise smoking generally hold the cigarette like a retard or a beginner. often they romanticise it because it’s something they’ve just gotten into, it’s like having a cool new toy.
    I like the approach of your article and I agree with it, but when cigarettes are romanticised there’s a cringe element that arises which is perhaps hard to avoid.
    Also, here’s some hilarious Seinfeld standup about smoking, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC8dHNPdHkc now I just feel like a cigarette.

  23. That’s all well and good, but I personally become violently ill if I even take a single drag on a cigarette. Even second-hand smoke makes it very difficult for me to be in a room. I am effectively banned from a bar full of smokers, so I am very grateful that cigarettes are banned in US bars.

    1. So in other words, you want ALL bars to suit your needs or preferences, and what other people may like is unimportant.

  24. ha! had a friend who was thrilled when the city went no smoking
    he hates smoke, but i asked why he cared if people smoked, he could just go to a place where they dont
    he said but all the cool bars were always full of smokers
    uh…

  25. This pretty well destroys the Myth of second hand smoke
    Lungs from pack-a-day smokers safe for transplant, study finds.
    By JoNel Aleccia, Staff Writer, NBC News.
    Using lung transplants from heavy smokers may sound like a cruel
    joke, but a new study finds that organs taken from people who puffed a
    pack a day for more than 20 years are likely safe.
    What’s more, the analysis of lung transplant data from the U.S.
    between 2005 and 2011 confirms what transplant experts say they already
    know: For some patients on a crowded organ waiting list, lungs from
    smokers are better than none.
    “I think people are grateful just to have a shot at getting lungs,”
    said Dr. Sharven Taghavi, a cardiovascular surgical resident at Temple
    University Hospital in Philadelphia, who led the new
    study………………………
    Ive done the math here and this is how it works out with second ahnd smoke and people inhaling it!
    The 16 cities study conducted by the U.S. DEPT OF ENERGY and later by Oakridge National laboratories discovered:
    Cigarette smoke, bartenders annual exposure to smoke rises, at most, to the equivalent of 6 cigarettes/year.
    146,000 CIGARETTES SMOKED IN 20 YEARS AT 1 PACK A DAY.
    A bartender would have to work in second hand smoke for 2433 years to get an equivalent dose.
    Then the average non-smoker in a ventilated restaurant for an hour
    would have to go back and forth each day for 119,000 years to get an
    equivalent 20 years of smoking a pack a day! Pretty well impossible ehh!

  26. JOINT STATEMENT ON THE RE-ASSESSMENT OF THE TOXICOLOGICAL TESTING OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS”
    7 October, the COT meeting on 26 October and the COC meeting on 18
    November 2004.
    http://cot.food.gov.uk/pdfs/cotstatementtobacco0409
    “5. The Committees commented that tobacco smoke was a highly complex chemical mixture and that the causative agents for smoke induced diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, effects on reproduction and on offspring) was unknown. The mechanisms by which tobacco induced adverse effects were not established. The best information related to tobacco smoke – induced lung cancer, but even in this instance a detailed mechanism was not available. The Committees therefore agreed that on the basis of current knowledge it would be very difficult to identify a toxicological testing strategy or a biomonitoring approach for use in volunteer studies with smokers where the end-points determined or biomarkers measured were predictive of the overall burden of tobacco-induced adverse disease.”
    In other words … our first hand smoke theory is so lame we can’t even design a bogus lab experiment to prove it. In fact … we don’t even know how tobacco does all of the magical things we claim it does.
    The greatest threat to the second hand theory is the weakness of the first hand theory.

  27. I want to make something else clear to you so-called conservatives, who are as delusional as the liberals.
    First: Reality exists and is discoverable through the sense by an independent mind. If it can be observed, it is real, Any kind of “reality” that cannot be observed independently does not exist, period, no matter any of the delusional hand-waving that accompanies its defense.
    Second: You are quite right that smokers themselves deserve the blame for the injury that results from smoking. This is called personal responsibility and is an integral part of individual liberty and autonomy. The liberal-left does not believe in individual autonomy. Rather, they believe everyone should be taken care of by a (not so) benevolent state. This is called a social-welfare mentality. However, many conservatives also believe that the individual is not truly autonomous, but should also be taken care of by a (not so) benevolent entity as well. In both cases, you have the requirement that the individual should surrender a certain measure of individual autonomy and self-ownership and swear loyalty to the authoritarian entity.
    I characterize both of this as a “wellfare” mentality and view both of the ideologies as conceptually identical, no matter what hand-waving accompanies the defense of the latter ideology and meaningless attempts to differentiate it from the former.
    Third: If you want something, it is always better to make it happen on your own rather than expect the (non) benevolent entity to do it for you. This is as true for developing biological immortality as it is for achieving financial well-being. This mentality is called self-reliance, and it is ALWAYS superior to its opposite, which is called a “wellfare” mentality.
    ANY form of monopoly-authority (left or right) is, by definition, evil and it is the moral obligation of all straight thinking individuals to destroy any such entities.

    1. I disagree with you on “First”: Time exists but we can’t see it. Same with Light. I’d posit God as well, whatever name “he” might have.
      The rest is GOLD, and points to the (lack of) difference between the two parties. Beautiful.

  28. Smoking cigarettes everyday to the tune of 1-2 packs is a sickness, it shows a deeper problem in the person. Smoking in a social environment such as a discoteque on the weekends whilst drinking and having fun is totally different. Smoking sporadically in a purely social way is normal behavior. Cigarettes dont have to turn you into a slave, you can easily smoke them just when you feel like it, and when drinking or relaxing. Much like the false left-right paradigm, there exists another false paradigm regarding smoking. That you have to be either a complete addict, or a complete saint who would never so much as even associate with a dirty rat smoker. Smokers are seen as lower class/blue collar. If a more sane and rational viewpoint were to prevail, everyone could smoke a cigarette now and then on certain occasions together. Divide and rule rears its ugly head again, demonizing low class smokers and creating a social divide. All classes of people used to come together in bars and smoke together as one.

  29. Eh fuck that. BPA and the idk, around 1200 other chemicals in ciggarettes are plain just nasty. Everyone then has to shower in that filth when its excreted from the human body into the sewer system. Some of those chemicals operate at parts per trillion. A really good water filter only gets out parts per million. Women who smoke cigarettes, and men, are destroying their fucking bodies and the fellow country peoples. A nice big fat hand rolled cigar a la Clint Eastwood, pipe tobacco, or a fucking joint on the other hand is where its had.

  30. Seeing some of the people try to justify smoking here in the comments is retarded. Smoking is disgusting and has horrible effects on your health. Keep inhaling cancer dipshits, more bitches for me!

    1. that in mind, if you smoke good for you I don’t care. Just don’t try to sit here and spout some bullshit about how it has “benefits”. That’s a damn lie and you know it.

      1. I’m 50 years old, been smoking for almost 40 of them.
        I’m also captain of a dive boat. I can free dive easily to over 80 feet and hold my breath for two and a half minutes, do it every day. I also run triathlons.
        If it weren’t for the gray hair you would think that I was 35. Everyone I know from high school look decrepit and much older than me except for one guy. Surprise, he’s the only one who smokes, too.
        I once saw a pearl diver near 80 years old swim down 180 feet without fins to find a lost anchor like it was a walk in the park. Funnily enough, he smoked like a chimney, too.
        Fuck your “studies”, I’m smoking right now.

  31. Why nobody is talking about electronic cigarettes? These devices helped me in quitting smoking, which is the best thing i have ever done to myself and for my surroundings.

    1. This. I’m looking into getting one myself, they seem like a better option and cheaper too

  32. People think that smoking helps them to get rid of depression and stress, which is a totally wrong concept, this habit can only kill you, it is not good for you in anyway.

  33. This post nails it. When I turned 19, the legal age in Canada, they had already banned smoking in the common area of the bar but still allowed a smoke room. It was a glass room in one corner of the bar and was ventilated, no smoke escaped, amd the rest of the bar remained smoke free. Most of the bar also remained people free, as everyone, including non smokers were inside the smoke room, talking, laughing and having a great time. Of course this wasn’t enough for the policy makers (most of whom probably never set foot in a bar anyway) and within a year or so the smoke rooms were shut down. Now you must remain ten meters from any doorway while smoking outside or face a $200 dollar fine. I’m not even a smoker myself, but my best days in the bars were definitely when people could still smoke. Couple this with draconian drunk driving laws, and people just can’t be bothered to leave thier houses anymore.

  34. Smoking is a phallic symbol, thats part of the reason why it has that masculine effect. Imagine if you could literally cause your dick to expand with a hard erection out of your mouth and pump semen out while talking to someone, thats the psychological effect of smoking,
    And while most people do not realize it, on some level society did grasp that it was not roght for women to smoke
    Freuds nephew was contracted by the american tobacco companies to get the women to smoke, and he reasoned the above out, and used those concepts to create a propaganda campaign to get women to smoke. Its an onteresting and important subject on the beginning of modern propaganda, so I reckommend people look the topic up on youtube.

  35. Having a pack of cigarettes once saved my life! I was in DC one night and a notorious gangster asked me for one outside a bar. We got talking and he said to me “You seem like a cool guy, Ill help you out” I didn’t realise who he was at the time but a couple of weeks later 2 guys attempted to rob me but on finding out who I was fled the scene empty handed. It transpires that nondescript looking guy was a former contract killer for the Jamaican yardies. Who say’s smoking’s bad for you???

  36. Cigars or non filters are better IMO. Filter cigarettes are one of the worst things ever invented (designed to appeal to women, naturally). The filter lessens the nicotine hit so you smoke more of them and it also cools the smoke so you can inhale more and deeper. Lung cancer rates have exploded since the 50’s when filter cigarettes were introduced. My Grandfather smoked from age 15 to when he died at 89. His smokes of choice were cigars and Camel non filters.

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