Ek sutta hai kya? - THE SMOKERS' FORUM

I am more of a social smoker these days. I smoke only when I have to accompany my friends or colleagues who smoke, or if I am attending a social get together. It’s not like I bum people for cigarettes, because I take a smoke or two only when I have to(in my mind I’m still trying to remember the last time I bought myself a pack of cigarettes). As I see them around smoking, I get my urge to have one too, and hence I land up borrowing one from them. Let me be honest here, for me, buying a pack just for those two minutes of socializing is a complete waste.

A pack contains 20 cigarettes, and smokers can be quite open-hearted when it comes to sharing a fag. So we have no remorse in sharing our cigarettes with each other.

There was a time when I used to finish an entire pack in a single day, kind of a chain smoker. But now that I am trying to quit smoking, it is best for me if I keep away from it. However sometimes when I feel the urge, I simply borrow it from my friends and they don’t really mind it. I still remember this one incident, when my friend actually gave me his last cigarette.

I know of friends who regularly join people only to bum a smoke from them and disappear. I am way different. Whenever I borrow a cigarette I make sure to repay them, either with a cigarette or by treating them to tea/coffee during the break hours. Cigarette bummers are quite cheap as they do so only to save up on few bucks. However personally I have no issue in lending my cigarettes, or for that matter borrowing them, sometimes it may just get little uncomfortable if the person who asks me is a regular borrower. I just wonder sometimes, “Do they get a kick out of borrowing smokes?”

It’s just a matter of few drags and after all in a way you are even helping your friends cut down on the number of cigarettes they smoke in a day. Thanks to me for sharing few cigarettes with my colleague, the boy who once used to finish an entire pack by lunch, today has reduced to only few cigarettes a day. Let’s be honest it did help him in reducing his intake of smokes. Besides that, sometimes I even land up meeting interesting new people while I borrow a smoke from them. In fact I once met the owner of a fashion boutique, a stranger from whom I borrowed a smoke outside a cafe, and later got him on board as a client when I got to know that he was looking for a PR agency. Isn’t it awesome ? It was all in good spirit, and benefitted my company.

Cigarettes are definitely the best ice breakers and they help you not only to socialize, but also bring out the best in you. So people in case you are planning on reducing your cigarette intake in a day, try this out, a cigarette loaned is better than buying a pack any day.