The idea of ‘Smoker’s Karma’ pisses me off to no end. People just believe in it to make themselves feel better about bumming. When I smoked, I knew that I would need smokes and I would make damn sure I had enough to make it through the day. If I only had a couple left, I would stop by a gas station on the way to class or work or where ever I was going to get more. I’d leave my house early if I had to. It’s not like they aren’t still sold at every corner. College was full of habitual moochers. There were some people that would ask to bum from me a couple of times a week. I was giving them out regularly for the first semester I was there. I finally got sick of it and started asking for payment - anywhere from $10 to a BJ. People stopped asking me.
If there really is Karma involved, I’ve racked up a couple of cartons worth of smokes I’ve bummed to mooches or people that didn’t think far enough ahead to make sure that they were prepared. Since I always had smokes, I never bummed. I’ve since quit so I’ll never make up the difference.
When I still smoked, if a stranger asked for a cigarette, I politely refused. How they handled this decided if they’d actually get the cigarette or not.
As with others here, though, if you’re my friend you can cadge* as many fags as you need; I know I’ll get them back at some point in the future.
*UK vernacular dictates that the term ‘bum’ should be substituted with another suitable term
I don’t believe in Smokers’ Karma. I’d like to, but I don’t.
People who bum smokes from strangers tend to be underclass feral scumbags with screechy heroin-addict voices hanging around railway stations. The rest of us either take one from a friend or do without. I have never asked a stranger for a smoke in my life (if the smokers’ karma thing actually worked, I would).
That’s the response I was taught (Thanks for that, Mom!).
Which brings up another rule: you don’t bum smokes from the help, unless you really do know them. Otherwise, you’re just shaking down someone who is not in a position to say no.
Do you have problems with the cigarette being packed tightly everywhere except right next to the filter? I’ve got one of the big $27 injectors, and I always get a nice tightly packed cigarette, but it’s loose down near the filter, and gets crushed while you smoke it.
ETA: I’m always happy to give out a cigarette to a fellow smoker in need.
When I get that problem, 99.99% of the time it’s because the metal piece in the injector (mine’s the cheap $5 model, so yours may vary) that slides into the cigarette is bent very slightly upwards. Bending it back into place fixes the problem.
That would get you busted by the cigarette tax people, at least here. When convenience stores started opening packs and selling individual cigarettes, the State said “you can’t do that”, because the individual cigs weren’t taxed individually.
I have no problem with sharing. It’s like “Thank God, I’m not the only smoker left”. I don’t feel like such a pariah.
My mom also taught me the “All you have is a habit” and “Want me to smoke it for you too?”. Back before lighters were cheap and ubiquitous, the response to “Got a match?” was “My butt and your face” or “Not since Superman died!”
I flew back from Europe over Christmas and bought a carton (so cheap! So tax-free!), of which I now have one pack left. I was contemplating this sad state of affairs as I grabbed the second-to-last pack this morning, thinking of how I’d now have to buy the (overpriced!) disgusting cigs they sell here (I could buy better ones, but they’re around a full dollar to 1.50$ extra). But I was chatting to one of my friends between classes, who’s just come back from Switzerland, and he said he’d been passing through the airport, seen my cigs, and on impulse bought me a full carton (and he’s not even a smoker)! That’s true friendship.
I’m definitely paying him back, of course. However, for such munificence, I’m wondering whether a bigger thank-you would be in order, especially since we’re skiing together this weekend. A BJ perhaps?
This was me when I smoked. I always had cigarettes, so I knew I’d never need to ask anyone for one. I used to laugh at smokers who bought packs instead of cartons - what, you really think you aren’t going to be a smoker in the next ten days? That said, I’d usually grudgingly give one to whomever asked. Even to the PSYCHIATRIST that worked where I was an INTERN. Yeah, you make $200,000 a year and I’m living on student loans, but by all means, bum cigarettes from me every damn day :mad: . He’d say, “Ha ha, I guess I’m going to have to buy you a pack one of these days!” and finally one day I said, “Dude, you need to buy me a couple of* cartons*.”
Yeah I’m still bitter 10 years later, why do you ask?
