# Why does smoking look so freakin' cool?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 13, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214 "2011-02-13T14:38:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/41 "2011-02-14T11:17:17Z")
Another thing…a smoker is declaring to the world that s/he has enough time to waste to smoke that cigarette. Smoking is a leisure activity, for the most part. Now, back in the days when there were no non smoking areas, much less non smoking workplaces, it was common to have a cigarette idling in an ashtray or hanging out of the corner of a smoker’s mouth. This still indicated that the smoker literally had money to burn.
I probably would have taken up smoking if I hadn’t lived with my grandparents for a couple of years. My grandfather always had a cigarette or two idling in an ashtray. That didn’t really turn me off. It was the fact that I had to listen to Grandpa trying to cough up his lungs each morning, and periodically throughout the day. And then I saw him spitting constantly. I AM capable of learning by example.
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### Author:  [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/42 "2011-02-14T13:13:01Z")
> [@Al\_Bundy](#):
>
> How could smoking ever look cool? It looks down tight stupid. When it’s an old movie you can at least imagine the era and accept it somewhat. But if it’s current reality you have to wonder about the intelligence of the person smoking. They are generally of a lower class and education. I immediately deduct 15 IQ points from my estimation of the individual to start with. The character of a smoker is also questionable. First, they must have mental problems in not being able to control what they do. They have addictive personalities. And secondly, they don’t care about their associates or public health either. They often smoke near their own children. I see nothing cool in the least.
Smoking is definitely cooler than this.
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/43 "2011-02-14T13:40:50Z")
Also, the movies completely remove the awful aspects of smoking. Like someone said, you can’t smell the actors’ ciggy clothes or taste their ciggy mouths during the kiss. Further, you don’t see Bogart hacking up crud with increasing frequency in successive films. Or see him jonesing for a smoke. But, in fairness, they did show him bogarting cigs.
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### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/44 "2011-02-14T14:33:16Z")
I lol’d.
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/45 "2011-02-14T15:08:27Z")
Hey I’m a lifelong avowed non-smoker and even I find smoking looks cool and sexy. What I want to know is, why haven’t they come up with a cigarette that’s totally safe to smoke by now? Why does it have to contain nicotine?
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### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/46 "2011-02-14T15:10:24Z")
I would imagine it’s a lot like fat free half and half. What would be the point?
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/47 "2011-02-14T15:18:28Z")
> [@Anaamika](#):
>
> Hey I’m a lifelong avowed non-smoker and even I find smoking looks cool and sexy. What I want to know is, why haven’t they come up with a cigarette that’s totally safe to smoke by now? Why does it have to contain nicotine?
Because the nicotine is the raison d’etre of smoking. Nicotine is what regulates your metabolism, giving you a boost when you’re slow in the morning and calming you down when your heart’s racing. It’s also the addictive ingredient that keeps sales up.
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### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/48 "2011-02-14T15:52:30Z")
Those of you that think smoking looks cool…all I’ve got to say is **SUCKERS!!!**
You got reeled in by huge marketing ploy. It wouldn’t look cool and doesn’t if you see normal people smoking. It’s when you see cool movie stars doing it. Hell, you’d probably think [scatting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprophilia) was cool, if you saw those same people doing it.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/49 "2011-02-14T15:52:34Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#):
>
> Further, you don’t see Bogart hacking up crud with increasing frequency in successive films. Or see him jonesing for a smoke. But, in fairness, they did show him bogarting cigs.
He didn’t get many roles after he had his esophogus and a rib removed and was down to about ninety pounds, although I think he may have been offered a role in a Hammer Film as “The Creature”.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/50 "2011-02-14T16:11:44Z")
That was still 57 solid years of cool right there.
Serious answer: Smoking is just a thing to me that neither looks cool nor uncool. It doesn’t make you look like Bogie, and I certainly don’t have this insta-revulsion some folks here seem to have. It can look cool when cool people do it, but I’ve never seen Gertie in her Hoveround chain smoking by the slot machines at Binion’s and thought, “Damn, that’s cool.”
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/51 "2011-02-14T23:12:21Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#):
>
> Those of you that think smoking looks cool…all I’ve got to say is **SUCKERS!!!**
>
> You got reeled in by huge marketing ploy. It wouldn’t look cool and doesn’t if you see normal people smoking. It’s when you see cool movie stars doing it. Hell, you’d probably think [scatting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprophilia) was cool, if you saw those same people doing it.
Hey don’t be dissin’ my peeps Ella and Mel!
_clicks on **Omar Little** ’s link_
:eek: Never mind.
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### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/52 "2011-02-14T23:15:50Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> Hey don’t be dissin’ my peeps Ella and Mel!
>
> _clicks on **Omar Little** ’s link_
>
> :eek: Never mind.
Just keep edumacatin’.
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### Author:  [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/53 "2011-02-15T01:02:28Z")
As a youngster growing up in the 70s I (former smoker, ftr) was always way more attracted to “bad girl” types and almost without exception they were smokers. To this day I think some women can make smoking look damn sexy in certain situations. That said, I don’t care for the smell, litter, or anything else about it and doubt I would consider a relationship with a smoker. But on screen or some random pretty girl I’m checking out in a bar…Yeah baby, smoke away.
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### Author:  [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/54 "2011-02-15T01:17:23Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#):
>
> I think it’s mostly just the context that makes smoking look cool. Soldiers smoking in old war photos look cool, but they’d look cool anyway. “Mad Men” era office guys look cool smoking, but it’s mostly because of their suits, hairstyles, etc.
Tons of good points made in this thread, but this one sticks out to me . . . I doubt smoking will undergo a resurgence due to the popularity of _Mad Men_, but those people do make vices look _amazing_.
I feel like that show has also reintroduced to me how cool, casual, laid-back, and sexy one can make drink-holding and sipping. It’s amazing to me that none of the characters on that show ever get obnoxious drunk. Yes, sometimes they get vomitous or violent, but from what I can remember they never get to the “I love you man” stage, or get pathetic or cry-y or silly or blabbery.
Anyways, this is a bit of a hijack, so I’ll stop now.
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### Author:  [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/55 "2011-02-15T01:19:21Z")
Why do you guys think smoking seems rebellious? Obviously now it is when no one smokes, but in the 30s-early 80s, it seems like _everyone_ smoked. How can smoking be rebellious if it’s something everyone does?
Or even in its heyday was it still looked generally considered a vice? Was it like non-marital sex or getting drunk occasionally, something that everyone does but that capital-S society sort of looks down on?
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### Author:  [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/56 "2011-02-15T03:07:34Z")
> [@Gestalt](#):
>
> Tons of good points made in this thread, but this one sticks out to me . . . I doubt smoking will undergo a resurgence due to the popularity of _Mad Men_, but those people do make vices look _amazing_.
>
> I feel like that show has also reintroduced to me how cool, casual, laid-back, and sexy one can make drink-holding and sipping. It’s amazing to me that none of the characters on that show ever get obnoxious drunk. Yes, sometimes they get vomitous or violent, but from what I can remember they never get to the “I love you man” stage, or get pathetic or cry-y or silly or blabbery.
>
> Anyways, this is a bit of a hijack, so I’ll stop now.
Well Freddie pisses himself, Don gets in a drunk driving accident with his mistress in the car, and Don later gets so blackout drunk he loses a whole weekend.
I do agree, though. It does look very slick otherwise.
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/57 "2011-02-15T03:26:41Z")
> [@Gestalt](#):
>
> Why do you guys think smoking seems rebellious? Obviously now it is when no one smokes, but in the 30s-early 80s, it seems like _everyone_ smoked. How can smoking be rebellious if it’s something everyone does?
>
> Or even in its heyday was it still looked generally considered a vice? Was it like non-marital sex or getting drunk occasionally, something that everyone does but that capital-S society sort of looks down on?
I’ve seen Andy Griffith have a smoke on the Andy Griffith Show, you don’t get more wholesome and mainstream than that.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/58 "2011-02-15T04:59:36Z")
> [@Gestalt](#):
>
> Why do you guys think smoking seems rebellious? Obviously now it is when no one smokes, but in the 30s-early 80s, it seems like _everyone_ smoked. How can smoking be rebellious if it’s something everyone does?
>
> Or even in its heyday was it still looked generally considered a vice? Was it like non-marital sex or getting drunk occasionally, something that everyone does but that capital-S society sort of looks down on?
When you’re in junior high and high school, you’re told not to smoke until you’re an adult by all the Responsible Adult Figures. So, naturally, it’s forbidden fruit. And it sort of WAS looked upon as a vice, or at least a bad habit, for adults.
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### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/59 "2011-02-15T12:29:35Z")
> [@madmonk28](#):
>
> I’ve seen Andy Griffith have a smoke on the Andy Griffith Show, you don’t get more wholesome and mainstream than that.
Dude, Fred and Barney Rubble. Jus’ sayin…
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-smoking-look-so-freakin-cool/571214/60 "2011-02-16T04:03:12Z")
It’s magic! Like you’re a smoke monster, or a wizard, or a volcano!
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