Smoke Gets In Your...Eyes?

September 20, 2002 10:36 AM

Smoke Gets In Your...Eyes? According to Geoffrey Gray in The Village Voice, a lot of ex-smokers like to...watch. Whether they're pregnant women, nicotine voyeurs or just regular, filter-tipped voyeurs[comes with a pop-up and probably isn't endearing to employers], it seems that even this intensely physical pastime is becoming virtualized. So be it. But...what does it all mean? Can smoking really be vicarious?
posted by MiguelCardoso (31 comments total)

"As a lesbian with a fetish for cigarette smoking," (...) "I tend to focus primarily on the awareness of my shared 'identity' as a 'smoker' with other smoking women, especially those that are similar to me in terms of being feminine and sensually aware of their OWN smoking.
I am further enraptured by the thought that whenever I smoke a particular cigarette, I am having essentially the same sensual experience as any other woman in the world who is smoking the same brand of cigarette at the same time that I am; we share a sort of deeply intimate bond inside our bodies that transcends all distance . . . thinking about these things drives me wild!!!"
Oh. Dear. God. I think I went to University with this woman. She wasn't any fun then either.
posted by Fabulon7 at 11:23 AM on September 20, 2002

and then there are those of us that find smoking to be the single biggest turnoff imaginable...
posted by GeekAnimator at 11:39 AM on September 20, 2002

I used to really dig watching women smoke, when I smoked. Now watching someone smoke just makes me want to bludgeon them to death and take their cigarettes.

2 months, 5 days and counting.
posted by hob at 11:39 AM on September 20, 2002

You'd be surprized at how poplular this really is. Smokiing fetishes are commonly right next to the other varieties of carnal fantasies on all those free porn sites. Not that I look at them or anything...

Pay no attention to the fapping behind the curtain.
posted by spungfoo at 11:43 AM on September 20, 2002

I've only smoked a few (10-20) times in my life, but I can understand deriving vicarious pleasure from watching someone else smoke. Why can't they just make cigarettes that are good for you? And chocolate chip cookies, too?
posted by callmejay at 11:43 AM on September 20, 2002

Me...I miss smoking. Unlike most ex-smokers, I actually don't mind being in the vicinity of smokers. Although I derive no vicarious pleasure from watching them, I don't think...mostly it makes me think like hob and consider smacking them and taking their smokes. ;)
posted by dejah420 at 11:49 AM on September 20, 2002

Can smoking really be vicarious?

Nope. Never. Nothing can replace the sweet, sweet burning, the hot tar patch of better-than-sex, the cancerous bitch goddess that is Madame Cigarette.

1 year, 2 weeks, 15 pounds. Lord how I miss it.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:49 AM on September 20, 2002

I quit almost seven months ago and have no desire to see/smell/taste a cigarette again. They don't bother me, they just don't hold any attraction for me any more, kind of like parachute pants. What the hell was I thinking?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:53 AM on September 20, 2002

You know, once I watched an episode of The Man Show with a bunch of bawdy straight guys. In this episode, Jimmy and Adam were getting huge giggles from filming various women eating corn dogs in decidely lacivious fashon.

All the guys in the room were saying "Huh huh, look, we're watching the women eating the corndogs."

I piped up and said, "No ... you're watching the corndogs being eaten by the women." The number of slack jaws in the room increased quite a bit after that utterance, followed by sheepish acknowledgements that, yes, they were watching the corndogs ... not the women.

Same thing applies, I believe, for those guys who seem to love watching women smoke. Or, rather, watching cigarettes being smoked by women.
posted by WolfDaddy at 11:53 AM on September 20, 2002

mr_crash_davis: I quit almost seven months ago and have no desire to see/smell/taste a cigarette again.

More proof that Crash is some kind of evil robot. A robot that probably didn't have to buy bigger pants either.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:58 AM on September 20, 2002

A robot that probably didn't have to buy bigger pants either.

I never thought it could happen to me. I have a completely sedentary lifestyle and while I was never in great shape (well, not since high school), I've never felt too fat or thin or anything. Now my pants don't fit. Ugh. Bought a bicycle instead of new pants, tho; we'll see how it works out.
posted by hob at 12:01 PM on September 20, 2002

I dig it about watching the cigarette.
After I quit I noticed how stupid people look when they are smoking.
So it must be the cigarettes being smoked by the people that make the people look so sophisticated and cool.
If you are a smoker, I just don't see how watching someone else smoke when you can't smoke could be anything other than completely maddening.
posted by Fabulon7 at 12:05 PM on September 20, 2002

WolfDaddy: If you get a copy of Easy Rider, are you looking at the car or the woman sprawled on the car? When you watch someone performing an action, do you watch the performer or the object of the action? In most cases, I think, you're watching the object, observing the result of the action rather than the action. When you watch Bob Villa pounding a nail, do you watch Bob, the hammer, or the nail? Mostly, I'm guessing, the nail, unless he's talking, in which case you're watching him.
posted by hob at 12:06 PM on September 20, 2002

I hate smoking. I've been trying to quit for a year or sow with very bad luck. I don't even enjoy it anymore. The only reason I smoke is cuz I'm addicted. Smoking sucks!
posted by punkrockrat at 12:07 PM on September 20, 2002

wellbutrin worked for me. zoloft worked for a friend of mine. It was pretty amazing... 15 years of smoking and my previous best atttempt at quitting lasted all of 16 hours. Three weeks of wellbutrin and I just stopped smoking. It still sucked, but it was possible, and I also stopped taking wellbutrin shortly thereafter with no perceptable side effects.
posted by hob at 12:15 PM on September 20, 2002

Smoking sucks!
So does not smoking. Much worse.

The only good part is not being out of breath after going up stairs.
posted by sonofsamiam at 12:18 PM on September 20, 2002

Other good part: having more money.
posted by Fabulon7 at 12:23 PM on September 20, 2002

hob: I don't watch TV (The Man Show being a primary example of why I don't. Any "Must See TV" out there? I'll download it from Usenet) ;-)

But in regards to what I was saying earlier, I was only pointing out that the perceptions of the guys I was with were different from what they were actually doing...until I pointed it out to them. I'm assuming only because the object(s) in question were phallic (paging Mr. Freud!) did they state their perceptions as watching the do-er and not the object. I propose the same perceptions occur for those males who claim to be fetishists when it comes to watching females smoke.

Then again, sometimes a Marlboro is just a Marlboro.

Unless it's going through a tunnel.

In the dark.
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:25 PM on September 20, 2002

If you are a smoker, I just don't see how watching someone else smoke when you can't smoke could be anything other than completely maddening.

You hit the nail on the head, Fabulon7.

I quit in January after smoking for about 10 years. I didn't want to quit, but the impending birth of my first child nudged me into giving up the ol' cancer sticks.

It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I would be lying if I said that I haven't cheated here and there (esp. when drinking is involved). But, even after a night of drinking and smoking, I have little desire to smoke the next day.

I get no vicarious thrill from watching someone else smoke. The feeling I get is usually raging jealousy.

I enjoyed smoking. (OK, I loved it)

I miss smoking.

I want a cigarette right now.

I always want a cigarette.

The difference now that I've quit is that - even though I want a cigarette - I don't have to have one.

I will tell you what I don't miss:
- Hacking up a black loogie every morning.
- Smoker's cough.
- All of my clothes reeking of smoke.
- Spending $3.50 (or much more in other places) a day for a pack of smokes.

Man, I really want a smoke now. Damn you for posting this, Miguel! ;)
posted by hawkman at 12:42 PM on September 20, 2002

Hey, I'm gonna get on this bandwagon!

*hops over and registers watchsoundofsuburbiasmoke.com *
posted by soundofsuburbia at 12:55 PM on September 20, 2002

- All of my clothes reeking of smoke.

That was the worst thing about quitting (well no it wasn't the worst thing, but it was the one that no one warned me about). When I smoked, nothing smelled of smoke. Smoke was such a constant in my life that I never noticed it. Once I quit, then it became an issue. I couldn't go into a bar for 15 minutes without having to send everything to the cleaners.
posted by rtimmel at 1:17 PM on September 20, 2002

One of the most intelligent books I've ever read was Richard Klein's Smoking Is Sublime, written after he'd quit smoking but all the more sensitive to its romantic and sensuous nuances because of it. You really have to get hold of a copy but here's an article he wrote in March for the BBC ("Lighting Up On No Smoking Day") which addresses some of the delicious/atrocious quandaries that have so far been...aired.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:37 PM on September 20, 2002

Fighting... urge... to go down to local snappy mart... and score a pack of... Luckies....

AGGGH. Couldn't this have been posted on a Monday morning as opposed to a Friday evening? Timing, people!

( Four years off and on and still hooked. What Hawman said. )
posted by Kneebiter at 2:55 PM on September 20, 2002

A man with a smoking fetish is the reason I picked up the nasty habit.

Years after he was gone my deadly smoking addiction remained. Luckily, I was able to quit almost a year ago.
posted by brittney at 3:00 PM on September 20, 2002

Here you go: Smoking Hunks (Definitely NOT safe for work!)

Lots of people are into this ; >&
posted by amberglow at 3:06 PM on September 20, 2002

As someone wanting to quit smoking, reading this just pissed me off. I can't watch a movie without some Hollywood fucktard subliminally making me want to smoke -- by smoking themselves. And I do end up smoking.

I hate these 'nicotine voyeurs'. With a passion. They make it seem to damned easy. Aaaargh!
posted by Dark Messiah at 5:47 PM on September 20, 2002

Metafilter: Aaaargh!

lovin that pirate meme!
posted by amberglow at 5:58 PM on September 20, 2002

Oh, boy! The thrice-weekly smoker bashing thread. Thought I had missed this episode. See y'all again (quick calculation) Tuesday.
posted by RavinDave at 1:51 AM on September 21, 2002

I've never smoked-- never wanted to-- but my bad-boy partner does. He has beautiful hands and watching him play with his lighter, hold his cigarette, and grind out the butt is a sensual experience. I hate myself for finding this sexy!
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 11:01 AM on September 21, 2002

I take medication (adderall) that actually makes me want to smoke. Or rather, I suppose that if I had never smoked in my life, I wouldn't have that desire (a friend who is on the same meds doesn't smoke and has no desire to). The nicotine, I'm told by my doctor, "takes the edge off" the adrenaline high that adderall gives. So, in a sense, smoking makes the (desired and intended) effect of the drug less intense.

I also find that I smoke a lot when I'm dehydrated, instead of drinking water. On days when I don't smoke, my water consumption shoots up tremendously...and I feel sure it's not just because I'm looking for something to put in my mouth.

Anyone else have a tantalizing drug-cigarette combo? Of course, after smoking pot and letting the high settle in, there's nothing like a slowly-smoked cigarette.
posted by bingo at 11:58 AM on September 21, 2002

I usually chalk this kind of stuff up as just another strange entry in long list of weird fetishes but if you have ever seen Lauren Bacall light up in the film "To Have and Have Not", you kind of see their point. Yowza.
posted by beatnik808 at 1:58 PM on September 21, 2002