Benefits of Smoking

There are a bunch of them - excuses I have used to not give it up (I'm still planning to, of-course - I'll give up casual smoking on December 15th - which will be a soft-launch of a possible new-year-resolution(oh yes, casual smoking is what you do without a reason, when you haven't met old friends, when you're not drinking, when you're just driven by boredom to smoke).

The syntax here will be an outline of one of the big reasons to give up smoking and then a reason why that might not work. Alternatively, it'll be one of the big excuses smokers use and an explanation why the excuse might hold more water and might, well, be a reason.

Big Reason #1: Smoking Reduces Your Life (1 cigarette = 3/5 minutes)

Heard this one before? I'm sure you have. I once asked one of my friends where he got it from, and he didn't know for sure. Then I asked him where he got the magic figure of 3/5 minutes from - and he didn't know. He permitted me an explanation for the magic figure and I explained - you see, you reduce 3/5 minutes of your life when you smoke a cigarette because you take 3/5 minutes to smoke one. By the same logic, a coffee reduces 5-7 minutes, and a movie more than 3 hours effectively. Now you decide which evil is lesser. Each meeting reduces my life by 2-3 hours.

Big Excuse #1: Smoking helps me relax

Heard this one before? Ok, this one is not untrue. I was once accused of using this excuse and I asked the guy to describe the 'process' of smoking. He says you hold the cigarette to your mouth, take a deep breath, hold it in and release it slowly - and then I asked him what the word for that was. "Yogic Breathing" or "Pranayam" my Dear Watson! That is how it works - simple.

Guess this one's going to take time so I'll continue this later. For now, this will have to do for all you brave smokers with interfering colleagues / friends / wives. Just don't let them ask you why you smoke. What do you find attractive about sticking that cigarette in your mouth... that's a tricky one, most of us don't know. I'm sure Freud will have something to say there ;-)