Flicking, tapping, and twisting.These nervous gestures indicate agita-
tion, anxiety, and insecurity.
Putting the cigarette out.A person who stubs her cigarette out firmly,
grinding it into the ashtray, is showing that she’s made up her mind and
is ready to go. If she takes her time putting out the cigarette she’s not
ready to act.Speciality smokers
Cigarettes are easily accessible if you’re over 16 and have the money to pay
for them. More sophisticated forms of tobacco, such as fine cigars and supe-
rior pipe tobacco, are reserved for specialist shops and cost substantially
higher prices than cigarettes. People who smoke cigars demonstrate a supe-
rior attitude and have particular shapes and sizes that they prefer. Pipe
smokers are also selective about their preferred kinds of tobacco and pipe
styles.Cigar smokers
Because of the size and cost of cigars, they’re associated with success and
superiority. High flying business executives, gangland bosses, and people in
prominent positions can often be seen wielding a cigar. They’re associated
with good fortune, which is why it’s a common ritual to celebrate the birth of
a child, a successful business accomplishment, or a streak of good luck by
puffing on a fine Havana.Some cigar smokers buy one and keep it for luck, with the intention of smok-
ing it when they meet with success. The expression ‘close, but no cigar’ said
after a narrow escape, comes from this tradition.Comedians like George Burns and Groucho Marx made the cigar a major part
of their persona and relied on it in their comic timing. Both would hold their
cigars slightly away from their bodies, look at their cigar before drawing on it,
tilt their heads upward as they exhaled a puff of smoke, and then deliver their
punch lines.186 Part III: The Trunk: Limbs and Roots
Where smoking began
Because of the potency of tobacco, it has long
been associated with a male rite of passage,
stemming from the pre-Columbian era in
America. Although small amounts of nicotine
were found in some Old World plants such as
belladonna, early habitual tobacco use seemsto be limited to the Americas. Experts believe
that the tobacco plant in its current form began
growing in the Americas around 6000 BC.
During the 19th century it was common for men
to retire to the ‘smoking room’ after dinner to
discuss important matters.