Now there are a lot of guys smoke in China but not all are doing it because they enjoy it. In fact as an ex smoker I know a thing or two about smoking. In fact I have smoked a few things over the years. There were all the usual brands B&H, Club Kingsize,More Menthol, Paki Black Moroccan Gold and the good old Cannabis Resin which if you put on top of a More cigarette then no one was any the wiser,so if I was in the Cochrane House or the Osprey then I could get pissed on one pint if I had one of my special More ciggies. I didn’t “smoke” very much because it was so expensive  I mean back in 1980 it was around £15 for an amount no bigger than a cold and flu tablet  but if you bought in bulk and then resold it you could get to smoke it for free so to speak. I found this to be a good option.

So anyway back to the smokers at hand.  And may I say at this point I’ve been in China two weeks, although it feels like a lifetime, and I’ve only seen one woman smoker. I’m sure there are a lot more women smoking here than I’ve seen but I think they must do it behind closed doors. I think it’s kinda frowned upon. Go figure, with everything else going on in this vast country.

I’d better get back to my story of observation.  Many men smoke but they are not really smoking. It’s all for show, I mean it’s a competition to see who can be the coolest without getting cancer. They hold the cigarettes in a variety of poses which if I didn’t know better I would think they have changed sides. It’s always better to have a new ciggy dangling from the corner of the mouth like some poor impersonation of Clint Eastwood in a Few Dollars More. For years I’ve felt the urge to walk up to one of these cool dudes and take the cigarette and show them how to take a real draw, I’m sure half of them would cough and spluter. But then every so often you come across a smoker who is sucking on that thing like his life depended on it and I think these real smokers need to be congratulated for not bowing down to peer pressure.  The choice to kill themselves slowly has been taken by them and no one else and they need to be acknowledged for there bravery and of course stupidity.

This cigarette phenomenon I see in China does not only exist here it’s everywhere,  it’s just there are so many here and you really notice it. I’ve come to China to teach English but I’m thinking of opening a Smoking School because I feel there is quite a big market here. And of course I would love to document this expression.