[gumby]

I miss smoking (well, not really; I'm not a smoker). But all the rituals around it were very important for modulating the cadence and even nature of conversation, offering shared rituals, give-and-take, and, by convention, forced but acceptable pauses.

[bogomipz]

That's interesting because it does seem like despite how unhealthy it is, it was very much a social activity. And I think the indoor smoking bans only reinforced that social ritual as smokers were forced to gather outside bars and restaurant to smoke. "Do you have a light" has probably been one of the biggest conversation starters in history. What I see now is mostly people having a cigarette in one hand and the smart phone in the other. The chatting with fellow smokers seems to have been replaced by scrolling. A smoke break used to literally be taking a break from whatever it was you were doing. Now it looks like more of an opportunity to satisfy two addictions at the same time. It seems kind of depressing.

[stephen_g]

Lots of people use coffee (cafe culture) for that here in Australia, which has the benefit of actually slightly reducing all-cause mortality.

I pop out at least once a day for a coffee break away from our work building, often with a coworker or two. I try to basically never get a takeaway, it’s so much better to pause and have a real worm break sitting at the cafe.

[gumby]

The thing about the cigarette rituals is that they were at a higher resolution: you'd sit in a cafe with a cup of coffee talking to someone and the smoking rituals silently punctuated the conversation itself.

Essentially, the language has changed!

[ShredKazoo]

Someone's gotta invent a cigarette that's actually good for your health!

(Oddly enough this might actually work. My understanding is that nicotine is not actually that unhealthy; it's mostly the other stuff in cigarette's that's bad for you. Additionally, based on an old coworker of mine who quite smoking successfully, a big part of the addiction is just having something to put in your mouth.)

[gumby]

I used to work in drug delivery and many people joked about how smoking is a drug delivery system. There are of course asthma inhalers but those directly address the lungs themselves.

The only inhaled drug delivery system I know of was an insulin delivery system (Exubera) which AFAIK failed in the market for some reason.

[leetcrew]

this is basically the idea behind vaping. partially replicating the ritual makes it much easier than switching to a pure nicotine maintenance vehicle (ie, patches).

it doesn't replicate the social ritual of a "smoke break" though. a single cigarette burns for about as long as you'd usually want to have a light conversation with a stranger. a vape "lasts" indefinitely long, and you never need to ask someone for a light. you can also probably get away with just doing it inside if you're discreet.

[iisan7]

Interesting point, re the pauses to take a drag on a cigarette. The only thing I can think of like that now in a workplace or chance social encounter is taking a drink of water or coffee, but I suppose it hasn't really replaced smoking. Maybe carrying a small water flask to give ourselves moments to pause meaningfully in a conversation!

[gumby]

Not just the drag, but a pause to take one out, tap-compact it, light it, take a couple of puffs...

As a non-smoker I was at a conversational disadvantage. As a nerd, this didn't bother me much.