[jjkaczor]

In a country far from home, on my own I was out late on a Saturday night in the bar district. Decided on a whim to buy a pack of cigarettes and have a smoke - a few minutes later a group of guys approached me and asked for a couple. Of course I obliged, when they found out I was there alone and Canadian, they invited me to join in their raucous bar-hopping bachelor party for the rest of night, we went until the sun rose.

In another place, far to the north, above the arctic tree line I heard so many stories and met so many indigenous people when braving the frigid temperatures to participate in smoke breaks.

So - while horrible for health, my "anecdata" does seem to indicate that it does help break down social barriers, remove my self-imposed "shyness" regarding talking to "strangers" and strengthens community and social bonds.

(Thankfully, outside of a 6-week period where a relative was in hospice care and I was up to a "pack a day", I was able to quit easily)