Smoking is a very old human habit which transformed throughout the centuries and proved to be incredibly stable in most societies irrespective of their origin and beliefs. Measures of WHO targeted at the reduction of smoking fail anytime they are implemented. Frequently cigarettes are trafficked and sold illegally so that the Governments fear that severe restrictions in their retail will make the black market bloom. Regulated or not, cigarettes are an essential part of every retail shop from a small stand to a hypermarket all over the world.
Obviously, people find smoking essential even if the prices are high and income is rather small. In fact, cigarettes help many people socialize. It starts from adolescents troubled by their parents and romantic relationships who try to share their problems with peers smoking a smuggled cigarette in the school backyards. Cigarettes become a symbol of disposing own troubles and finding comfort in the company of friends. This stage in a smoker’s life is crucial as many people acquire this habit as teenagers and preserve it through the lifetime. Some of them become addicted but the others just have all their friends smoking and need to spend these minutes in smoking rooms together.
It is clear that smoking helps people to socialize because so many individuals from all social classes made this habit. Which is more interesting, most of them do not wish to give up smoking evaluating their social surrounding over the health benefits. Clearly, non-smokers are not anti-social introverts either, but smokers consider that giving up on cigarettes definitely will not change their life for the better. But certainly, this point of view is very lop-sided.