Smoking is a nasty habit and harmful to my body.<p>Now that that's out of the way, here are a couple reasons I smoke now and then:<p>1. Socialization. For whatever reason, it's easy to meet new people while smoking. You don't feel the need to constantly be talking so it's a pretty chill, low-pressure way to meet coworkers, especially those outside of your department.<p>2. Reflection. I think Ayn Rand said it best:<p>“I like to think of fire held in a man's hand. Fire, a dangerous force, tamed at his fingertips. I often wonder about the hours when a man sits alone, watching the smoke of a cigarette, thinking. I wonder what great things have come from such hours. When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his mind--and it is proper that he should have the burning point of a cigarette as his one expression.”<p>Obviously there is no requirement to smoke to get in a reflective state, but it is a trigger that helps me.