I just picked up smoking this year. Basically all of the managers at my place of employment were smokers so being a bit of a kiss-ass at times I started, just so I could go out for the frequent 'Focus Breaks' as they're called. What I've come to learn is that smokers have a really interesting mentality about it. Not everyone uses it for the same reasons. I started to get closer to my bosses, but now I use it to make friends. I can stand outside and ask whoever else is out there about what films they've watched recently or really anything. There's still a barrier between you and everyone else, but it's much easier to climb over that insecurity when you have to borrow a guys lighter or he bums a cigarette from you. The openness is something I never would have expected.