http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A57390-2003Jun13 “Any smoker is socially allowed to talk to any other smoker at any time, to ask for a cigarette or a light. The most successful opening line in the known universe—male or female—is ‘Can I bum a cigarette?’ It’s non-threatening, instantly personal and highly sympathetic. All smokers know what it’s like to crave a cigarette and be without one, and so they are always willing to help, always empathetic and egalitarian. No other social phenomenon is quite like it.” 09:59