Smoking is very harmful.

It's harmful and bad.

But the only way of learning that, is purchasing a pack of cigarettes and finding on it a warning of some ministry or department about how harmful and bad smoking is.

But a cigarette...

Cigarette is the start of the brand new day.

The day begins not with a shower, not with a cup of coffee, not with the news broadcast on radio or TV, but with it - with a cigarette.

Though rarely does a cigarette deliver that authentic pleasure. That pleasure for which you're sacrificing health and money and time.

But then there are those certain cigarette randezvous..

Like it's Sunday morning when you're not in a rush to be anywhere. There's a little leftover coffee and there's no one to banish you to the hallway or the bathroom or a balcony.

And you're sitting there, sipping those last coffee dregs, already cooled, and you're smoking just the way you like it. And there's no one to tell you otherwise.

Or...

Or you have marinated some kebabs, drove out to the autumn forest, spent a long, long time starting the fire, and then finally grilled that meat. Salivating, drooling. And also, you wanted to smoke. Really wanted to smoke. And then you ate some of those kebabs, those big pieces of meat, almost without chewing, swallowing them like a dog. And when you were full, you took out a little coal from the fire, or set aflame a shard of wood, then used it to light your cigarette. And then you are lying on the dry grass. Lying down and smoking.

Or you came home drunk, but didn't start any arguments, just locked yourself in the bathroom and lied down in tub full of warm water with your clothes on. You're lying in the tub and smoking. And people are knocking on door, shouting - "Hey, are you ok? Is everything all right?"

And you're just quiet, lying in the tub, smoking..

And when loneliness looms overhead, this loneliness thing.. How can you escape it?

Just open up a pack - slowly removing the plastic strip, then opening it, getting the foil out of the way, then take out a cigarette. And now you got yourself a dialogue!

And lets say you were walking, hunched over in the rain and you're out of smokes, and you stopped the first passerby you saw and asked for a cigarette. And a cigarette you were given! And your request was not perceived as begging - you were just given a cigarette. And you understood that before you stands not even a friend, not a buddy, but almost a relative. And there are so many relatives around you, even though smoking is so harmful and so bad.

And how pleasant it is, to be standing by the window when it's raining outside. Then to leave this window ajar, and just blow the smoke out - into the torrents of the falling rain.

Even though smoking is very bad. It is very harmful, it is very expensive, and it is pointless.

Hell, indeed, it is completely pointless, expensive and harmful. And you shouldn't do it.

But for some reason - these packs are so attractively designed. They are much more attractive than some candy or chocolate bars. And there's nothing more calming, or sometimes more desirable than that very cigarette which begins the new day.