  Smoking is getting to be a pretty unpopular activity these days. There are so many campaigns against smoking, and with all the anti-smoking propoganda, rising taxes on tobacco, and increasing number of establishments (and states) placing bans on indoor smoking, smokers are becoming a dying breed.
As a result, smokers are banding together. When I was at the Academy, I used to wake up early in the morning and go to the gym. At 5am, there were usually only a handful of people working out. Day after day, it was always the same people, and we all knew that we had something in common. We were the ones that were sacrificing a couple of hours of sleep each night to hit the gym in the morning.
Inevitably, we developed mutual feelings of understanding and respect for each other, even if we barely knew on another. Smokers are doing the same thing. Since fewer people are smking, the smokers know each other. They know exactly who the smokers are, who they can bum cigarettes off of when they're running low. They know who else is with them, fighting the good fight. ok, I'm done here. 
