Smoke ban to spark flirt craze
The love lives of single smokers are set to be given a boost when the blanket ban comes into force later this year – thanks to the new art of "smirting".
Smirting – a combination of flirting and smoking – has become a massive hit in Jersey since the ban was introduced earlier this year as people congregate outside pubs and clubs together.
Smokers who had previously puffed away inside their favourite haunts are now timing their cigarettes by who has just walked outside to light up.
The trend started in Dublin, one of the first cities in the world to introduce the indoor smoking ban.
According to a local guide for the city smirting is "a great way to meet people".
It even goes on to suggest it may even be worth taking up smoking for, adding: "A mixed blessing then. If you're a non-smoker you can smell your food again; if you're a smoker it's a new way to socialise."
Some Dubliners have admitted the ban may have even increased their daily intake of cigarettes because of the new smoking benefits.
But the smirting phenomenon has worried anti-smoking bodies who believed the ban would encourage smokers to light up less. Bob Wareing-Jones, Jersey's tobacco controller, said: "I laughed when I first came across it but when you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense.
"I am seeing that there is a new social scene growing among those who smoke. It seems that guys are now seeing smoking as a great opportunity to chat up a girl.
"The good news is that we haven't any evidence at the moment of people actually smoking more because they want to meet someone of the opposite sex, but smirting is definitely alive and well in Jersey. For some reason people going outside to smoke a cigarette seem to lose their shyness."
