History Main / OfCourseISmoke

* In ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'', the first meeting between the Soviet officers and the Americans is tense and silent. Jack Ryan breaks the tension by asking for a cigarette from Chief Engineer Melekhin, even though he had refused cigarettes over the course of the film. His cough amuses the Soviets and lightens the mood for them to begin talking.

** Done intentionally in TheFilmOfTheBook. Ryan takes a few puffs, he starts coughing, and the engineer says, in Russian, "He's turning green!"

** Done intentionally in TheMovieOfTheBook. Ryan takes a few puffs, he starts coughing, and the engineer says, in Russian, "He's turning green!"

This, of course completely ruins the act. Most commonly done by teenagers [[SmokingIsGlamorous trying to look cool]], but sometimes done in order to maintain TheMasquerade. Compare OfCourseImNotAVirgin.

* In ''{{Anime/Monster}}'', the 9-year-old Dieter tries to impress a bunch of men at a bar by entering smoking a cigarette, ordering a drink, slurping it up, and leaving the bar. Once outside, he rushes to an alley to cough and puke, wondering why adults do those things.
* In the 12th DetectiveConan film ''Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure'', Takagi tricks a GenreSavvy suspect into giving him his fingerprint via asking him for a light and pocketing the matchbook the suspect hands him.

* In ''ThoroughlyModernMillie'', Millie does this to act casual outside of a Chinese opium den. [[StuffBlowingUp It didn't end well]].

* In one of Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''BlackWidowers'' stories, the guest specializes in job interviews, and he relates the story of a man who nervously lit up in the middle of an interview, suffered a coughing fit, and admitted that he really didn't smoke—he was just trying to look cool. Of course, the job went to the other candidate. [[spoiler:However, the Black Widowers deduce that the man ''was'' an ex-smoker who staged the scene in order to force the interviewer to choose the other candidate; they were accomplices in a plot to embezzle money from the company. He faked the coughing fit, but forgot to conceal the fact that he could light a match with one hand.]]
* The first time Pudge smokes in ''LookingForAlaska'' he tries to act cool about it and then nearly coughs up a lung, though he ends up smoking pretty regularly.
* In the ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'', Jack Ryan was an occasional smoker (smoke for a while, quit for a while, but never more than two or three a day at his worst.) Jack Ryan tries to break the tension of the initial meeting between Americans and Russians by bumming a smoke off the Russian engineer. He immediately begins coughing, fortunately, this provides the levity needed to break the ice. The Russian cigarette was described as "like smoking asphalt through a cardboard tube."

* Esme Squalor in ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' [[FashionVictimVillain is obsessed with what is "in"]], and in the 10th book smokes what she thinks are cigarettes [[spoiler:(they're actually flares)]], and despite bluntly stating she hates the smell, taste, and the fact that they're bad for you, she remains on the hunt for more to smoke [[spoiler:which the Baudelaires use to bait her.]]

* In the first story in ''The Wonder Spot'' by Melissa Bank, the protagonist smokes for the first time at the age of twelve when a bullying classmate offers her a cigarette and she tries to play it cool. She is initially overcome with nausea and pretends she dropped an earring so she can put her head between her legs. However, she's a smoker for the rest of the book. (At work one day, while commiserating with a nerdy coworker who's just been screwed out of her big break, she offers her a cigarette "almost as a joke," but is pleasantly surprised to learn that she really does smoke and doesn't "just hold it and take non-inhaling puffs like my grandmother.")

* Greg did this in ''TheBradyBunch''. Ironically, Barry Williams (who played Greg) had just quit when they did the episode, which made him start up again.
* The old ''Series/{{Batman}}'' TV show used this when Robin/Dick was trying to infiltrate a gang of "{{Delinquent}}s".
* On ''TheWonderYears'', in an episode where the Arnold family goes on a vacation at a lake house, Kevin tries to flirt with a girl who smokes that he just met by showing that he smokes, too, resulting in a coughing fit.

* In the ''SmallWonder'' episode "Smoker's Delight", Jamie experimented with tobacco in hope of becoming more popular as a freshman in junior high school.
* Donna does this in the first season of ''TwinPeaks''. Apparently she's the only person in her high school who ''doesn't'' smoke.
* In ''{{Frasier}}'', Niles ends up pretending that he came outside to smoke, too embarrassed to admit that he and his brother couldn't get tickets and are waiting for them in the cancellation line.

* [[AbhorrentAdmirer Terri]] from ''TheThickOfIt'' [[SmokingIsGlamorous has a cigarette with]] hapless Opposition MP Peter Mannion, in order to flirt with him. (He doesn't notice either the flirting or that she is rather obviously not a smoker.)
* Happens on ''PubertyBlues'' when the AlphaBitch offers the two protagonists a cigarette as a thank you for not turning her in for cheating and, wanting to be in with the cool girls, they accept.

* In ''CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin tries smoking a cigarette. At the end of the strip, Calvin comments that it was trusting parents that caused him to smoke and therefore damage his health.

* [[http://exterminatusnow.co.uk/2003-10-03/comic/meet-the-crew/syrus-the-virus/ Syrus "the Virus"]] in ''ExterminatusNow'' did it on the cast page. Discussed on the next page:
-->''Harold:''' You mean it was a lame attempt to look like a badass.
-->''Syrus:''' Did it work?
-->''Harold:''' Nah, you just looked like a ''regular'' ass.
* DominicDeegan does this to ''himself''. He lights his pipe, inhales, and... discovers that when his white mage brother Gregory healed him earlier, he also cured his smoking habit.
* Averted in ''Homestuck'' by Cronus Ampora, who constantly has a cigarette between his lips, despite never having it lit, merely because it looks "cool". Helps that he is almost fetishizes humans, and has gone to almost every length to resemble them.
* ''GoblinHollow'': Lily's cousin carries lit cigs around without ever actually taking a drag merely to annoy people and because "trashy women all smoke, it's in the union rules".

* On ''{{Futurama}}'', Kif does this, causing incredible reactions from his alien body.
* In ''TheClevelandShow'', Tim the bear becomes an evil boss so Cleveland has to smoke to get a break.

* In ''BreakingBad'', Walter White bums a cigarette from Jesse Pinkman in an attempt at conviviality. It's obvious that Walter has never smoked a cigarette in his life.

** Parodied in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E7TheGreatMoneyCaper "The Great Money Caper"]]. After failing to con Flanders, Homer and Bart hide in the treehouse, where Grandpa is waiting for them in a dark corner with a pipe.
-->'''Grandpa:''' Amateurs! ''[lights up]''

-->'''Grandpa:''' That's right!

-->'''Grandpa:''' That's right! ''[coughs]''

* In ''LoveHina'', Keitaro attempts smoking at one point in the manga after failing his exams. He immediately begins coughing and spluttering.

* In ''TheLegendOfZorro'', Elana gets rid of [[RomanticFalseLead Armand]] so she can talk to Alejandro by asking him to buy her a pipe. [[BrickJoke Much later]], after she and Armand have had dinner, a servant brings "her" pipe. Initially she says she needs her stomach to settle first, but when she needs an excuse to be out on the balcony, she's forced to light up.

* In ''SmokeyAndTheBandit'', Sally Field's character, Frog, takes up smoking the Bandit's cigarettes, and is obviously a non-smoker.

* Variation in ''BeingThere''. Chance and Ben Rand are having an after-dinner discussion and the latter enjoys a cigar. Chance has a habitual tendency to imitate what he sees others do, so he tries to do the same, but finds he cannot light it -- as he didn't see Ben slicing off the tip of his cigar beforehand. Ben doesn't notice his problem, [[spoiler: but Dr. Allenby does, furthering his suspicions about who Chance really is]].
* In "The Spirit of St. Louis", Charles Lindbergh is offered a cigar while meeting with prominent businessmen about obtaining funding for his flight. HilarityEnsues because he isn't sure how to light it.

* Averted in ''Webcomics/Homestuck'' by Cronus Ampora, who constantly has a cigarette between his lips, despite never having it lit, merely because it looks "cool". Helps that he is almost fetishizes humans, and has gone to almost every length to resemble them.

** Also happens in "Brother's Little Helper" to Ned Flanders as he and Maude play hippies in a fire safety play. Though his cough from smoking is the least of his problems as he inadvertently sets his pants ablaze.

** In "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)", Marge (a nonsmoker) claims she "just felt like filling the house with the rich, satisfying smell of tobacco." She's trying to overwhelm the smell of the chili cookoff so Homer won't go to it.

* In ''TheLegendOfZorro'', Elana gets rid of [[ThePaolo Armand]] so she can talk to Alejandro by asking him to buy her a pipe. [[BrickJoke Much later]], after she and Armand have had dinner, a servant brings "her" pipe. Initially she says she needs her stomach to settle first, but when she needs an excuse to be out on the balcony, she's forced to light up.

* In the ''TheHuntForRedOctober'', Jack Ryan was an occasional smoker (smoke for a while, quit for a while, but never more than two or three a day at his worst.) Jack Ryan tries to break the tension of the initial meeting between Americans and Russians by bumming a smoke off the Russian engineer. He immediately begins coughing, fortunately, this provides the levity needed to break the ice. The Russian cigarette was described as "like smoking asphalt through a cardboard tube."

* Peggy (before she started smoking) and Pete have both done this on ''MadMen''.

* [[AbhorrentAdmirer Terri]] from TheThickOfIt [[SmokingIsGlamorous has a cigarette with]] hapless Opposition MP Peter Mannion, in order to flirt with him. (He doesn't notice either the flirting or that she is rather obviously not a smoker.)

* ''TheSimpsons'':

* [[SchoolShock Hao Xuan]] went through hard times, and tries calming down with a smoke - it ends as expected. He still pulls it through, though.

* In ''{{Frasier}}'' Niles ends up pretending that he came outside to smoke, too embarrassed to admit that he and his brother couldn't get tickets and are waiting for them in the cancellation line.

* In ''BreakingBad'', [[BreakingBad Walter White]] bums a cigarette from [[BreakingBad Jesse Pinkman]] in an attempt at conviviality. It's obvious he's never smoked a cigarette in his life.

-->''Harold''': You mean it was a lame attempt to look like a badass.
-->''Syrus''': Did it work?
-->''Harold''': Nah, you just looked like a ''regular'' ass.

** But subverted and justified in his review of DoubleTeam, where he lights up a cigarillo in celebration of the film's climax. Cigarillos are classed as healthier than cigarettes, as you don't inhale, you just keep the smoke in your mouth and breathe out.

'''COUGH COUGH COUGH GAGGHHHH!'''

* On ''TheSimpsons'', Patty and Selma are caught smoking at work and are about to be fired when Homer, in an uncharacteristically gallant mood, claims the cigarettes are his and smokes them, claiming between coughs and gags that he is "in flavor country".
** Another time, Marge (a nonsmoker) claims she "just felt like filling the house with the rich, satisfying smell of tobacco." She's trying to overwhelm the smell of the chili cookoff so Homer won't go to it.
** Also happens with Ned Flanders as he and Maude play hippies in a fire safety play. Though his cough from smoking is the least of his problems as he inadvertently sets his pants ablaze.