The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

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12. Smoking Tells
The way someone smokes says a lot about who they are,
what they feel, and how they want other people to see
them. Smoking is full of tells about the smoker, their
attitude to smoking, and their relationship to other people.
By learning to decipher these tells we can identify what
smokers are saying about themselves - where they come
from, their personality, their state of mind, and what
they're trying to achieve, even if they're not aware of it. If
you're a smoker, gaining an understanding of these tells
will help you to see what kinds of messages you're sending
out, and what your smoking style might be telling
other people about you.
Scientific investigations of smoking style - what's called
'smoking topography' - have examined the mechanics
of smoking in some detail. 1 They've looked at how long it
takes people to smoke a cigarette or cigar, how many puffs
they take, how long each puff lasts, its volume, how long
the smoke is held in the mouth before it's inhaled, how fast
it's inhaled, how long it's held in the lungs, and the interval
between successive puffs. The way these features vary tells
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