I was sitting in the car at the gas station waiting for my husband to pay for the gas when I saw this guy come out of the store with a pack of cigarettes. He stood next to the trash bin and shook and loudly smacked his pack of cigs over and over...and over. THEN his friend came out of the store and she took the pack of cigarettes and she smacked them a couple more times. Then they got in the car, shut the door and smacked the cigs a few more times before lighting up (they were smacking it so hard you could hear it coming from their car. This whole episode literally took about two minutes-which is kind of a long time just to do all that. So my question is, what does beating on the pack do for the taste of cigs? Of course I've seen other smokers do this, but these two put so much physical effort into it and made such a scene that I got to wondering why people do that. I'm not being sarcastic and I'm not picking on smokers; I'm just curious.
2007-03-26 16:12:40 · 8 answers · asked by Wo 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
They were packing the tobacco so that their smokes would burn more uniformly.
2007-03-26 16:18:32 · answer #1 · answered by kenrayf 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When cigarettes first come out of the package, the tobacco inside is somewhat loose, and by banging the unopened pack on the end, one compacts the tobacco and is less likely to lose some of it during the process of smoking the cigarette. This is especially desireable with the non-filtered variety, when loose tobacco can get in your mouth. It does not taste good to most smokers. You'll also see a guy take a single cigarette from the pack and tap the end lightly on his wristwatch or another hard surface before lighting up...same reason; to compact the tobacco down into the paper tube.
I did that - dumbell that I was - for twenty-two years before I quit smoking eighteen years ago.
2007-03-26 23:30:21 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Cause it packs the tobacco tighter, and makes for a longer lasting cigarette. Sparks don't fly everywhere. I feel like a hoodlum when I do this but it works.
2007-03-26 23:17:05 · answer #3 · answered by knowitall 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's called "packing".
It's so they burn a bit better. And gets most of that loose tobacco off the filters (at least, I've noticed..)
2007-03-26 23:19:13 · answer #4 · answered by Annie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its called packing the tobacco tighter, it makes the cigarette, stay lit longer. It does nothing to the taste
2007-03-26 23:16:27 · answer #5 · answered by Moose 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
To pack the tobacco.
2007-03-26 23:23:55 · answer #6 · answered by chris f 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It packs the tobacco in the cigarette causing it to burn better.
2007-03-26 23:16:00 · answer #7 · answered by rainbow_writer 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
They want to get in the first shot.
2007-03-26 23:19:07 · answer #8 · answered by don'tbeleiveinnothing 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋