Life Hackery

Smoking can be blamed for some of today’s deadliest diseases. Everyone, including smokers, know that excessive smoking can cause cancers, emphysema and a long list of respiratory ailments. You have every right to condemn the act but what about the cigarette?

Surprisingly, if you look beyond the connotations of the tiny death stick, you will see a myriad of cool and non-hazardous ways to use the cigarette. Here are some of its coolest alternative uses:

1. Birthday Candle Casing – Forget about blowing candles on your birthday cake. Why not use the cigarette as a casing for birthday candles? Just remove the tobacco leaves inside your cigarettes, then slide birthday candles in their place. You will then have a set of funky candles for themed birthday cakes. Give that cake to a smoker and he will truly feel appreciated.

2. Tool for Magic Tricks – Small items like coins and cards are usually used by magicians in their acts since they are easy to conceal. You can take a page out of the magician’s book by applying the concepts of disappearing coins and card tricks with a cigarette. It is small enough to be hidden in-between fingers or behind the ears. Master the sleight-of-hand of technique with the cancer stick and you’ll certainly be the life of the party. You might even star in your very own TV show ala David Blaine.

3. Paper Flower – You can turn a cigarette into a mini masterpiece with just a few cuts and folds. First, remove the tobacco leaves inside the cigarette. Pull a portion of the filter’s fibrous content out and arrange it like flower petals. When the petals are arranged, twist the cigarette paper until it resembles a flower’s stem. You can add realism to the makeshift flower by flattening its petals. The result is a pretty little cigarette flower. You can even make an entire bouquet if you have a spare pack of cigarettes.

4. Butt Board – In the absence of wine corks, the cigarette butt can act as a decent substitute. You can collect dozens of cigarette butts from the smoking areas of bars and coffees shops. Arrange them on a cork board frame and attach them using wood glue or superglue. When the adhesive hardens, you can use the butt board as a bulletin board in the office.

5. Bookmark – If female readers use withered flowers as bookmarks, the male populace has an equally cool answer in cigarette bookmarks. Just rid a cigarette of tobacco leaves and wedge it in-between the pages of your favorite novel. Be careful with your cigarette bookmark though. Cigarette paper is sensitive. One scratch can rip your bookmark apart.

6. Bulletin Board Items – Bulletin boards often have small objects stuck on select corners, that represent figures or highlight graphical representations. Given its physical properties, the cigarette is a good substitute for any of those items. Color a few sticks with your highlighter or marker and it can stand as the lines of the graphs arranged on bulletin boards. If you are creative, you might even find a use for the tobacco leaves.

7. Collage Material – A collage is made of simple items like pictures and magazine cutouts to produce a single image. You can add the cigarette to your list of collage materials, since its shape is versatile and easy to work with. A pack of cigarettes can be arranged to form letters or even images. You can also paint the sticks with striking colors to make your collage eye-catching.

8. Jewelry – Wearing a crooked cigarette on your neck or ears may not be pretty, but it certainly sends a strong message about the ills of smoking. To create such an item, you can bend the cigarette, until it bears a slight z-shape. Rub a small amount of paper mache paste on the cigarette. Once it hardens, you can turn the cigarette into a weird pendant. You can also affix the hardened cigarettes onto your earrings.

9. Diorama Material – Creating a miniature scene is fun. You have the freedom to use small items that will represent surroundings or the protagonists of your work. Remarkably, the cigarette is perfect for making dioramas. The tobacco leaves can stand for soil or fallen leaves. Cigarette paper makes good section dividers, shower curtains, or land. As for the cigarette butt, it can be used for posts or fire hydrants.

10. Air-Freshener Holder – Cigarettes are normally associated to the pungent smell of smoke. You can turn things around by using cigarettes as air-freshener holders. Replace the tobacco leaves with air-freshener pellets, then place the sticks in strategic locations of your room. You will be amazed with your room’s fragrance right after.

11. Insulation – If you have 300 cigarettes and an unbearably hot room, you can use them to create a decent insulation. Layer the sticks on the ceiling and apply some paper mache paste or a stronger adhesive. The layered cigarettes will then absorb the heat brought by sunlight, translating to cooler temperatures in your room. You can also wrap the layer of cigarettes with lining to keep them from compact.

12. The Supreme Test of Will Power – Place one cigarette inside a tiny plastic or glass container and set it in a visible corner of your room. If you are truly committed to kicking the habit, you should not be tempted to break the container and light its content. The move may be counterproductive, but it’s a good way of testing your will power. Of course, you can just throw the cigarette, if you are not really affected by its presence.

The cigarette is a health hazard but it can be used to your advantage if you think outside the box. It is clearly a good item for making crafts and art projects. It can even be a substitute for a few things that we use daily. With its overall usefulness, you don’t really need to smoke cigarettes for you to enjoy them.