The Mayans smoked to communicate with their gods. English gentlemen to emphasize their social status. And feminists - to become like English gentlemen. Smoking has always been a kind of symbolic system. “Smoke: A World History of Smoking” is made in the form of an encyclopedia, where various articles are devoted not to cigarette brands and types of tobacco, but to the cultural phenomena that our bad habit has given rise to. There are articles by a medical historian, an ethnomusic teacher, a Van Gogh biographer, a collector of antique pipes, and even a former banker who wrote a book about kretek, the Indonesian clove cigarette. They all try in their own way to answer the question of why and how we smoke. The book contains about 40 essays on the history of smoking in different regions and cultures, its role in literature, art and cinema, its influence on society, and finally, medical aspects . The attitude towards smoking is neutral, the book does not encourage you to quit smoking, but does not praise the process. By the way, the history of the fight against smoking is also described here in detail.