Cool. Any chance of getting affiliate links for other Amazon's? In particular, amazon.co.jp would be cool - we foreigners living in Japan do a lot of shopping there.

That little narration snippet in panel four is a message that should be shoved down everyone's throat once a week every week starting at age 5.

appilliate?
interestingly, I didn't hear it here first...

> appiliate links
what are those good for? appiliation? hair removal by specially trained simians?

Smoking causes cancer. That might be a benefit to, I don't know... a collector, maybe.

Cigs are to e-cigs as boomboxes are to walkmans. Their benefit is that you're being courteous to the people around you by keeping your toxic pollution to yourself. (there might also be health benefits - I wouldn't really know, as a non-smoker)

panel 3! and panel 4!

Other "benefits" of smoking include lung cancer, stained teeth, and bad breath... oh, wait...

Patent your ideas, NOW. before i do.....

Very funny as always Scott. Though I must ask, have you ever encountered an ecig smoker who was also a gearhead or techie? The electronic cig a friend of mine uses less resembles a real smoking device and more a bad science fiction prop full of glowing tubes and jury rigged connections. He did also have one that looked like a black pen, but I think it got cannibalized to make the current monstrosity he uses.

One of those fake severed hands for nail-biters or zombie fans?

Of course smoking has benefits -
you can slay a dragon with your breath;

at twenty-five you can have the sort of wrinkles that most of us have to live eighty years to get;

you can play a pantomime horse without a mask because your own teeth are yellow enough;

you can eat anything at all, because all food tastes the same (of nicotine) and therefore you'll never get the reputation of being a fussy eater;

you can maintain personal space boundaries on public transport because, actually, people would rather NOT get to close to your nicotine-y person

you are open to a range of cancers that most of us can only dream of (lung, oral, oesophageal) and much more likely to have heart and circulation problems, meaning that you really get your money's worth out of the health service/ your health insurance

Honestly - what's not to like?

'Think bigger'. Hilarious!
Thank you, Scott.

With a mullet like that, you can only push the cool so far and not have it tickle said mullet after circumnavigating the globe.

As a user of e-cigs I can assure you the ones that actually look like cigarettes are absolute crap (which may actually help the argument you make in panel 4). The batteries are weak and the design isn't very good at producing vapor. A significant portion of people abandon them either falling off the wagon or moving into something with less of a tobacco product appearance but with more functionality. My current one looks a lot like you are sucking on the end of a "personal massager" but I'm satisfied with it's performance (double entendre unintentional). Given its appearance I still end up finding quiet out of the way corners to use it like I did when I was smoking, they just don't have to be outside. I consider it a dignity versus not wheezing while walking upstairs trade-off.

As a lifelong non-smoker, all I have to say is VAPOR SHERLOCK PIPES! Want!

Never before have i wanted to smoke while swimming so badly. I think that has officially topped my dream of smoking while running a 5k

Holy cr*p! Is the whole book in 3D or just the cover? That's awesomesauce! Why does the Amazon version look more 3D-y than the donteatanybugs version?

I'm totally going to go invent the Smorkle now.

Other benefits of smoking...

Exhaling smoke keeps bees out of your face.
Always have a handy supply of filters in case the air purifier in your biodome gets trashed.
Helps you quit the patch.
Makes an excellent infra-red laser detector, though your health bar will slowly degrade.

Very funny BI, Scott. Enjoyed it- as always.

As for everyone talking shit about smokers... well, glass houses. And being a douche to me when I go out of my way to keep my habit from affecting anyone else lessens my resolve to be courteous about it. I'm happy y'all are such evolved, super healthy creatures though.

Good day to you, sirs.

You need to put mulletboss in a 1987 camaro z28. Smoking one of those e cigs. It will make my year.

Whoa! And a free round of huffy outrage for all the smokers who are keeping their habit off everyone else''s healthcare costs! Once the pipe and snorkel are patented, the team is starting work on the in or out of water deep-sea diving suit for total smoking privacy and immersion.

Money making idea - themed affiliate links for each new comic -- for example if today there had been a "click here to order ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES from Amazon.com!" I would not have been able to resist!

You're really enjoying your little running copyright date gag, aren't you Scott?

Excellent strip this week, panel 3 great!!

Affiliate link for australia mayhaps? There's a book I want atm I'd be happy enough to get through it...

People who smoke cost the healthcare system less than people who don't. We non-smokers tend to live longer and have more long term medical issues than smokers do. I plan to live forever and milk the system for as much "free" healthcare as possible.

Smokers tend to check out of hospitals much faster than I will if you know what I mean.

Holy crap! Somebody needs to make a nicotine free e-cigarette! I'd totally buy that, and I don't even smoke!

I stopped reading after "you still have the stigma of smoking in public." I can smell it when I'm behind you on the freeway. I have to hold my breath to enter and exit many public buildings. Your pariah status is well-deserved.

Just kidding (about the stopped reading part.) The fourth panel's narration has words to live by. I just never would have thought of applying them to a nicotine delivery system.

> Smoking causes cancer. That might be a benefit to, I don't know... a collector, maybe.

People say bad things about cancer, but it grows on you.

I have modified my Amazon.co.uk bookmark to include your tag (following the instructions on http://blog.crazybob.org/2008/10/how-to-create-simple-amazon-affiliate.html and using the tag from today's link), and I just bought something. Is there any way for either you or me to tell if it is working? Is that the right tag to use for a long term link?

Note from Scott: If you tell me what you bought, I'll watch for it. It should turn up in a day or two. Thanks for trying either way!"

I'm not sure I should say what I bought -- everyone else will go and buy it and we'll never know whether it is working! I know your readers :-)

Anyway, it was an CENSORED BY SCOTT FOR THE READERS" PROTECTION. Look out for it!

Note from Scott: It did show up in the report, so I think the link is fine. Thanks for going to the extra trouble!

"Holy crap! Somebody needs to make a nicotine free e-cigarette! I'd totally buy that, and I don't even smoke!"

They do have nicotine free e-cigs. I have been using an e-cig for a couple of years now, and I have weaned myself to no nicotine.

love it. Intelligent and amusing comments too. win-win-win.

I buy Kindle books on amazon usually at least once or twice a month. Does this mean if I bookmark this page and use the link at the top, you'll get something from it every time?

E-pipe. awesome. NO! Medical marouhana pipe for old dudes