A Few Quick Thoughts

Written by Smoke Signals | 30 April 2013
Posted in Articles

A Few Quick Thoughts
SMOKE SIGNALS MAGAZINE - May - June 2013

Just a few quick thoughts in a busy month that's made it feel like we're suffering from late-onset ADD and prevented us from stringing more than a coherent thought or two together:

Is the smoking fetish community starting to react to what we can best describe as "oversupply?" More than one person has remarked to us lately that they aren't getting the same enjoyment they used to from watching "just" an attractive young woman smoke - and that's sent them in search of more unusual material. One mentioned girls smoking hookahs and pipes, another mentioned scenes with multiples, and a third mentioned "fake taboo" (alleged smoking incest clips making the rounds on Clips4Sale) as the primary types of video that can get them going these days. And that's on top of the neverending interest in finding under-18 smoking clips that nearly destroyed one popular message board. This all naturally led us to wonder whether a growing disinterest in mainstream smoking video is a more widespread phenomemon that we had guessed - and if so, what is causing it. If indeed this is a real change in people's interests and not just a coincidence that we've come across, the only cause we can think of is overexposure. There are so many mainstream smoking fetish videos that have been released since the mid-90s which live on through producer sites and now through tubes, torrents and sharing sites - have people simply grown weary of the genre due to the enormous amount of video already available? Admittedly, almost all producers use the same basic sets which certainly lends a feeling of "sameness" to new video, no matter how beautiful or accomplished a model may be. But it seems odd that an entire group of fetishists can "morph" over a period of a few years into a group in need of extreme material. We'd love to hear your thoughts.

On a somewhat related note, we notice that in addition to a huge decline in smoking story submissions to Smoke Signals has been mirrored by a lack of new stories at Loring's Smoking Stories site. We again have to wonder if it reflects a dropoff of interest in more mainstream smoking fetish outlets, a "dumbing down" of our community in terms of interest in this sort of material (it's hard for tweeps to tell a smoking story in 140 characters) or again, just another coincidence. Maybe we're just too wedded to the written word to understand it - after all, we still read magazines and the occasional newspaper here. Thankfully, we still have Vesperae on staff :)

And on a totally unrelated note, we're pleased to tell you that the Smoking Erotica catalog is returning to Smoking Flicks for streaming or download. We're in the process of re-adding all of their older material, and will have new SE videos coming in the near future as well. We don't know whether Smoking Models will also be returning, but we're hopeful.

Enjoy the May-June issue!

What Makes A Good Smoking Model?

Written by Smoke Signals | 28 February 2013
Posted in Articles

What Makes A Good Smoking Model?
SMOKE SIGNALS MAGAZINE - March - April 2013

We've had many people ask us what criteria we use to select the smoking models we feature on our sites. And so we thought this might be as good a time as any to answer the questions for everyone to see.

First and foremost, of course, the model has to be a real-life smoker and has to inhale. We're sure you've seen "smoking models" (to put it kindly) who've appeared on porn sites - many of them don't inhale, and even if they do inhale in real life, they often just let the smoke waft out of their mouth for the camera, with what they (or the producer) think is a sexy look. Some people may indeed find it sexy. We find it a waste of a model and a waste of good smoke. On rare occasions, we've used video of models who only inhale lightly, primarily because there's something else in the scene that makes it worthwhile in our eyes. For example, a video we're posting on Smoking Flicks later this week features porn star Angelina Mylee, who has a "light" smoking style. But she's performing smoky oral sex while her real-life mother watches approvingly and smokes in the background - a hot scenario we've never seen filmed by anyone before, and something we found interesting enough to use despite Angelina's shallow inhales. But IRL smoking is the number one requirement we try to enforce for our shoots.

Secondly, the model should enjoy what she's doing. That doesn't mean she has to be perky and bubbly about her smoking, but it does mean she shouldn't look like she's doing something distasteful to her. Not every model smiles when she's doing a shoot of any sort. But if our models smile and let you know they're enjoying their cigarettes, it's definitely a plus. Naturally, you won't hear our models saying they "only smoke because they're addicted." But we want the viewers to know, just by watching, that the models smoke because they enjoy it.

That brings us to our third and most-misunderstood criterion: accomplished smoking. We're always delighted when we have a model who is adept at smoking, and is able to do at least some of the "tricks," as many call techniques like french inhaling or open-mouth inhaling. But contrary to some people's view, we don't make it a requirement. We're not fans of models who look awkward while trying to show off what they can do; for example, we don't want them to "try" to french inhale or make smoke rings and then shake their heads after looking somewhat foolish. What we're after is someone who looks totally natural while doing a snap or french inhale - someone who can toss off a few smoke rings without a second thought - someone whose nose exhales are thick and natural. And just as impressive to us is a model who doesn't do the "tricks," but takes power drags, double drags, shows effortless talking exhales, or in other ways shows her "dominance" over her cigarette. For want of a better way to explain it, the smoke doesn't control her, she controls the smoke.

Finally, there are a few other factors that never show on the finished product, but we look for models who are easy to work with, and who don't find the smoking fetish "weird" (as we've heard from a number of prospective models). We find that leads to more relaxed, enjoyable and productive shoots.

We hope that answers some of the questions we've gotten - and gives you an idea of how we choose models for inclusion. It may sound simplistic. But when you've seen dozens and dozens of models who claim to be real life heavy smokers, claim to love smoking and claim to be good at it - and then find that they don't even inhale (or even vomit after trying to smoke two cigarettes in a row) - the process of screening and selecting models is a lot trickier than you might think.

Enjoy the March-April issue!