Alexander says he only smokes cigarettes when he’s at political functions where people whose influence surpasses his own do; that it’s a neat trick to put people at ease and endear himself further. He doesn’t smoke even then – those people find the fact that he politely declines the offer and still doesn’t wrinkle his nose or cough rudely while they smoke to be entirely charming.

( The truth is he can’t stand to do it unless he’s with one person – one person who probably shouldn’t be offering him cigarettes, but he does anyway, and Alex always takes them. )