A Small Step for a Smoker

“I believe I’m the first person ever to bum a cigarette on the Internet,” reveals Ned Henly, a graphic designer in Forest Hills, Queens. “I met a guy named ‘dogelliott’ on MySpace. He lives in Cleveland and has a complete collection of the original Punk magazine—but he also loves techno! We began to have long cyber-conversations, and one day I asked him: ‘Do you have a spare cigarette?’

“‘Sure,’ dogelliott replies, and he drops an unfiltered Marlboro in an envelope and mails it to me. Two days later, I pull out the cigarette and light up—while listening to Eat Static, the underrated glam-techno band! It was like being the first man to orbit the moon!”