Holy smokes!<\/p>\n
New York City was the site of what could have been the world\u2019s biggest cigarette break Friday, with more than 1,500 smokers assembling outside Washington Square Park<\/a> to get their nicotine fix.<\/p>\n Park Slope native and social media sensation Bob Terry, a 75-year-old actor with a 60-year habit, organized the event to bring strangers together.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are pent up these days,\u201d Terry told The Post. \u201cAll the work and stress. Sometimes, you just gotta get people together and have a smoke. There\u2019s too much crap out there about health. Too much salad and jump rope \u2014 everyone\u2019s a nut.<\/p>\n The crowd erupted when Bob Terry lit his first cigarette. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n \u201cKick back and light up,\u201d he said of what he called his first \u201ccigarette party.\u201d<\/p>\n But make no mistake, the self-proclaimed \u201cCigarette Maestro\u201d wants smokers to cut back \u2014 and for people who\u2019ve never smoked to never start.<\/p>\n Terry \u2014 who has reduced his smoking habit but still burns through half-a-pack of Marlboro Reds a day \u2014 told The Post the party was an \u201coccasion to speak to social media, and to be a force for good.<\/p>\n An estimated 1,500 showed up for the \u201ccigarette party.\u201d Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re not smoking, don\u2019t start, and if you are, definitely quit. And if you can\u2019t quit, at least cut back.\u201d<\/p>\n On the day of, the crowd \u2014 which included a 4-foot tall animatronic Oscar the Grouch smoking a cigar \u2013erupted in applause as he lit his first cigarette.<\/p>\n \u201cI love you all,\u201d Terry, all smiles, announced. \u201cThanks for coming out, everybody. This is really something.\u201d<\/p>\n Smokers of all varieties showed up for the smoke break. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n Survivor\u2019s \u201cEye of the Tiger\u201d started playing from a portable PA system, and the smokers began chanting: \u201cBob, Bob, Bob.\u201d<\/p>\n A foggy haze hung over the crowd, which ranged in age from 18 to 78. Bob posed for selfies and handed out lighters he made himself.<\/p>\n Beyond the smoking circle, confusion reigned. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d an NYU student asked one of the smokers after exiting the Waverly Building. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s Conor McGregor,\u201d the smoker joked.<\/p>\n Terry has worked in stage, television, and film and recently moved back to New York from Los Angeles.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a party until the cops come. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n He\u2019s part of a comedy collective called Old Jewish Men<\/a>, and hosts his own Instagram show, \u201cBreaking Bob<\/a>.\u201d Recently, 33 million people watched him ace a \u201cBlind Cigarette Taste Test<\/a>\u201d on social media. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was off the richter scale,\u201d said Terry, who was passing out fliers for the mass smoke break last weekend, promising to provide a cigarette to every person 18 and over who turned out.<\/p>\n Guiness World Records currently does not have a record for largest organized smoke break, and officials from the organization did not attend the event.<\/p>\n The smoke cleared after about 30 minutes when at least 20 NYPD officers arrived to break up the gathering.<\/p>\n Bob waves to the crowd. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n \u201cWe should do this every Friday,\u201d someone in the crowd yelled, before the group burst into a chant of, \u201cOne more cig, one more cig, one more cig.\u201d <\/p>\n Terry obliged them, lighting up again to Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cNew York, New York.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn the \u201950s and \u201960s, it seemed like everyone smoked,\u201d Terry said about the habit<\/a>, which causes a host of deadly diseases<\/a>, damaging the heart, lungs and other organs.<\/p>\n His doctors are amazed at how healthy his lungs are, but still want him to quit, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI would, but the stress would kill me,\u201d Terry said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t