I was given their eloquent pitch for an electronic cigarette. Its all the rage in Wall Street at the moment with the recession and all. I assured them I needn't save any money. I am after all one of The Time's top 100 Design Influencers. But they persisted and brought out their latest model; a Gaultier, leather strapped, VM-2000-e1. I wavered as Dory said in a raspy, vacant tone: 'Go on, try it'.
I gripped the leather strapped tube puckered my lips and drew on it gently. I couldn't even hear the microprocessor activating the e-liquid (an extremely pure form of nicotine) atomizer and frankly I didn't care, smoking is all about the looks after all. And there can be nothing hotter than sucking on a leather Gaultier stick.
So I bought ten of them in colours matching my iPod Shuffle and Nano collection and every few weeks I meet Marlin and Dory to get re-stocked on my e-liquid packs and button batteries.