It’s lunchtime at the Cartier Polo, and I’ve just spotted perfection in human form. Seated just two places away from me is a man so disturbingly gorgeous that it’s a good 40 minutes before I recognise him as David Gandy, the Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue hunk, most often seen stranded in a dinghy with nothing but a pair of very small pants and a very large package for company. He’s flanked by not one but two overprotective agents, and I just can’t seem to get a look-in. Then I suggest popping out for a cigarette, and suddenly we’re talking. Specifically, we’re talking about “smirting”.

Translating as smoking while flirting, it’s the latest trick in the courting game. As Gandy fixes me with his steely blue eyes and assures me that he’s on my side – it’s always the fun people who nip out for a fag – I’m smitten. And smirted.

Unfortunately, I don’t manage to get him on his own again for a sneaky one, so it goes no further, but across the country, hundreds of people are succeeding where I, in this case, did not. Thanks to the smoking ban, Fag Ash Lils and Toking Tims have found themselves at the centre of impromptu dating pools cropping up on pavements nationwide.

First identified in New York in 2003, when the city’s smoking ban came into force, smirting soon spread to Ireland – one study found that a quarter of Irish couples who got together over the past two years had met while smoking alfresco. There have even been “smoking” weddings, as introductory puffs turn into long-term love – in fact, the projected nose-dive in the number of Irish smokers failed to materialise, as new smoking recruits wanted to get in on a piece of the dating action.

In New York, nipping outside for a ciggie has established itself as a bona-fide social and sexual way in. The smirter’s corner outside Bungalow 8, Manhattan’s most sought-after nightspot, was so hot that when I went there, the queue to get out for a cigarette was longer than the famously impenetrable queue to get in. Networking, flirting, chatting up the doorman – it was all much more achievable while having a cigarette outside the club than indoors, where the strictest of social rules apply.

Banning it has given smoking back the behind-the-bike-sheds friskiness that sets smokers off on an illicit and complicit track. United by the naughty, conspiratorial feel of nipping outside for a fag, since July 1, British smirters have found themselves in conversation with people they would never normally talk to. Matt Hermer, the owner of Boujis, Volstead, Cocoon and other social hot spots, says: “People get chatting and swapping phone numbers outside in a way they don’t inside. We have to literally make them go back downstairs.”

Smirting is proving such a success that even nonsmokers are trying to get in on the act. Simon Proctor, a smirter and the co-founder of Speed Dater, has created nonsmoking smirting areas at his evenings to make sure the clean breathers don’t miss out – he even hands out candy cigarettes as icebreakers. “Smirting is 100% real. The other day, I was waiting for my event to start. I went out for a fag on my own, and there was a woman doing the same. She was attractive; we got talking. It was perfect, really.”

This isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. As a smoker of the tactical kind, I’ve been using cigarettes as an excuse to get close to boys for years. More often than not, when coyly asking some hot man for a smoke, I have one hidden in my handbag. You can’t beat the instant intimacy of one person lighting another’s cigarette – it is, after all, only a tiny accidental trip-up from a full-on snog.

There are, of course, techniques that need to be honed if you’re going to smoke your way to success. Smart smirters always carry a lighter, but never light their own cigarettes. Timing is also key – don’t nip outside during half-time if it’s conversation you’re after. And refining your smoking look is crucial. People are watching, so think more Marlene Dietrich, less Dot Cotton.

But get yourself in the right place, with the right kind of smoker, at the right time, and that mischievous feeling could stretch beyond a quick puff. In fact, if it’s a bit of old-school fun you’re after, you could do a lot worse than nip outside for a fag.

WHAT YOUR CIGARETTES SAY ABOUT YOU

Golden Virginia rollies

Who Artists, poets, musicians, photographers – anyone who’s good with their hands.
Where Outside clubs, gigs and the ICA; the South Bank.
Smirting technique If he rolls you one, you know you’re in there.

Marlboro Lights

Who Works in media, fashion, entertainment, hairdressing. Definitely worth touching for a round or two.
Where Outside cocktail bars and members’ clubs, looking young, smart and professional.
Smirting technique Most likely to go for the direct approach, and try it on with your mate, too.

Natural American Spirit

Who Glam eco-preneurs who now make a mint importing organic goat-hair yoga mats from Tibet.
Where Outside health-food cafes, holistic spas, farmers’ markets or anywhere that sells falafel.
Smirting technique Intense eye contact as he lends you the lighter tied to a leather thong round his neck.

B&H

Who The committed.
Where Outside pubs, offices, car workshops.
Smirting technique Hacking cough gets the sympathy vote.

Marlboro Reds

Who Public schoolboys.
Where Outside the school gates.
Smirting technique Blows smoke rings and sucks butt.

Times recommends

• It is possible to look stylish while pregnant
• Britain’s tot models
• Who and what benefits from the heat wave?