He displays a type of OCD. He is dependent on his ciggie. So much so that he has to hold one in his hand, for that mental assurance, emotional support and psychological boost.

He was a tall, thin man in his older adulthood. He was standing at the elevator lobby, waiting to catch a ride down. He had a nervous tic in his eyes. He was twitching his eyes frequently. It was un-natural; more like an agent was pinging his nerves and eyelid muscles. He held a small roll of paper tube, clinched between his lips. Then, he started to hold it in his right hand. He started to smoke that small tube. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The building was fully air conditioned. Smoking was banned. Wait a minute. There was no smoke emitting from his small scroll. He was faux smoking. There was another man standing at this same elevator lobby. He didn’t flinch. Mind your own business if you know what’s good for you.

The elevator arrived. The digital indicator showed it was ascending. The “smoker” wanted to descend so he caught another elevator.

What was with all that fake smoking? He was addicted to smoking, which was shown by his need to clip his tube between his lips. He was obsessed with smoking, which was seen with his actions of drawing cigarette smoke and the accompanying actions moving the tube to his lips and then away.

If you’re interested in OCD behaviors, here’s another post on another type of OCD:
Man with OCD on sex.

Addiction and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are similar. The former sustains itself because the person feels pleasure with the activity. In the latter (OCD), the person does not feel delight with the type of behavior, but is compelled to maintain the odd habit because of the near impossible breaking away from the loop of OCD.

For example, the person who loves jelly beans and constantly eats them, has acquired the taste for them. The sense bds on the tongue are stimulated by jelly beans. he begins to feel emotional and mentally insecure when there is no jelly bean in his mouth. He thinks he must have a jelly bean because he is happy with it.

At one stage, he will realize that eating so much jelly beans is bad for his health. He has lost his appetite for regular food, because his digestive system is full of jelly beans. His health suffers. He knows he has to quit his jelly bean habit. He tries to reduce his quantity of jelly beans for the day. If he can break free, he does not have a OCD on jelly beans. If he can’t break loose from his habit, he is likely to be having an OCD on eating that confectionery. He should seek professional help to intervene in his habit.