Apart from the little money they make by selling baskets in the local market, they live a hand to mouth existence with no land to farm and no animals to rear.
The act of smoking involves the fingers and possibly contaminated cigarettes coming in contact with the lips and thus increasing the risk of transmission of virus from hand to mouth.
The riff-raff drank from hand to mouth of improperly aged liquor, and it was a mark of caste to serve one's " corn" not less than six or eight months old.