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For a group that’s been banned from offices, malls, movie theaters and air planes — and possibly all public places in Pennsylvania, if the state legislature can agree on a proposed ban — smokers seem to stick together.

Smokers can be found huddled together in the rain or banished to the back porch at parties, striking up conversations as easily as matches — and the bans that removed them in the first place may be behind the camaraderie of the habit.

Smokers are a ‘‘fairly large subculture,’’ said Dr. John Kramer, a member of the sociology faculty at Penn State University, University Park sociology faculty.

‘‘But there are limited locations where you can smoke, and smaller and smaller arenas (for smoking),’’ said Kramer, who teaches sociology of deviants. ‘‘It builds a community as outcasts, with their mutual dissidence from society. We’re passing laws against it — the message is clear. A lot of people don’t want them smoking.’’

Tony Raia of Altoona sees it that way.

‘‘They’ve put us in a corner to smoke,’’ said Raia, 61, as he shopped for cigarettes at Nic’s Tobacco Outlet on Pleasant Valley Boule-vard in Altoona. ‘‘It’s like any other team ... it’s us against the world. They (the anti-smoking movement) made it a war.’’

The camaraderie of smoking is ‘‘a more general phenomenon — a societal shift from smoking being socially acceptable to a minority status, to socially unacceptable,’’ said Dr. Brad Hastings, chairman of the social sciences department at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson.

‘‘As human beings, we form majorities and minorities,’’ Hastings said. ‘‘You’re either a smoker or a nonsmoker. You can’t be someone in between. ... It’s true for anybody — if I see a bumper sticker, a political sticker I agree with, I feel akin with that person even if I don’t know them. It’s in and out groups — people choose and immediately start forming bonds.’’

Smokers feel ‘‘ostracized’’ by the bans, said Michael J. McFadden, mid-Atlantic regional director of The Smoker’s Club Inc., a pro-smoking organization based in Center Conway, N.H.

‘‘Whenever you have a group of people that feels it has been singled out for unjust persecution you’re going to find that the members of that group will bond to each other,’’ McFadden said.

Others say the habit is one that simply lends itself to fraternizing. For Debbie Free of Phoenixville, smoking is ‘‘sort of a social thing.’’

‘‘It’s a break,’’ said Free, who declined to give her age as she bought a pack of cigarettes at Smoker’s Express on Seventh Avenue in Altoona. ‘‘You’re out there having a cigarette ... it’s something to talk about.’’

And it’s a habit that can shape a life.

‘‘Hobbies bring people together, like Trekkies, but smoking is more than a hobby,’’ Hastings said. ‘‘Hobbies don’t have be central to your identity, don’t have to be something you do every day. Smoking is central to the identity.’’

As a cashier at Nic’s Tobacco Outlet and a smoker herself, Deanna Barefoot of Altoona said she regularly talks about the habit with her customers.

‘‘We talk about different brands, the kinds of cigarettes we like,’’ said Barefoot, 23. ‘‘And where we like to smoke. I smoke more at the bars. It goes hand in hand.’’

Smokers do tend to have common personalities, Hastings said — many are known as ‘‘sensation seekers,’’ or those who tend to seek stimulation from the environment.

‘‘There are plenty of nonsmokers who are sensation seekers,’’ he said. ‘‘They might ride rollercoasters or skydive. Smoking is something that’s readily available. But (personality type) is clearly secondary to social patterns. There are a lot of reasons people smoke, and sensation seeking is low on the list.’’

The health risks of the habit — emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease, among others — aren’t news to anyone, least of all smokers. Some may seek out other smokers as a comfort mechanism, Kramer said.

‘‘When we’re doing things we know aren’t healthy, we neutralize the message somewhat to be comfortable with what we’re doing,’’ he said. ‘‘If you look at the deviance of gangs, (smokers) are individuals in similar situations with similar negative feedback. It builds camaraderie.’’

Robin Brandt of Altoona said she likes smoking with other people — if for no reason other than that there are others smoking.

‘‘I think a lot of it is knowing it’s a bad, rotten, stupid habit, and you’re glad someone else is doing it,’’ said Brandt, 49, who was smoking outside the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg.

Brandt began smoking when she was 14 — most of her immediate family smoked.

‘‘I had two older brothers, and I’m four years younger. They looked cool doing it,’’ she said.

Mirror Staff Writer Ashley Gurbal is at 946-7435.

 

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