Obama photo ignites rumors that the president has rekindled smoking habit

They say cigarettes are harder to quit than heroin. And that’s for people who don’t have to personally worry about Russia rattling sabers on the threshold of Europe.

A photograph posted to Instagram by a spokesman for Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi has sparked new speculation that President Barack Obama has resumed a decades-long habit of cigarette smoking, undoubtedly against the advice of his doctors.

The photo, which captures Renzi and Obama on a balcony during last weekend’s G7 summit in Germany, appears to show Obama holding a packet of cigarettes and possibly preparing to remove one from the pack, enthusiastically light it and welcome its noxious essence into his pink presidential lungs.

Unless those are tissues. Or sticks of gum. But who steps outside to chew gum?

The White House did not reply to a request for comment. It is unknown whether Renzi, who assumed office in January, is a smoker.

Obama, 53, has admitted to taking up smoking as a teenager. He supposedly stopped in 2010, however. First lady Michelle Obama said in February 2011 that the president had not smoked in “almost a year”.

“He’s always wanted to stop,” she said, explaining that he wanted to be able to tell his two daughters that he was not a smoker.

Obama has been a prominent user of smoking cessation gum in recent years – at times too prominent. During a state visit to India in January, the president was criticized in the local media for visibly chomping gum at a national parade. He drew similar jeers during a 2014 visit to Beijing, when he was caught chewing gum at a formal ceremony in advance of an economic summit.

A year ago, French Twitter reacted in the negative when Obama was caught chewing gum during a D-day ceremony as Queen Elizabeth II was welcomed. He was also busted chewing gum at last year’s G20 summit in Brisbane, although the Australians seemed not to care as much.