smoking had been a big deal at fifteen , a very big deal , something that had made up for all the stuff he had n't been able to have ( a car , for instance , even an old jalop '' like the ones his friends drove-cars with primer on the rocker panels and white `` plastic steel '' around the headlights and bumpers held on with twists of haywire ) , and by the time he was sixteen he was hooked-two packs a day and a bona fide smoker 's hack in the morning .