2,500 New Yorkers showed up for an old man’s five-minute cigarette break invitation

In true New York fashion, a city that can turn anything into an impromptu flash mob, from Gen-Z lookalike frenzies to spontaneous Union Square stampedes, the latest gathering was sparked not by a celebrity but by an elderly Brooklyn man named Bob. Known online as “Breaking Bob” and dubbed the “Cigarette Maestro,” he managed to tap into something deeply familiar: the universal, five-minute smoke break that can feel like a small lifeline in the middle of whatever you’re going through. The invitation resonated instantly. By Friday afternoon, roughly 2,500 people, according to the event page , influencers, college students, skaters, office workers, and anyone who just happened to be passing through the Village, crowded the corner of Waverly Place and University Place outside Washington Squa