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Alright, alright. That last post was a good guess by the way but I'll tell you what the cigarettes mean and why.
A: The Cigarettes represent their lives, very clearly.
Explanation: When they first show the cigarettes, they're playing poker and gambling with them. This is to portray that they're gambling or playing with their lives.
If you listen to some of the diologue, Mcmurphy says, "Dimes the limit Martini. If you break it in half, you don't get two nickels, you get ****. I'm trying to smoke it, you understand? He's saying life is something you live all the way to the end and not something to be taken granted for. They start to realize this after their boat trip in that dramatic discussion group scene. They start to taste life and become resentful and questionable. Cheswick states and this is one of the biggest themes in the whole movie, "Piss on your ****** rules nurse ratchet! What gives you the damn right to keep OUR CIGARETTES piled up on your desk so you can squeeze out a box anytime you feel like it?!" Then, the sequence afterward basically sums up the whole message of the movie when Mcmurphy sees this and breaks Nurse Ratchet's window, making her stand up powerless to mcmurphy's righteousness, gives him the carton and says, "Here!" but it doesn't last because they quickly take them away after a fight because in the mental institution they don't rehabilitate they sedate and control. Any outburst of emotion, even to only recognize themselves as alive and demand fair treatment is sedated and therefore makes their condition in their environment untreatable.
This also maked it impossible for Randall to help them because they're basically living through him the entire movie. For instance when they're throwing around the cigarette, taking a puff, they're puffing on one cigarette but Cheswick was brave enough to demand he wanted HIS cigarettes.
Also, when they're playing basketball, The basketball represents their pace through life, trying to juggle life. They're taking turns feeling alive. You can tell by how they play when they have the basketball. For example, Harding, who was always stuck on a problem he thought more of than should've and wouldn't let go of shows this when he just aimlessly dribbles the ball and doesn't go anywhere on the court. And there's symbolism with Martini.
This is also shown again at the end of the movie after the chief breaks out, they start the next sene showing only the tub-room table and them placing their cigarettes one by one on the table showing they did not get any better and they're still playing with their lives because they're not ill, they're just discouraged from life.
I don't think this is debateable. I strongly believe that was the message the author or writer was trying to get across. WHAT A GREAT MOVIE!