Smoge

Smoge is a popular Twitch emote that depicts a sad-looking Pepe the Frog character smoking a cigarette. The emote conveys a sense of extreme sadness, depression, or disappointment combined with resignation or giving up (symbolized by the cigarette). It's essentially a more intense and nihilistic version of the "Sadge" emote, which shows the same depressed Pepe but without the cigarette.

Smoge evolved from the "Sadge" emote, both featuring variations of the popular Pepe the Frog character that has become a staple in Twitch culture. The emote is available through third-party browser extensions like BetterTTV (BTTV) or FrankerFaceZ (FFZ), rather than being one of Twitch's official global emotes.

While the exact creation date and specific creator of Smoge aren't well-documented, it emerged as part of the broader evolution of Pepe-based emotes on Twitch. These third-party emotes became particularly popular as the platform's visual language expanded beyond Twitch's original emote set that launched with the platform in 2011.

Smoge is typically used in Twitch chat in the following situations:

• When a streamer experiences a particularly disappointing failure or loss
• When viewers want to express feelings of hopelessness or resignation about a situation
• During sad or emotional moments in games or discussions
• When something that was highly anticipated turns out to be disappointing
• As a reaction to bad news or unfortunate events mentioned during a stream

Users simply type "Smoge" in the chat when they want to convey these emotions, and the emote appears for those who have the appropriate browser extension installed.