To me it means - You can't quite see clearly - Like rose colored glass - You can't see the forest from the trees - You only see what you want to see -- Things like that

It's not "smoking mirrors" it is "smoke and mirrors". A term use to describe what magicians use to get their "tricks" to work out. When I see a supermodel in a magazine, I say "smoke and mirrors" because the photo is so touched up and "photo-shopped" it's not funny.

If you mean the term 'Smoke and Mirrors' then it is referring to trickery and slight of hand. These days it has to do with the way that politician distort the truth and mislead the populace.

mirrors that celebrate 420

It's like pulling the wool over somone's eyes.

cover-up: something that is intended to draw attention away from something else that somebody would prefer remain unnoticed [the use of smoke and mirrors in magic acts] http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861708932 Meaning: Trickery or deception, often in a political context. Origin: This expression alludes to the performances of stage conjurers who use actual smoke and mirrors to deceive the audience. The figurative use that is now more common refers to the obscuring or embellishing of the truth that is employed by spin doctors and the like in order to deceive the general public. This later usage comes from the writings of the American journalist Jimmy Breslin. In his Notes from Impeachment Summer, 1975, Breslin twice refers to smoke and mirrors being used in the US political scene: "All political power is primarily an illusion... Mirrors and blue smoke, beautiful blue smoke rolling over the surface of highly polished mirrors... If somebody tells you how to look, there can be seen in the smoke great, magnificent shapes, castles and kingdoms, and maybe they can be yours." "The ability to create the illusion of power, to use mirrors and blue smoke, is one found in unusual people." While Breslin didn't use 'smoke and mirrors' verbatim others quickly followed his lead. The first example of the figurative phrase in print that I can find comes from The Lowell Sun June, 1975: "Jimmy Breslin alluded to with images, of blue smoke and mirrors in his recently published book on an impeachment summer." http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/324700.html Smoke and mirrors is a metaphor for a deceptive, fraudulent or insubstantial explanation or description. The source of the name is based on magicians' illusions, where magicians use smoke and mirrors to accomplish illusions such as making objects disappear, when they really don't disappear at all. The expression may have a connotation of virtuosity or cleverness in carrying out such a deception. In the field of computer programming, it is used to describe a program or functionality that doesn't yet exist, but appears as though it does (i.e., vaporware). This is often done to demonstrate what a resulting project will function/look like after the code is complete — at a trade show, for example. More generally, "smoke and mirrors" may refer to any sort of presentation by which the audience is intended to be deceived, such as an attempt to fool a prospective client into thinking that one has capabilities necessary to deliver a product in question. Columnist Jimmy Breslin is credited with popularizing the phrase. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_and_mirrors smoke and mirrors - something which is intended to confuse or deceive people, especially by making them believe that a situation is better than it really is. City Hall has saved taxpayers little with its smoke-and-mirrors trick of using money set aside for building renovations. (always before noun) http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/smoke-and-mirrors "Smoke and mirrors" does indeed mean a distortion of the truth, specifically the use of deception, distraction and illusion to convince and manipulate. "Smoke and mirrors" is commonly used in a political context, often by one side to describe the plans and statements of their opponents, although anyone who has ever bought a used car has also probably encountered a barrage of "smoke and mirrors." To say that someone's argument or proclamation is "smoke and mirrors" is to say that it lacks substance and is deliberately deceptive, using fancy footwork and glib patter to disguise the fact that what is being sold is a dud. The allusion in "smoke and mirrors" is to a magician's stage act, particularly during a dramatic trick such as pulling a rabbit from a hat or sawing a volunteer in half. The climax of such stunts is usually accompanied by some sort of flourish, be it a puff of smoke or a simple "Voila!", that serves to distract the audience. The trick itself may depend on the clever placement of mirrors to make the impossible appear a fait accompli. But while the reference is to magic, "smoke and mirrors" was coined in the political context, by the great (notwithstanding his strange antipathy toward dogs) New York City newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin. In his 1975 book "How the Good Guys Finally Won, Notes from an Impeachment Summer," Breslin wrote, "All political power is primarily an illusion…. Mirrors and blue smoke, beautiful blue smoke rolling over the surface of highly polished mirrors, first a thin veil of blue smoke, then a thick cloud that suddenly dissolves into wisps of blue smoke, the mirrors catching it all, bouncing it back and forth. ... If somebody tells you how to look, there can be seen in the smoke great, magnificent shapes, castles and kingdoms, and maybe they can be yours." http://www.word-detective.com/021605.html#smoke%20and%20mirrors World Mythology Dictionary: Tezcatlipoca (American mythology) Literally, ‘smoking mirror’. His name refers to the black obsidian mirror when used by Aztec magicians to descry the future. Tezcatlipoca had several aspects: he was the patron of warriors and identified with Huitzilopochtli; he was the original sun knocked out of the sky and turned into a tiger by Quetzalcoatl; he was a trickster god associated with witches, thieves, and evildoers in general; and, not least, he was an all-powerful deity who could take or give life. Details survive of a custom whereby a youth impersonated Tezcatlipoca for a year and then was ritually killed in the spring, his heart being offered to the sun. http://www.answers.com/smoking%20mirrors

A big con

It's smoke AND mirrors. It's from an expression from magicians. THey trick people using smoke and mirrors, hiding how they con people into believing them.

Lookin' at your reflection and *really* diggin' what's there! ;-)

If you burn a mirror is that still 7 years bad luck?