Hides half of Jacob's smokes (8)

I believe the answer is:

obscures

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'hides' is the definition.
(obscuring is a kind of hiding)

'half of jacob's smokes' is the wordplay.
'half of' suggests halving the letters.
'smokes' becomes 'cures' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'jacobs' with half the letters taken is 'obs'.
'obs'+'cures'='OBSCURES'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for obscures that I've seen before include "shrouds" , "Covers, darkens" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times and the Irish Times (Crosaire).

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.