Rails about the girl's smoking choices (8)
'smoking choices' is the definition.
'ethereal' can be an answer for 'smoking' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'choices' bit.
'rails about the girl's' is the wordplay.
'rails' becomes 'El' (El train, short for elevated railway).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'girl' becomes 'rea' ().
'the'+'rea'='therea'
'el' going around 'therea' is 'ETHEREAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ethereal that I've seen before include "Extremely delicate and light; otherworldly" , "Insubstantial or not of this world" , "There in lea - it looks delicate" , "Sublime" , "Airy, celestial" .)
'smoking choices' is the definition.
(cheroot is a type of cigar)
'rails about the girl's' is the wordplay.
'rails' becomes 'coots' (coot is a kind of rail).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'the girl' becomes 'her' ('her' refers to a girl or woman).
'coots' enclosing 'her' is 'CHEROOTS'.
(Other definitions for cheroots that I've seen before include "small cigars" , "Cigars with both ends cut square" , "Square-ended cigars" , "Cigars with both ends cut flat" , "Cigars with both ends open" .)