Determining Exposure Time

I love the Brassai method of determining exposure time, as he claimed to time his night shots by smoking cigarettes.
“To gauge my shutter time, I would smoke cigarettes – a Gauloise for a certain light, a Boyard if it was darker.” Do others have a similar method of gauging long exposures? I have sometimes exposed salt prints by the time it takes to make and drink a cup of tea.