Is this Squirrel smoking?

You never know what you're going to find at the park. Look at my Caracal post from a few days ago as case in point.

I saw this cute squirrel from a distance, doing his "squirrel" thing as they do.

I noticed he had something in his hands and he was getting ready to indulge himself.

I started to wonder what he was eating. Was that a little white mushroom stalk? Do they even eat those?

I took a closer look and started to wonder if this cute feeding photo was actually him chewing on a cigarette butt.

I'm still not entirely sure what he is chewing on.

Something else caught my attention for a minute and when I looked back he was heading up a tree without it. I searched around on the ground and couldn't find anything. Maybe he ate it? Hid it? Perhaps I'm not good at finding things?

Please let me know what you think it was. I do hope it was something innocent for our cute little buddy.

All photos taken by @rawruss with a Nikon D3400 w/ 70-300mm lens in July 2018 in North Florida.