Do you smoke?

[Doug]

Never smoke any more. I did smoke cigarets but not very much until military basic training. There, being given a smoke break was an earned privilege, so if you didn't smoke you got nothing. And they were so very cheap in the base exchange, no taxes I suppose.

When I was posted near Izmir Turkey, any time I'd walk around downtown I'd be approached multiple times by local guys who wanted to bum a cig off me. They'd see the square shape of the pack in my shirt pocket. Ungracious to say No but they didn't even stick around to light up when I gave in, instead tucking it carefully away. American cigarets were in high demand, I guess they sold the ones I gave out, or used them for trading. To avoid this I switched to smoking a pipe.

I traded a (cheap) carton of Chesterfields to a guy (who worked in the same building) from Eskisehir which is a center for the making of meerschaum pipes, and with that carton on a visit home he swapped for a beautiful fancy white meerschaum pipe he brought back to me. Quite a deal... never smoked it, more of a display piece.

I finally quit smoking completely in response to gentle constant pressure by my wife who objected to the 2nd-hand smoke, also pointing out our cats had to suffer that too. I chose an opportunity in the early-1980's when we flew to Hawaii for two weeks vacation, and just left my pipes etc at home. Knew I wouldn't be smoking in the terminal or on the plane, and while there we'd be busy swimming, shopping etc so less smoking opportunity anyway. And when we got back I just stayed quit, and after a few months I rather forgot about wanting to smoke. Good move, and well in advance of the societal trend.

I'll vote the first option in the poll, but the "occasional try" doesn't apply.

Oh BTW . . . I have absolutely no cravings to smoke, even when around smokers. I now think it smells like burning buffalo dung.

That reminds me, Turkish tobacco, as processed there, smells/tastes like what I'd imagine camel dung is like. Very distinctive...

 

[lff]

Started with smoking pipes w/ friends in high school around '85. Eventually picked up cigarrettes & smoked them plus the pipe (for a time anyway) with one 1 year hiatus in the late 90s.

Then in June of 2000, I was getting into bicycle racing (thinking 5 handrolled cigarrettes a day wasn't a problem) when I went for a ride w/ a friend that used to smoke more than me. 15 minutes into the ride he killed me on the first hill & I noticed for the millionth time how hard it was to breathe.

After the ride I smoked a cigarrette for the drive home & haven't smoked since.

 

[jan normandale]

I quit smoking cigarettes (very happy about it!) but I still like - occasionally - to smoke a strong handmade "Toscano" cigar.
out of curiosity, are these toscano cigars known outside Italy?
Ciao

Nico.. they were available in Canada until the shops decided they couldn't sell enough to make it worthwhile. Small, dry, dark, expensive... not a popular choice. Think about one Euro per smoke..

 

[photogdave]

My mom smoked while I was growing up. After dad moved out mom brought in boyfriends who smoked. Our house smelled so bad my friends wouldn't even come over to visit. I suffered chronic headaches the whole time.
Anyone who takes up this habit in this day and age is a moron, pure and simple. There is absolutely no point in cigarette smoking. One of my personal photo projects is documenting how smokers are littering and ugly-fying our environment.
The poster who mentioned having to speed past pedestrians who smoke really hits home. That's my daily walk to work - holding my breath while shifitng into high gear to pass the smokers!
Having said all that, I really like the smell of pipe tobacco!

 

[gb hill]

I can't stand cigarettes. They give me headaches. I do like an occasional cigar, and have a pipe that sometimes i'm in the mood for. I don't inhale, just like the taste of the tobacco. Then I lean toward aromatics in my pipe tobacco, the english blends are too harsh for me.

 

[dmr]

Anybody that says it's an addiction is on crack. It's not a physical addiction . . . it's a habit. It's not the chemicals . .

Let's see ... how do I put this ... I'm not on crack, that's one thing I've never been stupid enough to touch! (Are you?)

I might disagree, or rather there are many who are more qualified than I am to disagree as to nicotine's addictive properties. It's well known that it's a stimulant and euphoriant and does create a physiological craving. Google this, you will find countless references.

You may be immune to it. I sometimes think I might be. I never got anything at all of a "buzz" when I tried it. They say that nicotine crosses the blood-brain barrier within seconds. I sure never felt anything.

The one thing I am qualified to say regarding addiction is Mom, when she would try to quit. This was someone who was college educated (ironically, she started in college when "it was just the thing to do"), very bright, normally pleasant, and othewise very attractive. She would try to quit and turn into a total b*tch. There was more to it than my breaking of the nail-biting habit. When she was trying to quit she was unpredictable. Anything you said or did would set her off. She did eventually quit after countless tries and I think what made the difference is that she did not announce it in advance and make a big deal of it. I don't think I noticed it for a week or so.

I have absolutely no cravings to smoke, even when around smokers. I now think it smells like burning buffalo dung.

This is one thing I will agree on. (I can't attest to ever smelling burning buffalo doodoo, but I have changed many diapers and cleaned out my share of catboxes!) The main reason I did not like smoking is because it tasted (and smelled) like sh*t. I don't know any other way to put it. (Or at least what I might imagine sh*t to taste like.) The first time I tried it I could still taste it the next morning and it was totally repulsive.

The one thing I never understood is that my friends at the time who smoked would say that the reason I didn't like it was because I hadn't smoked enough. WRONG, I had smoked enough -- enough to know I didn't like it!

 

[mike goldberg]

Hi... I smoked a pack a day for 20 years, and quit 29 years ago. "Second hand smoke" IS detrimental to health, and I cringe when I think of my grandson growing up in a home, where my son & my daughter-in-law smoke. Yuk. I detest ashtrays with cigarette butts, and when in a coffee bar, I can sniff them out 2 tables away.
With local laws more stringent, the situation is somewhat more tolerable.

Bars & pubs, with the inevitable aromas of liquor, smoke and a bit of urine from the restrooms... are out of the question. mike

 

[iml]

I quit cold turkey (no substitutes) on September 2005 after 25 years of smoking

Me too!

I don't miss it in the slightest, but the smell of smoke doesn't bother me at all.

Ian

 

[FanMan]

If you want to quit, just do it. It's easier than it sounds. Anybody that says it's an addiction is on crack. It's not a physical addiction . . . it's a habit. It's not the chemicals . . . it's the comfort of the ritual. Break the ritual and do something different. Don't forget to reward yourself each time you fail to smoke.

Absolutely agree with that. I just quit - no substitutes, no thinking about it - just quit. If I would have known that it can be so easy I would have quit earlier. And I was a smoker for 15 years.

Stop smoking 5 years ago was one of the best things I did in my life. And starting smoking at the age of 16 was on of the stupiest things I ever did. After my first try to quit I re-started it after 5 years of non-smoking. That will not happen again.

Oh BTW . . . I have absolutely no cravings to smoke, even when around smokers. I now think it smells like burning buffalo dung.

Now I HATE the smell of cigarettes.

 

[maddoc]

Smoking since 20 years like a chimney and now living in a country where cigarettes are quite cheap .... I know that quitting would be better but for me it goes together with relaxing and the Zippo ... I tried to quit once but started smoking again after two month.

- Gabor

 

[ICU]

I tried smoking when I was a kid a few times to "look cool", but never developed the habit. Caffeine is my socially acceptable drug of choice. As a nurse I have seen people die from the effects of smoking. I am not talking just about lung cancer or emphysema; smoking also plays a significant role in cardiovascular disease, and contributes to/complicates many other health problems. My first patient that died, died from emphysema. I saw this person mottle and turn cyanotic, gasping for air, slowly sufforcating despite every intervention to keep my patient comfortable. (Sorry if this is offenseive to some, but I have whitewashed the dying process as best I could.) Please, if you smoke, quit. Don't make your loved ones watch you die or die this death from inhaling your second hand smoke.

I fully realize how addicting smoke is, but there are more options for quitting than ever before. Get some help.

 

[robin a]

Doctor to patient ... "Do you or your partner ever smoke after you make love?"

Patient ... "Possibly ... but I've never looked!"

That's funny.........Robin

 

[BOSS65]

Never - Never - Never :bang:

 

[Keith]

As a child I remember my mother was a very heavy smoker ... didn't mind a drink either!

She was also a keen photographer and had a small darkroom set up in the rear of the house. She would lock herself in there for hours in the evenings with her Pall Malls and her bottle of scotch and on the odd occasions I was allowed in ... the air was memorably funky with tobacco, whiskey and developing chemicals. Amazingly she lived to be nearly eighty!

I remember that smell like it was yesterday. It's only a year since she died and I think it was her death that encouraged me to really dive into my photography. ;-/

 

[Pherdinand]

I smoke only weed.

 

[jdos2]

I loved it. I like vice, and I'm not kidding. Smoking is wonderful.

But I quit. I even made it through a trip to Portugal last month not smoking; Portugal being one of those places where one gets off the plane and is guarded by a fellow standing under the "não fumar" sign: he's got a ciggy and an uzi...

Glad I gave it up. If there was a cure for all the terrible things it does to my body, and if it didn't hurt others, I'd be right back at it. There isn't, and it does, so I don't.

 

[Richard Black]

I smoke a pipe and prefer English or Balkan blends for their intrigue. There are some Virginia and Burley tobaccos that are pleasant, but overall the English have the best.

 

[migtex]

Cigars mostly, Punch Nº3 my favorite.

 

[dmr]

I tried smoking when I was a kid a few times to "look cool", but never developed the habit.

Back when I was in high school and college (late 60s thru mid 70s) there was really quite a bit of peer pressure to smoke. Among the arguments they used to try to convince you that smoking was a Good Thing<tm> was "it looks cool." Uh, excuse me, I could never understand that. Even at that impressionable age I thought that it looked tacky at best.

Weight control was the one argument, I admit, that had me thinking (for a SHORT while) that it might be worth looking in to. There was also a LOT of social pressure to keep your weight down, and I would say even more so than today. Fortunately the argument was not convincing enough.

Caffeine is my socially acceptable drug of choice.

Ya know, I very seldom drink coffee. I just don't care for hot drinks, never really have. I make it up with Diet Coke.

I do drink socially, never by myself, and if I'm not out somewhere I really don't have any urge to drink.

I also admit that in my younger and more foolish days I experimented with some drugs, but nothing hard and nothing injectable. I hate shots anyway, no way I'm gonna do that just to get a buzz!

As a nurse I have seen people die from the effects of smoking. I am not talking just about lung cancer or emphysema; smoking also plays a significant role in cardiovascular disease, and contributes to/complicates many other health problems. My first patient that died, died from emphysema.

I've never had to deal with any end-stage. The worst I saw was a pt who tried to sneak a smoke through a tracheostomy! I just coincidentally happened to be on the floor as the fuss was going on. It makes me sick to think of it.

My exposure was doing things like administering the FVC and MVV7 to those who came in for a pulmonary work-up. I remember being somewhat surprised at first when taking history and seeing some with well over a 100 pack-year history.

Please, if you smoke, quit. Don't make your loved ones watch you die or die this death from inhaling your second hand smoke.

I fully realize how addicting smoke is, but there are more options for quitting than ever before. Get some help.

At work now we have a lady who is expecting and still smoking! I've stepped out of my place a few times to give her hell about it and I'm sure her OB has given her more of it (hell that is) than I ever will. Last week I was leaving for lunch and just happened to drop in on a "meeting of the smoking club" and she was there, smoking, and I made a point of getting in her face and shaking my finger very assertively. I do think she is trying, though.

Oh well, it's been an interesting thread here. What I do think the group here can be collectively proud of is that close to 80% do not smoke regularly, and only 13% smoke regularly with no intention of quitting. My guess is that this is very close to that of my friends and work associates. Quite a change from the 70s, huh?

 

[DannL]

Let's see ... how do I put this ... I'm not on crack, that's one thing I've never been stupid enough to touch! (Are you?)

I figure if I could say one thing that "might" drive one person to stop smoking, then I'd take the chance and be self-destructive. That statement might not have been "the statement" I was looking for, and surely hope it doesn't drive the masses to use crack. My only "drug" is photography. Drrrrr

What drove me to smoke was simple peer pressure. All my friends smoked, my father smoked, my grandfather smoked pipes (BTW he's 96). One thing that helped me quit was the lack of peer pressure. Nobody around me smokes anymore. Not because they're dead mind you, but there are no smokers in my current environment. None at the job for sure. And since "you all" are my only friends, if you are smoking I can't smell it though the internet.