Have You Ever Smoked?

[Scarlet Ibis]

Just curious. Does anyone here currently smoke? If not, have you ever smoked regularly in the past? If so, how did you quit, and what was your motivation?

I used to smoke socially throughout college, or when I was stressed. I quit cold turkey one day, but I honestly can't say it was due to worries about my own health. It was mostly due to vanity. I didn't want yellowing teeth, wrinkles, and a smoker's voice in the future. These days (I'm 28 years old now), the heaps of health risks cigarettes pose are enough to convince me, but they weren't back then when I was more carefree about everything.

Recently, I've noticed some people who are having trouble quitting are turning to e-cigarettes. After watching people use them for a while now, I'm starting to wonder how they're helpful. One e-cigarette lasts for a long time, and they don't ash out like normal burning cigarettes do, of course, so I'd imagine it's difficult to know how many puffs are the equivalent of 1 cigarette. Perhaps they end up smoking less, because they only take 1 or 2 puffs when they crave nicotine. With a normal burning cigarette, they might feel the urge to finish up the entire cigarette after it's already been lit.

[God Child]

Never smoked a cigarette before. Second-hand smoke irritates me enough (I go hoarse the next day + coughing + triggers asthma). But I do think e-cigs are a better alternative. Sorta reminds me of the use of a pacifier (babies having habit to suck).

[Spark]

Never. Smoke-free. I grew up in a musical family and it was always evident to me that smoking was extremely bad for my health and my voice. Even secondhand smoke and pollutants can irritate me.

[MikeWhalen]

I was a pack a day smoker for 20 yrs-I started to seriously think about quitting when I noticed some minor breathing problems that were clearly smoke related (smokers cough)

I worked in a building were smoking was allowed and constant so that made it harder
Right around the same time, the workplace went smoke free after some workers successfully grieved having to breath 2nd hand smoke, which was proven to be carcinogenic

I quite cold turkey the day the building went smoke free and it worked pretty well-very few of my family or friends smoke, I no longer do the bar scene so there was little temptation-I have never relapsed and have never been tempted

I did gain weight due to extra snacking-nicotine is only one issue, the worse issue was the nervous habit/boredom issue and many people struggle with that
...I suspect that is the purpose behind any of the e-smokes...its a way to deal with the nervous habit

despite the weight gain, which is an pain in the ass, I feel it still was a really good decision on my part and have gone 10+ yrs smoke free

Mike

[GTC]

I smoked between the ages of 18 and 30, when I quit cold turkey. That was around the time when smoking was beginning to be seen as a nuisance to others in the workplace and I was tired of smoker's cough, etc.

Interestingly, I found periods of 6 being significant. The first 6 days were hell. I chewed gum so ferociously that I bit my tongue and cheeks. After 6 weeks I was happy that I had not touched a cigarette. After 6 months I was convinced that I would go the distance and was telling other smokers to stay well away from me. After 6 years I declared myself permanently cured. These days I can't stand the smell of the rotten things.

As above, it was hard to find a substitute for smoking. Like others I had formed the habit of lighting up whenever I needed a think-break at work, or to relieve stress. At the pub I found I had nothing to do with my left hand: the usual situation was beer in right hand cigarette in the other. After meals was also a hard time. Eventually I stopped going where smokers hung out.

I count quitting smoking as one of my proud achievements. It wasn't possible until I declared nicotine to be my enemy and really meant it. Without that determination to be rid of an enemy, giving up was not ever going to happen as nicotine is a ruthless bastard of a chemical and it plays with your brain for years afterwards.

I don't believe in patches, etc, as they still feed you nicotine, and the craving remains. IMO you must kill the craving by getting off the drug altogether.

[scottraveler]

I was smoking the one and only time in high school when I broke the 5 minute mile.

[MikeWhalen]

GTC's point below reminded of a small anecdote folks might be interested...when I was a teen, I smoked off and on, just a little bit...both my parents smoked so I might have gone the same way, on the other hand, I was a pretty good multi sport athlete, and was wary of smoking interfering with my determination to be excellent

What sealed the deal for me becoming a regular smoker for 20 years was when I got a summer job working at the Steel Plant after my 1rst year of university...back then, in the 70's, local Mill was very busy and had a 13,000+ workforce and they hired a couple of thousand summer students to do well paid grunt jobs

I worked on a labour track gang that spent all day clearing thousands of pounds of coke rocks ( fist sized pumice like rocks) off the tracks in the huge, dirty and dangerous Coke ovens....there were a dozen of us students and we had an old school foreman directing us-it was made very clear to us, we do anything he says or get fired, they would tolerate no nonsense from us students.

The first day of the track gang, we worked very hard for an hour, shovelling off his heavy awkward stuff and wheelbarrowing it away, and then the foreman called for a smoke break.
He and a few of the guys lit up their smoke and had a seat, puffing away.
The rest of us that didn't have smokes stopped working and leaned on our shovels or sat down
....The foreman snapped at all us non smokers and yelled at us 'what the fuck do you think your doing? this is a #@$%$ smoke break and if your not smoking, you $#@$ keep shovelling'

we looked at each other, sorta shocked, but it was clear he was not kidding...so we started to work again, while the 3-4 other students, embarrassed looking, kept smoking... that's the way the rest of the day went, every 45-60 minutes, smokers got a break, the rest of us didn't (except for lunch of course)

Well, we were not completely stupid...the next day, every singe one of us in the track gang brought a pack of smokes, when the foreman called for a smoke break, we all lit up, he said nothing, and that was the pattern the rest of the summer

And I became a pack a day smoker

true story

Mike

As above, it was hard to find a substitute for smoking. Like others I had formed the habit of lighting up whenever I needed a think-break at work, or to relieve stress

[zaender]

sorry, but this is such american, who were the promoters of smoking.

I still like smoking . . . and I like Helmut Schmidt, the one and only to be allowed smoking in German TV.

[MikeWhalen]

zaender, were you commenting on my story when you said 'such american...'?

If so, your dead wrong...this was in Canada, the forman was a proud Veteran of the Canadian 3rd Div. that landed on Juno beach on D day, and the yanks had bugger all to do with the story

M

sorry, but this is such american, who were the promoters of smoking.

I still like smoking . . . and I like Helmut Schmidt, the one and only to be allowed smoking in German TV.

[Stephen1986]

I don't smoke and I never have. Smoking is very common on my mother's side of the family, and my paternal grandfather also smoked. At least two close relatives have died of smoking-related illnesses - my maternal uncle died of lung cancer in his fifties, and my paternal grandfather died of stomach cancer in his seventies (my mother's maternal grandmother also died of stomach cancer in the 1940s, but I don't believe that she was a smoker, and it may have been due to a high-sodium diet).