I smoked my first cigarette this weekend

[Qazzz]

Hey there,

I smoked my first cigarette this weekend at a bar. It was kind of like losing my virginity -- I had been holding off for 23 years, thinking that the first time would be special. And it was, in its own little way.

It didn't affect me very much. In fact, I guess I can say I didn't feel anything. And it tasted gross and I coughed. But I felt cool. Real cool. I've been thinking about getting some more just to feel cool.

Anyways, I guess it's good that I didn't like it so much.

[Gazelle]

I hope this was a joke:

But I felt cool. Real cool. I've been thinking about getting some more just to feel cool.

Qazzz, ever heard the saying, "If you don't smoke, don't start. If you smoke, stop."

Don't take another drag.

I'm a former smoker and I will never do it again; mostly because of how hard it was to quit for good.

[Kalhoun]

Well, ya stupid butthead! Nice goin'. Write this on your hand: Smoking was cool in the '50s and'60s. It is not cool now. It doesn't look cool. It doesn't make you look smart, sophisticated, or sexy. It makes you look like a butthead.

Take it from me, an un-cool, un-sophisticated, un-sexy smoker (who started in the 60s...when it was cool.)

[Contrary]

You sure have a different idea of cool than I do.


What's cool about smelling like cigarette smoke?

What's cool about lung cancer?

Or emphysema?

[Qazzz]

Hehehehe you guys are so mean. I don't know. I think I felt cool because I was so awkward doing it. You know, naive dumby kid coughs like a moron from smoking -- it's cute. But regardless, some people look hot smoking. Like models and stuff. And the point isn't emphysema or lung cancer when judging coolness. If that were the case, Xtreme sport athletes wouldn't ever be considered cool, for they would be chastised for the possibility of harming their bodies. Marlon Brando wouldn't be cool for wearing T-shirts because he was risking skin cancer or hypothermia. Nothing would be cool because some pessimistic meany would always find a downside.

[Derleth]

Pessimistic meany? Eh wot? We're trying to help you, ya loon.

No, tell you what. Come back in twenty years when you've matured and tell us all how cool it is to be hooked on some very expensive sticks of rolled tobacco.

[Qazzz]

Arg I said that I didn't like it too much. I don't intend on taking it up. I just said that some might interpret it as cool. Anyways, alcohol is a lot more fun and effective.

[FranticMad]

Don't worry about these other pessimistic meanies. I think you are soooooo cool. I'll bet you looked hot with that ciggie in your hands. You must be very adventurous to court danger like that, just the way Xtreme athletes do. And smart too -- why spend all that time practicing a sport and exercising when you can just smoke? Live life large! Just do it! Maybe your SDMB name should be MarlboroMan. Then people will admire you, as I do.

[Contrary]

Just don't expect me to pay for your health care later in life

[TwistofFate]

Well, know you know what a cigarette tastes like, leave it at that.

You have NO idea how hard it is to quit.

I quit once, failed, and am preparing to quit again. If you don't start, you don't need to quit.

[Marathon]

Originally posted by Qazzz
You know, naive dumby kid coughs like a moron from smoking -- it's cute.

Of course it's not. It is, to use your own words, "naive" and "dumby."

But regardless, some people look hot smoking. Like models and stuff.

Perhaps, but why would you use that as a justification? I don't get it at all.

[Happy Lendervedder]

Smoker for 10 years checking in.

There's nothing cool about it. I try and hide the fact that I smoke from as many people as I can. I imagine that a good chunk of people that know me don't even know I smoke (I hope. Actually, I probably smell like smoke a lot of the time, so I'm not really fooling anyone.) I am absolutely ashamed of it, and if I could go back to the moment I first started, I would not have taken that first puff.

As far as looking "cool" for the opposite sex (or same, as the case may be), I've met a lot of girls who say they will not date a smoker. I've yet to meet one that says will not date a non-smoker.

It might seem cool now, but it becomes a nasty, embarrassing habit. You might think, "Oh, I'll never get hooked; I'll just buy a pack to look cool." Well, that one pack gets smoked, and you'll buy another to keep looking "cool." Next thing you know, you smell like smoke, your teeth are yellow, you're spending $500-$1000 per year on a little rolled up piece of paper that you'll set on fire and destroy, your dashboard will become ashy, your house will reek, clothing will become ruined because of one mis-flicked hot ash.

This is not a PSA, this is my friendly advice: DO NOT SMOKE ANOTHER CIGARETTE!!!



Happy

[lieu]

Congradulations, you're going to die.

[Happy Lendervedder]

You know, naive dumby kid coughs like a moron from smoking -- it's cute.

An 8 year old trying out mom's makeup is cute. A 23-year-old hacking on a cigarette is not cute.

Note: you're not a kid.

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

Emphysema is cool , too. Just wait to you get to have one of those funky little portable oxygen machines . You'll be the envy of everybody else in the long-term care ward!

Ohhh, but that's nothing compared to the lung cancer ! Now that's something!! Slowly suffocating in your own mucous while your body fights off the effects of the radiation treatments. (-It's 'hip' to be bald now, right?)

That is of course, unless you get to have Heart Disease , impotence , hair loss , periodontal disease , osteoporosis , stomach ulcers , discolored fingers , psoriasis , Buerger's disease first!




Awesome!

[Munch]

Originally posted by Qazzz
I don't intend on taking it up.

No one does, Qazzz. They say to themselves, "God, this tastes like crap. There's no way I could possibly need to do this everyday. I can smoke a few when I drink, but I don't think I could possibly tolerate it more than that."

That thought is reinforced even more the next morning, when you feel aweful, it tastes like someone crapped in your mouth, and you're dehydrated. You think, "Man, this really is a terrible feeling. There's no way I could get addicted to this. I don't understand how someone could do this so much they get a nicotine addiction."

You go out with your friends a few more times, smoke a few more each time, and love the enhancement it gives your buzz. You soon forget that you ever said something like:

Anyways, alcohol is a lot more fun and effective.

Sure, alcohol is more fun and effective, but alcohol + nicotine is the best of both worlds (except for the need to do more laundry each week, and food doesn't taste as good anymore).

Pretty soon, it's not the enhancement of your beer buzz you're after, it's the fact that smoking a cigarette makes your brain stop nagging you for one. Once that nagging stops, you can get on with drinking beer and hanging out with your friends. Plus, if everyone else is lighting up, you might as well have a real cigarette instead of breathing in their secondhand smoke - that stuff just gives you a headache (a/k/a that nagging I mentioned earlier).

You soon find yourself smoking to ease the tension, and to relax, completely forgetting that you were plenty capable of relaxing all by yourself before you ever lit up. "But I get a little jittery if I don't have that smoke after dinner. I enjoy my dinner experience more with a cigarette," you say. Yeah, because you never enjoyed a meal in your life for 23 years before you discovered cigarettes, right?

Seriously, Qazzz. Don't start. Don't think to yourself that the negatives associated with smoking will help you stop at any time. Tell yourself that the negatives associated with smoking will help you NOT START.

[Bad News Baboon]

Supermodels smoke, so it must be cool!
Supermodels will look so cool when they are old, too!

[Marley23]

You're not participating in an extreme sport, Qazzz. That involves exercise. And you're not Brando, he could act. You're just a guy who should know better smoking in a garage.
You should be tested - you may have some kind of illness that renders you unable to read what you write. In the same post, you say you're naive and dumby, but cool, and say that you didn't like it much but may start doing it. Me? I always get addicted to doing things I don't like.
If you were 12, the above post/thoughts would be less alarming.

[nitroglycerine]

Don't listen to them. Smokings great! I mean how else can you get those extra little breaks at work? See, I figure its like this....the dangers of smoking are offset by the health benifits of working an hour less each day! Not only that, but you get the added enjoyment of sticking it to the man while you're getting paid for smoking

Jon

[FranticMad]

I prefer "Darwin's Friend" cigarettes. For the flavor.

[whiterabbit]

Ewwww. I won't date smokers. Period. I'm not the only one out there who has made THAT decision, either.

And how old are you to think smoking is cool? If you're over twelve, what planet are you from where they think that?

Please don't do it again. You WILL be sorry if you get hooked.

[tanookie]

When I was 15 I dated a guy that smoked for a couple months. The smoke and the coughing and the smell were all killers.

If my husband took up smoking I would consider that grounds for divorce!

[Ethilrist]

Back in her heyday, Brooke Shields was involved in an anti-smoking campaign that got pulled by the tobacco industry because it was mean. I only saw two things from the campaign: a poster and a commercial. The poster had Brooke in her standard cover-girl Cosmo kind of getup, with cigarettes stuck in her ears, with the caption, "Smoking spoils your looks."

The commercial had Brooke in her designer jeans, sitting on a stool on a sound stage. She said, "I was at a party this weekend. Great party, great people. There was this one guy who was just perfect--he had the right clothes, the right haircut, knew all the right things to say to the ladies, he could dance, everything was just perfect. Then he pulled out a cigarette."

"Too bad he was such a loser."

Hey, Qazzz, I heard that Christina Ricci used to be into cutting. Gonna try that, too?

[UrbanChic]

Please, for the love of Pete, tell me everyone's been whooshed. The OP is a joke, right?

Oh, wait. It's not.

[UncleBeer]

Moderator's Notes:
Ya know, I'm pretty certain you folks can get the point across that smoking is a foolish habit to start without resorting to insults. However, if you find you cannot, you will at least keep them confined to the Pit thread linked by JuanitaTech.

[White Lightning]

Originally posted by lieu
Congradulations, you're going to die.

Congratulations, so are you. So... ?

[Q.E.D.]

Qazzz, I'm trying to quit smoking. You oughta stop by and see just how difficult it is to do. Take my advice and don't start. I wish I hadn't.

[Lsura]

Like so many of the others who have chimed in, I just want to say please don't start smoking. Ok, you've tried it. Let that be enough.

I've been smoking since I was 13. Like TwistofFate, I'm preparing to quit again (as soon as finals end this Thursday). Quitting is one of the toughest thing to do - and it's very easy to get hooked on these things. So, please, just think before you ever smoke another one.

[Dinsdale]

I'm a little surprised at the vehemence of so many of these replies (as well as in the Pit thread.) Qazzz could be doing a lot worse. At 23, I had been smoking 2+ packs a day for a few years. Congrats on waiting so long, guy. And congrats on thinking so much about this experimentation.

Smoking is a scary thing. But it can be very attractive, and its gradual hold on you may be unnoticeable for a long time.

Since you are here on these boards, I'll assume you favor making informed decisions. I simply cannot imagine the plus side for actively deciding to become a smoker.

It will never be easier to stop smoking than it is right now. This is just one thing that will make things more difficult for you later on, without providing any significant upside. It costs a lot of money, the odds are huge that it will adversely affect your health in one way or another, and it will automatically rule you out in the eyes of a huge percentage of folk you may wish to rmantically or socially attract.

Like Lsura said, you tried it. Great. Now file that experience away and move on.

In case you think folks are overstating the addictiveness, I'm 17 or so years after my last smoke, and I would love to have one right now...

The rest of you guys - I personally think your approach, while effectively expressing the strength of your views on this subject, communicated something else as well which is not at all complimentary toward you, and not at all deserved by this post. Just MHO.

[LolaCocaCola]

Yeah, smoking sucks.

But this little tidbit piqued my interest:

The 31-year-old model (Christy Turlington) told The Times newspaper that she was diagnosed with early stage emphysema after undergoing a lung scan in New York.", "said she smoked up to a pack of cigarettes a day between the ages of 13 and 26, with a two-year break

I had no idea you could get emphysema after smoking moderately for only 11 years!

[jellen92]

Argh!! Do not start - you are nuts. Trust me, you will attract people much easier by not smoking and not smelling like an ashtray. I started smoking only when I drank back in college - but it turned into a full time event.... it's been 10 years now and trying to kick the habit is hell! Although, I have tapered down to about 6-10 cig's/day, I still am a "closet" smoker, because I am literally embarassed about it.

[Q.E.D.]

You can get emphysema without ever having smoked at all, but smoking dramatically increases the risk.

[DMark]

I smoke.

It is his choice.

I'm sure he has read the literature.

I'm actually kind of impressed he found a bar where smoking is allowed, thanks to the gestapo's new no smoking laws.

[lieu]

It's easy when you're young to think most any vice can be practiced in moderation for awhile and there's plenty of time to quit later. Unfortunately, smoking is not conducive to moderation and there's a strong likelyhood you'll not only increase your intake over time but you will also have a very hard time giving it up, something many repentant smokers here have mentioned above.

Your most pragmatic and wise decision, Qazzz, is to listen to the voices of experienced people here, hack as we may, and never start. Your lungs will thank you later.

And White Lightning, you anxious to light the guy's damn cigarette for him?

[john_b]

So all of you people are all ultra against ciggs, well that's good because they're bad, mainly because they're so expensive and addicting, but does that also mean you are all against pot so viciously?

[Contrary]

I am, yes.

At this time, it's illegal to use in the US unless you've got a prescription for it for glaucoma.

And it has the same sort of horrible effects on lungs that cigarette smoke does.

[Optihut]

I think I average on about 1 cigarette / month, a pack of cigarettes lasts longer than a year with me. I don't see anything wrong in the occassional smoke, after all, I am exposed to a lot more smoke when going to pubs, thanks to passive smoking. *shrugs*

[WILLASS]

I agree that smoking isn't really a very good idea but I do actually enjoy it........and since giving up smack and crack its all i've got.

[Davebear]

Originally posted by Kalhoun
Well, ya stupid butthead! Nice goin'. Write this on your hand: Smoking was cool in the '50s and'60s. It is not cool now. It doesn't look cool. It doesn't make you look smart, sophisticated, or sexy. It makes you look like a butthead.

Take it from me, an un-cool, un-sophisticated, un-sexy smoker (who started in the 60s...when it was cool.)

Don't be so hard on yourself; you're not that un-cool.

And, don't be so hard on me, either. I prefer not to think of myself as looking like a butthead. It's not my fault people decided to care about living longer.

But, Qazzz, if that was your first cigarette, make it your last, too. You don't want to still be smoking 25 years later, like me. Of course, by then it'll probably be legal to shoot smokers on sight.

[Maltese]

I could kick myself for that first cigerette back in the 50's
when they were 5 packs for a dollar

[robgruver]

/me gives Qazzz a Three Stooges style poke in the eyes!

Was that cool? No. Smoking sucks too. See this is how long I have quit:

Three months, four weeks, 18 hours, 38 minutes and 50 seconds. 2969 cigarettes not smoked, saving $445.26. Life saved: 1 week, 3 days, 7 hours, 25 minutes.

I want a smoke right now. Don't smoke!

[SnugTheJoiner]

No, no, no! Stop that! Stop that now! Stop stop stop stop stop!!!!

(Hits Qazzz repeatedly with a big stick until Qazzz stops)

[Lobsang]

I am 24 and thinking of taking up smoking (as an alternative to drinking) The physical effects don't bother me in the slightest. It is the idea that my family (all smokers, except one of my two brothers) will be disappointed in me for starting. And the idea that the pleasure of smoking will be short-lived (I will soon become dependant on cigarettes, to the point where I smoke to feel 'normal' rather than to feel the pyschological benefits)


Is it worth it?

[Q.E.D.]

You do, Lobsang, and'll beat you with my postcount, buddy.