[QUOTE=pulykamell]
There’s no “good reason” to drink alcohol.
[/QUOTE]
That’s not at all true. Moderate intake of alcohol has shown to have some health benefits. There are NO health benefits from smoking. Completely the opposite.
[QUOTE=Siam Sam]
That’s not at all true. Moderate intake of alcohol has shown to have some health benefits. There are NO health benefits from smoking. Completely the opposite.
[/QUOTE]
Some studies have cited better memory, for one, and slowing the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, for two. Also, one can argue weight suppression is a benefit of smoking. Is it a net benefit? I’m sure not, but that’s kinda beside my point. If drinking doesn’t work, than pick another vice. I don’t consider someone who snorts a line of coke once or twice a year a “drug addict” or a “druggie.” I consider them a casual user. YMMV.
[QUOTE=Andy]
I quit Jan 2003 with the help of a book by a guy called Allen Carr.
His approach was the deconstruct and demolish all the reasons we have for smoking. It only appears to be a fulfilling habit, although that’s not to doubt it’s a powerful and complex addiction. This worked brilliantly for me. I finished the book and felt rather foolish and haven’t smoked since. His central philosophy is important in my opinion; you have to remove the desire to smoke and not just attempt to desist for the rest of one’s life!
I genuinely have no desire to smoke again. I’m not disgusted by the smell or horrified at the cost, I just have no interest in it. It’s a beautiful place to be in comparison to where I was 
[/QUOTE]
Ahh, the Easy Way indeed! I had tried every other method to quit (patches, gum, losenges, Zyban, Chantix). I decided I wanted to quit again, so I bought the book and set a date. I finished the book two days before my official quit date. I threw out what was left of my cigarettes and haven’t smoked since. ~10yrs at a pack a day, and it has been easy and almost enjoyable to quit.
I find it pretty interesting how many people think that they enjoy smoking. I certainly thought I did.
There are plenty of good reasons for smoking. Among them:
–You like the way it tastes
–You find it relaxing
–You enjoy the social aspects
–It gives you an excuse to get outside for a few minutes.
I’m not saying that the benefits outweigh the risks. Far from it. But to say that there are no benefits to smoking just makes you sound like one of the “hysterics.”
(For the record–I don’t smoke, but I smoked a little in high school and the first few years of college. I’m lucky enough to never have gotten hooked. I don’t know if that’s because I’m one of the “4%,” or if it’s just dumb luck, but I’d rather not find out.)
Like others have said, it’s an individual process. I’ve probably smoked, I don’t know, 8 cigarettes in the last five months. Can’t say I’ve ever had a craving as such. More like, my friend is smoking, he offers me one, and I smoke it mostly out of gratitude.
OTOH, I surprised myself at my birthday party a couple weeks ago. I was pretty drunk and otherwise messed up, and someone offered me a cigarette. I reached out for it thinking it was an, um, other kind of cigarette, and when I saw it was tobacco I declined, almost disgusted. “Good for you!”, said the hopeless addict who offered the smoke. :shrug: No big deal to me.
That’s true if category one only includes “people who never smoke a cigarette, ever, not ever”, which is a pretty meaningless definition.
Thanks for your input, King of Everyone Else’s Business.
[QUOTE=fetus]
Thanks for your input, King of Everyone Else’s Business.
[/QUOTE]
You are very welcome. Anytime. 
But I do know how it is. I was a radical smoker myself during my own 17-1/2-year habit. Meaning that whenever anyone brought up the subject of smoking, I’d automatically light up right in front of them and puff away. They soon learned not to bother me with such “nonsense.” Then I finally understood how utterly stupid smoking was and quit.