I like smoking. A lot. The Tashaboy and I just switched to roll-your-owns; I spent a few hours a week rolling cigarettes and such, and it’s a lot cheaper (the reason I hear for this is that bulk tobacco isn’t as regulated/taxed as premade cigarettes).
I really do enjoy cigarettes. The reason I started smoking was because I like the taste and smell of tobacco. I always have. It’s a big reason why I discount the “but you smell!” argument when people tell me to quit. I’m aware of the health problems, and I go out of my way to not smoke around nonsmokers who have a problem with it. But I love the way tobacco smells and tastes. I don’t think I would give it up willingly.
There’s the whole addiction thing too. I smoke American Spirit tobacco, so at least I’m not getting the weird additives.
I loved every cigarette I ever smoked, except maybe the first one, which made me dizzy. Haven’t been on the evil weed for some time now.
If tomorrow they announce on television that a meteor will hit our planet the following day, destroying all life, I’d have a pack of cigarettes in my hands within the hour.
I’ve smoked rollups for quite a few years now (prior to that was Marlboro Lights, and prior to that was Embassy Regal (a Brit rough brand)). There is no way I could ever go back to cigarettes! Never mind the insane cost - twenty marley lights costs about eight US dollars here, and any half-decent brand is the same - but rolling tobacco is much nicer. I’ve had the odd cig given to me since, but they are so damned harsh. Add to the mix that black market rolling tobacco is easy to find and is less than half the price you’d pay in a shop…
I love smoking. If it wasn’t bad for you I could smoke ten packs a day. As it is, I may down a pack or so during a workday and far less on the weekends. At my Friday happy hour I can smoke a whole pack. But the hardest part about quitting is giving up my enjoyment.
In college I smoked a little. I could make a pack last a week. But once I got a job and could afford to drink more often, I started smoking a lot more. Giving up the smoking part of my happy hour is tough. I would miss it. And after my mother’s health problems, I may be fucked anyway so who knows if it will matter in the long run.
I really loved smoking from the time I started up until my late 20s but then it started to give me sinus headaches that got worse and worse until I really wasn’t getting any pleasure out of it at all. When I crave a cigarette all I really have to do is think of the way I used to wince when I took a drag after smoking too much. And I know I’ll always smoke too much. I’ll never be one of those 5 a day types.
I loved smoking and I miss it. Of course, I’ve only been a non smoker for a week. I just got out of the hopital for 2 pulmonary embolisms and nodules in my lungs, and they thought I had cancer (that came back negative, though). I think almost dying is the only thing that could have convinced me to quit because I enjoy everything about smoking. Sigh…Think I’ll go chew some more gum!
I’ll say it. I loooove to smoke. I only smoke one or two a day, but damn I enjoy every single second. I’m fine quitting whenever we start seriously thinking about pregnancy, but for the moment it’s a completely hedonistic pleasure.
I think most smokers will tell you that they enjoy smoking. Some probably even genuinely believe it. If you don’t at least maintain the pretence that you enjoy smoking, then there are literally zero reasons to keep doing it.
But it is just that - a pretence. There is nothing to enjoy about smoking. It’s all about satisfying the body’s need for nicotine, not enjoyment, regardless of what you may have convinced yourself. In my experience, only a fairly small minority will admit that they smoke because they are addicted.
I usually enjoy smoking. Quite a bit. I’ve never been a heavy, or even a moderate smoker; a pack usually lasts me a week.
But every now and then, I’ll light a cigarette and just . . . won’t enjoy it. And then I’ll put it out and won’t smoke, sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes for years. I won’t miss it, either, or feel even the slightest craving.
Then one day, I’ll be in a bar, or with a friend, or stressed out, and suddenly I’ll want a cigarette. And boom, I’m back off the wagon. (Very occasionally, I’ll want a cigarette for the first time in a long while, and it still won’t do anything for me. It’s always a mixture of relief and disapointment when that happens!)
BTW, one thing I love about cigarettes is the way they effect my time management. I’m horrible at time management, and often find myself taking far too many breaks that take far too long (especially when I’m doing something at home). Since I’m a light smoker, if I put off my breaks until I want a cigarette, I won’t take as many. And then I have an excuse to go outside, clear my mind, and I know that as soon as I’m done smoking, I have to go back to work. It focuses the mind wonderfully.
I’ve long suspected that I might have mild ADD, but caffine and Ritalin make me jumpy, so maybe I’m just self-medicating with nicotine.
Usually enjoyment isn’t the right word. More like, when I come back from my smoke, I’ll have stopped wanting to slap you upside the head. If I happen to enjoy it that’s a side benefit.
Smokers rarely get very defensive about smoking because generally when you ask them they’re either in the middle of a smoke, or just returning from one. At that point you can bring up their smoking, looks, and overall failure as a human being and you’re likely to get a pleasant, reasoned response. If you start that conversation when they’re about to light up, things will go somewhat differently.
The other reason you’re not likely to get hemming and hawing, is that it’s a rare smoker who’s in denial. The vast majority are acutely aware they’re addicted. Jonesing for nicotine 10 times a day tends to hammer that point home. So why do I smoke? Because I’m addicted. 'Nuff said. And with smoking it’s Addiction with a capital A. It’s not some little pissant bad habit. It’s a monkey with claws sunk deep into your back. There’s no point in being defensive about it.
Mmmmmmmmm … Spirits. I absolutely love them! We always smoked them when we wanted something that tastes good. I didn’t know they sold loose tobacco. A pack of spirits is almost $4.50 here in Indy.
Hubby and I just finished a “bout” of smoking, after having quit last August when we found out I was pregnant. I’m working with smokers now, so it was really easy to pick it back up. However, I know it’s really bad all the way around, and that’s the only thing that will keep us from going back.
Personal opinion: As much as I enjoyed smoking, doing it in a -very- confined space, such as a car or small bathroom, tended to result in levels of 2nd-hand smoke buildup that were oppressive even for me.
Yeah, I do enjoy smoking. I rarely smoke outside of my apartment though, except at parties in other peoples’ houses. I can usually hold off in a bar if we’re not there too long (over two hours) and if I don’t get too plastered. I also never smoke while walking down the street or anywhere else in public. For myself, I don’t like the way I look hanging out, smoking in public.
If that were the case, couldn’t we all just keep nicotine patches and gum around and get our fix without suffering the scorn and inconvienence, since after all there is no reason whatsoever we might enjoy the physical act of smoking, eh?
Do you smoke? Because you’re sure blowing a lot of it, albeit not from the usual orifice.
I love my cigarettes. Of *course * I’m addicted. I’m not in denial. But that doesn’t change the fact that I love them. Loooooooooooove. DianaG + Philip Morris 4EVA!!!1!!!1
Oh, my God. I don’t usually quote whole posts in a response but that was great! I’m serious, yours was a perfectly awesome riposte to a perfectly silly opinion. Girl, I love ya!
Really great answers and some nice insight, I think Bobotheoptimist gave me the answer to my question.
Buns3000 answer was interesting but he’s from Australia and perhaps the environment is different there. All I know about Australia and smoking is Olivia Newton-John and a few years of “Prisoner Cell Block H,” (with Myra and her smokes, yech!!!)
This thread sent me out for a cigarette, which I enjoyed very much, thank you.
I roll my own, and I go for the Dutch Halbschwere Shag. I refuse to kill myself with less than the very best.
As for the holding the cigs out the window of the car, it’s consideration for passengers, which becomes habit, and yes, even smokers can be put off by the smell of stale smoke. I’ve noticed my own car get pretty funky, after a long trip.
