I grew up in a rigidly non-smoking household, even when it was socially acceptable to smoke. My dad even used to open the windows in other people’s houses when there was smoking going on. I was propagandized to like a motherfuck. Thus my 14-year-old brain went “smoking is the worst thing in the world, yet loads of people still do it. Therefore, there must be some kind of hidden pleasure involved that’s being covered up.” So I tried it out, and persisted until I was thoroughly addicted. Bada bing, I am still a smoker.
All four of my grandparents smoked, which is why my parents were so anti (that and they’re medics) - but the only effect was that it skipped a generation: all three of my siblings smoked too, though they’ve been successful in giving up. Me, not so much.
Smoked for 23 years and gradually built up to 2 packs a day. Smoked one after the other whenever I was drinking alcohol. Started getting bouts of bronchitis and would wheeze at night while trying to sleep. Got the flu and had a scary respiritory infection. I was gasping for air just from walking from the living room to the kitchen. I couldn’t inhale a cigarette no matter how much I craved one because I’d lapse into a coughing fit if I tried. Since my lungs were too messed up to smoke anyway, I stopped and once I felt better I forced myself to see how long I could go without one. Next month it will be 5 years since my last smoke. I think I was mentally ready and scared from all the lung problems I was having. I had seen 2 people die from emphysema and it’s a horrible way to die.
Yeah I smoke, been doing it for about 7 years (since I was 18).
Interesting to note, though the poll currently shows non smokers : smokers in a 2:1 ratio, the respondents in the thread are about 4:1. Seems us smokers are reluctant to admit it even on a message board.
No, never, nothing. Both my parents did (my mother’s college yearbook says of her that she could usually be found “in the basement of the library surrounded by books and cigarette smoke”, and my father had a collection of pipes) but they both quit before I was born.
When I was much younger (18-22), I would smoke the occasional cigarette if I’d been drinking heavily. But when I was in my mid-20’s, my mother died of lung cancer. That was enough to make me forswear smoking of any kind. If marijuana were legalized tomorrow, I might partake; but I’d put it in baked goods instead of drawing it into my lungs.
Never, and avoid secondhand smoke or buildings that are smoked in. I’m a health nut. Also I LOATHE the smell of stale cigarette smoke on myself or others. Fresh is okay.
I smoke 3-5 a day, unless I’m out drinking. I suppose I’ll quit one of these days. It certainly doesn’t help that my boyfriend smokes as well (he smokes about the same amount as I do).
No, never. My dad smoked Luckies for 50 years (and, big surprise, died of lung cancer last year), and we kids were the, uh, beneficiaries of his habit. Gross. I grew up HATING cigarettes. Mr. S grew up in a similarly smoke-hazed environment (his dad’s coffin nails were Camels), and now we enjoy a smoke-free home.
We have a few friends who smoke, but we don’t see them often (for other reasons, not because of the smoking) and they are considerate smokers who smoke outside, etc. If they were rude about it, I don’t think we’d be friends for long.
My parents smoked heavily. My dad had a 1/2 a lung removed. He died at 53. My mother died of emphysema. Neither my brother and I ever smoked. We hated it when my parents did. I just hate it .
I used to smoke, but I haven’t had a cigarette in a little over two years. At times in my life I smoked a few cigarettes a week; at times I smoked as much as a pack a day. I think I’m through now.
Both of my parents smoked. My Dad died of lung cancer when I was 16, my Mom died of a stroke.
Neither my brother or I smoke, and neither of us can stand to be around smokers. My two sisters smoke, including the one with asthma. They saw the same parents die, yet continue to engage in the same self-destructive behavior.
Smoked for about ten years, quit for two, picked up the habit again last summer, quit again this May. As it stands now, I indulge in the occasional cigar or a cigarette or two when I’m out drinking. It’d be extremely rare for me to smoke more than once in any given month.
Yep.
Roll my own (Drum tobacco) and have never once tried to quit.
Because I roll my own, I probably smoke less than most smokers do on average - a bit hard to roll one in the car while driving, so never smoke in the car. Plus, as a teacher I am in classes almost all day, so other than the occasional 1 or 2 per day during the breaks, not much there either.
Allow me, however, to stand on my soapbox for just a minute about smoking bans in bars. I still think it was stupid to ban it in bars and just looking at the masses standing out front of bars proves my point. One example was a friend in CA who voted for the ban way back when and when I asked why she said, “That’s why I don’t go to bars - I can’t stand the smoke.” I thought “fair enough”.
The ban came into effect. I asked her - just last week - if she ever goes to bars to meet friends and she said, “I hate going to bars and never go - just a bunch of drunks hang out there.” I didn’t say anything but thought, “And yet, you voted to ban smoking in bars because…?”