I smoked socially at times when I was younger, starting at age 17 and continuing until I was about 24. I never smoked regularly, and never finished a whole pack. (I usually bummed cigarettes, and on the few occasions when I bought a pack, I invariably threw out the pack before finishing it.) I would generally go weeks or months between smokes.
On one New Year’s party when I was about 22, I smoked more cigarettes than I ever had before (over a pack’s worth of bummed cigarettes). When I got up the next morning, I felt terrible. My mouth felt like an ashtray. I didn’t touch another cigarette for over a year after that.
I only recall smoking once more in a bar when I was about 24, and haven’t smoked a cigarette since. Today, I find the smell of secondhand cigarette smoke to positively repellent.
So I am (anecdotally) at least one person who had ample opportunity to become addicted, but never did.
I do still smoke the occasional cigar, but haven’t had one in well over a year now.
I don’t want to insult your intelligence but, I gotta ask, did you breathe the smoke into your lungs? I played around with cigarettes, on and off, between the ages of nine and 11. I never inhaled the smoke and never really developed any cravings. At age 12, as soon as I started drawing the smoke into my lungs, I had to have a pack on me at all times.
I’ve always wondered this myself. Cigarettes disgust me-- can’t stand the smoke, never had any desire to smoke one myself-- but I’ll enjoy a few cigars three or four times a year. Never got anything approaching a craving for the latter.
Not much to add here, except the experience of two brothers who started smoking in their late teens. 40 years later I was able to quit cold turkey with what I still think of as remarkable ease. 35 years after he started, my younger brother, whom I freely admit has far more self-discipline than I, can’t quit no matter what he tries. My father (who was such a good smoker that he chain-smoked as he lectured a college class) and his twin brother were both smokers into their late forties and then finally quit, but once they got into their late sixties were always happy to see either of us visit because it meant they could bum a cigarette or two. But neither buys cigarettes or cigars for themselves, and they’re both over 90 now. Go figure.
“a smoker will tell you that it takes one cigeratte”
Yes and no. A single cigarette won’t make you physically addicted. But if you’re a kid, and it’s your first one, and you think it’s great, then it might psychologically. And psychology is a huge part of addiction. Typically, all the physical addiction aside, the people who thought smoking, drinking, drugs, etc., was the greatest thing the first (or third or fifth) time they tried it will always have a love and a longing for it even if they abstain long enough for the physical effects to go away. And when they feel the physical cravings, they are amplified that much more.
So a smoker may in fact tell you it only took them one. But for you, Mr. E, I seriously doubt a pack will be enough. Hell, from the sound of it, I doubt you’d ever become an addict. (Not that it’s impossible, tho.)
I tried smoking for about 6 months and never found it particularly addictive. I probably averaged 2-3 cigarettes a day if I smoked, but sometimes would go a week or more without smoking any and didn’t feel any type of withdrawal.
In total I smoked probably about 8 packs and then just lost interest in it and never bought or craved another one again (that was at least 4 years ago).
I’ve smoked maybe once a year for the last few years. A month after a smoke I might actually out of the blue think of wanting a cigarette. Whether that’s from addiction or not, I don’t know but it has happened more than once. Never had that happen with weed or alcohol though.