Anyone else have this? I’ve smoked on and off since high school (12 years). My habit has slowly decreased over the years. For years I’ve been at the point where I may go through a pack of lights in a week if I’m lucky. I have a problem with the things going stale sometimes. I think I’d like to give it up entirely. I still seem to associate smoking with relaxing and going out though. If I’m out at a bar or something, the craving is quite intense and I’ll usually have a couple. Sometimes I’ll crave a mild cigar or a flavored cigarrette instead. How can I be addicted to something and not want to smoke all the time? Are habits and associations really that powerful? That situations will bring on a gnawing craving that can hardly be resisted? Is light smoking like this particularly bad for you, or is the occasional smoke relatively harmless?
Only a tobacco baron will claim that smoking a little tobacco is harmless. After I quit, I occasionally craved the smell of tobacco. I kept a zip bag of pipe tobacco around, and I’d open the bag just to enjoy the aroma.
–Nott
Smoking fewer cigarettes is always healthier than smoking more cigarettes. Perhaps better to say that smoking fewer cigs is less unhealthy than many. Lung damage is cumulative, howver. So smoking a few cigs a day over many years is NOT harmless, only less hamful.
Some people (a very few) do not get addicted to cigarettes. Addictions are not absolute and all-encompassing for all people. Addictive symptoms in some people are less extreme than in others.
Of course you won’t get a real sense of how severe your addiction is until you stop. So try it. Stop entirely for a couple of weeks, see how you feel.
I am now on my 62nd day without a smoke. The freaking-verging-on-panic feeling stopped after 2 weeks for me. If you’re very lucky, you may not experience the same.
I freely admit to being addicted to the Daemon Nicotine.I’ve gone from full flavor when I started to lights, And have leveled off at a pack a day.Prices are getting a bit much,I’m consitering quitting.
You describe something like social smoking.
Think of it as similar to to the difference between you and I as the guy who goes out for a few beers after work, as compared to the hard core drinker. If a pack of Cigs can be likened to a case of beer, I’d define myself as alcholic.
Granted, it’s silly analogy, but it sure is a great argument for stopping if you’re as uncomfotable with the amounts as I am to my habbit.
I’m sure someone will come along who can provide you with the proper cites that will tell you the damage to your body by using those amounts. I sure know the beating my lungs have taken fron smoking a pack a day for 19 yrears.
There are physical additions and pyscological addictions. Cigarettes can cause both. What you describe sounds mental. For some, it’s a drink, therefore a cig. For others, talk on the phone, light up a cig. Not meant to be insulting, but it;s like Pavlok’s (sic) dog experiment. Everytime it’s feeding time, he rings a bell. After a while, whenever the bell is rung, even if there’s no food, the dogs salivate. For you, you are in a bar therefore you need to light up. Good luck.
Ex-smoker for 17 years.
Jim
School yourself to demureness and patience. Learn to inure yourself to drudgery in science. Learn, compare, collect the facts.
So spoke Ivan Pavlov. In the early 1900’s, Nobel Prize winning scientist Pavlov conducted a series of experiments with dogs that led to the formulation of the theory of what he called ‘conditioned reflexes.’ Pavlov’s ground breaking research actually began as a study into the digestive system of our canine companions. While looking at the connection between salivation and the workings of the stomach, he came to the conclusion that the two processes worked in unison by way of the autonomic nervous system. If the dog did not produce saliva then the stomach would not get the message to begin the digestive process.
Pavlov also experimented with dogs by cutting holes in their cheeks and inserting tubes to measure the rate of salivation. Pavlov would ring a bell immediately prior to serving food to the dogs and measure the salivation rate. He experimented to see if some sort of outside stimulus could produce the same result in the dog. He started by ringing a bell at the same time he served food to the animal. After a while he would ring the bell without serving any food to the dog. Interestingly, he noted that the dog would produce saliva when it heard the bell ring, even when no food was presented to it. Pavlov concluded that this was a learned response. It was, therefore, a conditioned response. He also found that if the bell were rung too often without the production of food, the dog would stop salivating.
In 1903, Pavlov published his findings, giving detailed descriptions of what stimulus produces the strongest and most durable response. Pavlov concluded that animals need to develop conditioned reflexes in order to adapt and survive in the real world, which is always changing. He also held, however, that his new theory of conditioned response could be applied to humans. He believed that it helped to explain the behaviour of psychotic people. He suggested that people who withdrew completely from society were prone to view all stimulus as a possible injury or threat. People who had been in war could also be conditioned to react in a certain way to certain stimuli, like loud noises. They may, for example, dive for cover, in the conditioned reaction to a bomb explosion.
In the 1920’s Pavlov conducted a further series of experiments with dogs. He then trained the dogs to associate a tone with a food reward. The experiments showed that the dogs would show little or no response to the tone by itself (a conditioned stimulus). But when combined with the food (an unconditioned stimulus), a measurable unconditional response (saliva production) would result. When the tone and the food were repeatedly presented together, the dogs formed an association between the two, that is between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. Such conditioning is known as Pavlovian Conditioning and became a basis for the developing field of behavioural science.
from: Pavlov also experimented with dogs by cutting holes in their cheeks and inserting tubes to measure the rate of salivation. Pavlov would ring a bell immediately prior to serving food to the dogs and measure the salivation rate. He experimented to see if some sort of outside stimulus could produce the same result in the dog. He started by ringing a bell at the same time he served food to the animal. After a while he would ring the bell without serving any food to the dog. Interestingly, he noted that the dog would produce saliva when it heard the bell ring, even when no food was presented to it. Pavlov concluded that this was a learned response. It was, therefore, a conditioned response. He also found that if the bell were rung too often without the production of food, the dog would stop salivating.
In 1903, Pavlov published his findings, giving detailed descriptions of what stimulus produces the strongest and most durable response. Pavlov concluded that animals need to develop conditioned reflexes in order to adapt and survive in the real world, which is always changing. He also held, however, that his new theory of conditioned response could be applied to humans. He believed that it helped to explain the behaviour of psychotic people. He suggested that people who withdrew completely from society were prone to view all stimulus as a possible injury or threat. People who had been in war could also be conditioned to react in a certain way to certain stimuli, like loud noises. They may, for example, dive for cover, in the conditioned reaction to a bomb explosion.
In the 1920’s Pavlov conducted a further series of experiments with dogs. He then trained the dogs to associate a tone with a food reward. The experiments showed that the dogs would show little or no response to the tone by itself (a conditioned stimulus). But when combined with the food (an unconditioned stimulus), a measurable unconditional response (saliva production) would result. When the tone and the food were repeatedly presented together, the dogs formed an association between the two, that is between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. Such conditioning is known as Pavlovian Conditioning and became a basis for the developing field of behavioural science.
Pavlov also experimented with dogs by cutting holes in their cheeks and inserting tubes to measure the rate of salivation. Pavlov would ring a bell immediately prior to serving food to the dogs and measure the salivation rate. He experimented to see if some sort of outside stimulus could produce the same result in the dog. He started by ringing a bell at the same time he served food to the animal. After a while he would ring the bell without serving any food to the dog. Interestingly, he noted that the dog would produce saliva when it heard the bell ring, even when no food was presented to it. Pavlov concluded that this was a learned response. It was, therefore, a conditioned response. He also found that if the bell were rung too often without tPavlov also experimented with dogs by cutting holes in their cheeks and inserting tubes to measure the rate of salivation. Pavlov would ring a bell immediately prior to serving food to the dogs and measure the salivation rate. He experimented to see if some sort of outside stimulus could produce the same result in the dog. He started by ringing a bell at the same time he served food to the animal. After a while he would ring the bell without serving any food to the dog. Interestingly, he noted that the dog would produce saliva when it heard the bell ring, even when no food was presented to it. Pavlov concluded that this was a learned response. It was, therefore, a conditioned response. He also found that if the bell were rung too often without the production of food, the dog would stop salivating. he production of food, the dog would stop salivating. Pavlov also experimented with dogs by cutting holes in their cheeks and inserting tubes to measure the rate of salivation. Pavlov would ring a bell immediately prior to serving food to the dogs and measure the salivation rate. He experimented to see if some sort of outside stimulus could produce the same result in the dog. He started by ringing a bell at the same time he served food to the animal. After a while he would ring the bell without serving any food to the dog. Interestingly, he noted that the dog would produce saliva when it heard the bell ring, even when no food was presented to it. Pavlov concluded that this was a learned response. It was, therefore, a conditioned response. He also found that if the bell were rung too often without the production of food, the dog would stop salivating.
I have a friend who only smokes when he goes to Las Vegas - literally. In the twenty years I’ve known him, it’s the only time I’ve ever seen him with a lit cigarette in his hand. He’ll go through maybe a pack or two in four days as far as I know (we don’t spend all our time there together, so I’m basing this on how much he smokes when I’m with him). I asked him about it once, but can’t remember offhand what he said.
aawooops. Sorry guys… 