Poll for tobacco smokers

In My Humble Opinion
41

I simply cannot conceive of anybody smoking if they didn’t like it. I know it can be hard to quit, but you must have liked it at some time or you wouldn’t have started, right? And if you don’t like it, that’s good encouragement to quit.

I find firing up my pipe or cigar to be enjoyable. Sometimes I’m not in the mood, so I don’t do it–often for months at a time. It’s like drinking. I’ve gotten drunk enough to vomit and pass out with my head spinning and feel like hell the next day. I did not enjoy that experience, so I stop drinking now before I reach that point.

42

My only experience with Marlboro Lights are with the menthol variety–they tend to burn faster than others. It generally takes me about 5 minuted to finish a cig, but with those, I’m done in 2-3 minutes. so your boss’ experience is far from atypical.

43

:eek:

Well, insofar as even one is just asking for trouble guess there’s no difference in the volume, but great googly-moogly that’s a lot of hot smoke down the throat at once!

44

I like the feeling of not having a craving. I like the social aspects of hanging with and commiserating with fellow smoker-pariahs. (Illinois = no smoking in public buildings.)

But actually like smoking itself…? No. I hate it. Drains my cash, makes me smell bad, freaking terrible circulation and the prospect of cancer. Hate! I know that I’ll be less than what I can be until I get this monkey off my back.

45

I smoke pipes and cigars. Cigarettes occasionally, but my pipes and cigars are what I really enjoy. They force one to slow down–you simply cannot smoke a pipe while doing much other than spend some time with a good book or with a movie or game on TV. Cigars are much the same thing; a single premium cigar can take up to two hours to smoke, and that’s some “me” time I value.

I may have one or two cigars or pipefuls a week. Some weeks, I’ll have none; other weeks, I may have four or five. But I’d guess it averages out to one or two.

I guess I started with cigarettes back in my teens, but my Dad, a pipe smoker, introduced me to pipes and cigars when I was in my 20s. He said if I was going to smoke, it might as well be something that tasted and smelled a lot better than cigarettes. He was right; I’ve enjoyed the taste and aroma of my pipes and cigars ever since.

46
  1. Since 8th grade (12 years) – quit earlier this year and have been clean since
  2. Cigarettes
  3. At my height: pack a day, for the last couple years: 2 or 3 a day
  4. I was a ballerina and anorexic. We all smoked so we wouldn’t eat.
  5. relieve stress, keep from eating at first, nicotine addiction
  6. a couple times before my most recent one. I’m hoping to stay clean because I’m getting married and January and we’re trying to start a family right away. And clearly, I don’t want to be pregnant and smoking!
47
  1. How long have you smoked? About 10 years or so.
  2. Do you prefer cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, or some combination? I’ve dabbled in all, but overwhelmingly I smoke cigarettes.
  3. How much do you smoke in a typical day–that is, how many cigarettes, how many pipe refills, etc.? anywhere from two to five, depending on what my kids are doing.
  4. Why did you start? I liked it. It always appealed to me for some reason, and then when I started I found that there was something about the whole sensory experience I really enjoy. Damned if I can put my finger on what it is. I have dropped them entirely on a moment’s notice twice now, so I don’t think it’s addiction.
  5. Do you currently see yourself smoking out of habit, out of a desire to relieve stress, out of addiction, or for some other reason I have not, in my ignorant innocence, thought to name? Desire to relieve stress and just general enjoyment of the sensory experience, as I outlined above. Also, it gives me an excuse to go outside three times a day or so and be by myself, quietly. It might be what keeps me sane.
  6. Have you ever tried to quit, and if so how many times? I’ve successfully quit twice during both of my pregnancies, and started it back up again shortly after giving birth. Both times because I was tearing my hair out about nursing and needed an outlet.
48

1. How long have you smoked?
Regularly for about 10 years. Before that it was too hard to buy cigarettes as a minor, so it was social smoking for the three or four years prior.

2. Do you prefer cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, or some combination?
Cigarettes. Menthol 100s for preference.

3. How much do you smoke in a typical day–that is, how many cigarettes, how many pipe refills, etc.?
On a regular non-stressful day I’ll go through about half a pack (10 - 15 cigarettes). I have a tendency to chain-smoke when drinking. On days off at home alone, I’ll often smoke less, especially if I’m doing something that keeps my hands busy.

4. Why did you start?
It was many many years ago, when I was teenaged and kind of dumb. I suspect it was at least partly out of a misplaced desire to look cool. Also, my mother smoked, so it had an aura of being a thing that grownups did, like drinking, that I wasn’t allowed to do for reasons I wasn’t entirely clear on.

5. Do you currently see yourself smoking out of habit, out of a desire to relieve stress, out of addiction, or for some other reason I have not, in my ignorant innocence, thought to name?
All of the above, plus it is occasionally the only way I keep myself from strangling a colleague or keeping a bottle of gin in my desk for after particularly aggravating support calls.

6. Have you ever tried to quit, and if so how many times?
Yes and no. I occasionally try to quit just to see if I can, and have in the past laid off the smokes for three and four months at a time. I don’t particularly want to quit though, and enjoy smoking, so of course I always pick it up again. I do plan to quit seriously should I ever choose to become pregnant, and forsee no real difficulty doing so.

For your chain-smoking scenario, I smoke ungodly long cigarettes, so it takes me about six to ten minutes to finish one, depending on how much of a hurry I’m in. Three or four cigarettes in half an hour would be reasonable in times of great stress, more than that would cause a horribly ill feeling.

49

  1. I smoked on-and-off from about 18 to 24.

  2. I mostly smoked cigarettes, but one friend had a hookah we’d occasionally bust out, and another had a pipe we’d sometimes sit on her roof and pass around.

  3. I generally smoked between three and eight cigarettes in a day. During particularly stressful times (e.g., the day before a particularly bad final), it might jump up as high as a full pack in a day, but that was pretty rare. Generally, I’d smoke the most when I was working on something difficult (e.g., writing a paper or debugging a program, in which case a smoke break was both a chance to get away from the computer and and opportunity for my brain to keep ticking over in the background). Drinking was also a great motivation for smoking–when I was still a smoker, nothing made me want a cigarette more than a drink in my hand. Outside of school, in fact, bars were probably where I’d go through a pack the fastest.

  4. Despite being one of those really annoying kids who’d nag all their parents’ friends who smoked, I was always really interested in it. It just seemed really interesting to me. One of the friends I met when I stated college was a smoker who I’d accompany outside for his smoke breaks, and one day I finally just said, “Oh hell, give me one, too.” I didn’t inhale for probably a few months–I just really enjoyed the action of smoking, playing with the smoke, the taste, etc. IIRC I started smoking-smoking when a friend disappeared for about 24 hours and we thought she might have been kidnapped/killed by someone she was going to meet from an online forum.

  5. When I was still smoking, it was a combination of enjoyment, habit, stress-relief, and addiction. I wasn’t able to get away from the latter parts until the first one stopped.

Other 5. I tried to quit, and failed, when I still enjoyed smoking. There was a gap of a few months once that ended when I started dating another smoker. I was finally able to stop for good last summer when it had gotten to the point where every cigarette I lit made me go, “Meh.” I’ve had a handful since then, but I haven’t had more than a few drags without thinking, “Yeah, this wasn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it was going to be,” and snuffing it out.

50
  1. Five years, though I’ve only smoked consistently for three
  2. Cigars, almost exclusively. Though if I’m really drunk I’ll sometimes bum a cigarette off somebody.
  3. Not much. Usually one cigar a week, maybe one or two of those drunk cigarettes in the same time frame.
  4. It was the summer after high school, and in my small town there were only four things to do: drink, play video games, smoke weed, and get laid. I don’t like weed and I had no luck getting laid, so I needed something else to do in between drunkenly playing video games.
  5. For pleasure. Usually with Scotch.
  6. No, and I don’t plan to.
51

Oh yes. I’d be in serious pain the next day and hating myself for it but I think it could be done. I feel it the next on the very rare occasion I smoke a full pack in a day.

52
  1. How long have you smoked?
    About nine years, altogther.
  2. Do you prefer cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, or some combination?
    Cigarettes, and a very occasional cigar.
  3. How much do you smoke in a typical day–that is, how many cigarettes, how many pipe refills, etc.?
    Half a pack of cigarettes (10).
  4. Why did you start?
    The cool kids were doing it.
  5. Do you currently see yourself smoking out of habit, out of a desire to relieve stress, out of addiction, or for some other reason I have not, in my ignorant innocence, thought to name?
    Habit/addiction and stress relief.
  6. Have you ever tried to quit, and if so how many times?
    Eight or nine. I’m currently reducing my daily intake, hopefully to 0.
53

[quote=“Skald_the_Rhymer, post:1, topic:502584”]

Short answer: since I was 14, that’d be (oh, gawd!) 36 years. Complete answer: between the ages of 32 and 40, under considerable pressure from a domineering (long since ex-)spouse, I took an eight-year sabbatical from smoking, which ended about a decade ago.

What other guy my age can truthfully say he’s been smoking since his teens and started smoking ten years ago, both?:wink:

Cigarettes. While some tobacco pipes are beautiful objects indeed, pipe smoking itself is fraught with a zillion hassles and complications, and involves way too many fiddly little accoutrements, accessories and gizmos. And cigars are just flat-out nasty in my book.

It depends, but I’d say a pack a day give or take four or five.

Uh, because I wanted to?

There’s an element of physical addiction, sure, but mainly I smoke because I like it. It’s pleasurable – having a nice leisurely smoke over coffee and some good reading, or taking a nighttime walk someplace in the city (where a smoldery Pall Mall can lend a dramatic visual and atmospheric touch); but of course the most enjoyable cigarette of all is the cigarette, or even two of them, one smokes at the end of a lovely meal.

Just the one time when I was in my early 30s, and I was coerced into it that time, psychologically and emotionally.

54

1. How long have you smoked?
About 19 years.

2. Do you prefer cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, or some combination?
Pipe only

3. How much do you smoke in a typical day–that is, how many cigarettes, how many pipe refills, etc.?
Less than once per day. Maybe four or five times per week. Unless I go fishing or camping, in which it becomes many times per day.

4. Why did you start?
My favorite bookstore when I was a kid was also a tobacco shop. I used to like to smell the jars of tobacco when I went in. When they closed up, I bought a pipe as a memento. (You’d think all the books would have been enough.) Then tried it out of curiosity.

5. Do you currently see yourself smoking out of habit, out of a desire to relieve stress, out of addiction, or for some other reason I have not, in my ignorant innocence, thought to name?
Purely for the pleasure.

5. Have you ever tried to quit, and if so how many times?
I often quit for periods. Sometimes I run out of tobacco and might go weeks or even months before getting any more. Sometimes it becomes a habit and I find myself enjoying it less, so I will quit for a while. Once I quit for a year. But the next time I went fishing, I just couldn’t enjoy it properly without my pipe.

55

**

  1. How long have you smoked?**
    I began smoking cigarettes when I was about thirteen. I quit cigs 2003, when I was 32, and began to snusa, since my first kid was born and I 1) didn’t want to smoke with an infant, and 2) has always been addicted to nicotine.
    2. Do you prefer cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, or some combination?
    Today I smoke the pipe to enjoy the taste of burnt tobacco; but for my nicotine addiction I still snusa.
    3. How much do you smoke in a typical day–that is, how many cigarettes, how many pipe refills, etc.?
    I usually smoke one bowl a day. As a “snusare”, I pretty much always have a small prilla under the lip.
    4. Why did you start?
    Long story, but I was always very interested in tobacco, and began smoking because it gave a greate pleasure. I was probably the first to pick up cigs among my friends, and I actually hid this habit from them; it was my private pleasure, I didn’t do it because it was “cool”.
    5. Do you currently see yourself smoking out of habit, out of a desire to relieve stress, out of addiction, or for some other reason I have not, in my ignorant innocence, thought to name?
    When I was a cigarette smoker, there were lots of situations which triggered my impuls to lit a cig. It was mostly habit, and the satisfaction of lighting a cig, inhaling the smoke, and blow it out. - I still miss those moments, sometimes. I really liked it. But you know, it’s unhealthy. For my part, my smoking was out of habit, joy, and addiction. - With the pipe, only the joy in short.
    5. Have you ever tried to quit, and if so how many times?
    I quit the cigs one time before I quit them definitely (lasted for a couple of years). I quit snus once too, it lasted for one year, but it still was hellish, so I picked it up again. - It’s like always being thirsty, you just want a glass of water, which is everywhere, and you can’t have it. In the long run, you just get tired of it, and take a “prilla”, and then it disappears.

There are smokers and smokers; some are really addicted to nicotine, and some are not. I’m really addicted to it. Even a year without nicotine in my body, I still get the cravings every single day.

As a side note: This experience, which is contradictory to what we know of nicotine addiction, is something I’ve been wondering for a while to discuss here on SDMB; but people always say: “Oh, it’s all your imagination”, so I think, well, fuck it. One day, my friend, they will find that nicotine gene (or whatever). You heard it from me first, nota bene!

56
  1. 6 years or so.
  2. Cigarettes. Hated dip, have had multiple pipes, friends were cigar enjoyers but I could never get into them, always liked cigarettes.
  3. It really varied, from week to week to the alignment of the stars. Around half a pack a day or so more often than not. In Iraq I didn’t keep count because I rolled by the carton, but it was easily more than a pack a day.
  4. Bored/frustrated at a party, needed something to do. Then my friends and I started smoking more and more. By the time driving around smoking cigarettes wasn’t rebellious/fun/novelty anymore we were regular smokers.
  5. I’ve understood the health problems, and without cigarettes I can see I feel better all around, smell better, all that good stuff, but I honestly just loved smoking. Addiction plays a part in that, tho, because there’s cigarettes you like to smoke and there’s maybe hundreds (gulp) of packs I smoked more so just to keep me “on an even keel”, so to speak. But I still really liked smoking for smoking’s sake.
  6. Cut back from time to time. Serious efforts? A couple. The low number of quit attempts is from, as above, I really freaking like to smoke. One time I quit for a week, had my boss tell me, “Skylark, go smoke. You’re an asshole!” My heart wasn’t really in it that time. Another time I quit just to show somebody I could do it, and ended up quit for 4 months. But boredom/socially/etc got back in the game. The thing is quitting is actually not that hard --if you want to quit. The wanting is the hard part. The last time I quit my cold turkey lasted until lunchtime: I didn’t want to do it anymore. But after that tried a new strategy, a bigger effort on it than I’ve ever done before.

Last cigarette was last Wednesday morning. So far doing OK. :slight_smile: