Why did you first start smoking?

I was in my late teens (I seem to recall it being sophomore year in college), I had just broken up with my high school sweetheart over the summer, and I felt like I needed a vice. That’s about it. Started with Marlboro Reds, then Camel unfiltereds, because I figured if I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it right, dagnabbit! :slight_smile: Eventually, I came back to Camel Lights. I don’t really regret it. I smoked for about 10-12 years, about a pack a day (though there have been nights where I killed a pack in about 4 hours), then one day I just quit. Not sure why–I didn’t intend to quit, I just didn’t buy a pack that day, then I didn’t the next day, and next thing you know, I’m not smoking any more. No idea why it happened like that, but I consider myself lucky. I probably would have some regrets if I were still smoking.

I was 15 and my boyfriend would have me light his cigarettes for him as he drove. He could blow smoke rings so I eventually asked him to teach me how, which required more puffs and some inhaling. After we broke up I started filching my mother’s ciggs to sneak a smoke. It made me feel still close to him in a way. Although smoking made me throw up one time I quickly became very good at it.

I started smoking in 1975 when I was 15. My dad smoked, my stepmother smoked, many of my friends did too. I was a light smoker for years. Then in the 80s I became a regular smoker - half a pack per day usually, sometimes more if in social situations and drinking. I had an unusual dependency in that I didn’t feel the need to smoke until much much later in the day, sometimes not until I was off work and heading out to meet friends. In 1993 after almost 20 years of puffing, I gave it up overnight. In the last five years or so, including this year, I’ve taken a few of drags off of a friend’s cig. Each time immediately thinking - what in the hell did I do that for!? Total tobacco smoked since December, 1993, maybe half a cig. Do I miss it? Sometimes, I do. I miss the oral fixation, the ritual of it all. But I’m glad to be done. My heart and my lungs are surely healthier. Even if I decided to start again, I probably could not afford them anymore. When I quit I was living in Detroit and I could buy a pack of Marlboro for less than $3.00 a pack. What are they now? I don’t even know. $5.00 per pack?

My then-boyfriend was a smoker. The relationship lasted about 6 months; the smoking addiction lasted about 15 years.

I’m going to claim the title of Dumbest Reason to Start Smoking (so far, anyway). I wanted to find out if quitting was as hard as it was advertised to be. So, I started shortly after my 18th birthday in 1974. Kept at it for a few months to make sure that I was good and hooked (I thought it would be cheating if I quit before I was an expert at it. It could be attributable to my not liking the taste, or being unable to inhale).

I have quit several times in the past 40 years, with varying degrees of success (I did make it from 1989 to 1996 before starting again). I smoked my last pack of cigarettes in 2001.

And I want a smoke every day. So, I guess my little experiment confirms that giving up cigarettes is very hard.