I know in the past, it was kind of chic to smoke, maybe a little sexy too. Hollywood actors would often be shown smoking in movies and whatnot. But they don’t even do that anymore.
Why would anyone do it? What could they possibly gain?
Also, I could be wrong. But I do get the impression that poorer people are more likely to smoke than rich or middle class. But if that is true, that is even more horrendous. Because they are least likely to afford the costs, medical and otherwise, that can come with the disgusting habit.
Cigarettes?? How 1999 of you! Most people who smoke start before they’re 18. Teens know tobacco is bad for them; for some, that’s part of the appeal. Peer pressure is another factor. So is having parents who smoke. Sure, kids know it’s addictive–even more so for those who start as teens–but health effects that are 10 years, 20 years from now, those seem like forever when you’re 16. And the aspects you find disgusting fashionably dissipated when you’re young and easily influenced. Still, teen smoking rates were falling for a long time.
Then came modern vaping. Fun flavors and ads that appeal to teens (and are not banned from TV and online ads) made tobacco much, much cooler. JUULs, vaping devices that look like USB drives, are wildly popular, as are vape pens and mods.
And you’re wrong about smoking not being depicted in movies. Something like 25% of PG and PG-13 include characters who smoke. And 79% of streaming shows popular with 15-24-year-olds depict smoking.
I started when I was 19. Not by smoking though, through nicotine gum, lozenges, and patches (I know how ironic it sounds).
It feels good and honestly not to be a downer but I don’t really enjoy life. Not actively trying to off myself but extending my life is the last thing I want to do.
False premise. Do you think people would smoke if it did absolutely *nothing *for them ? When you start out, they get you gently dizzy and calm. Very mildly high, if you prefer. Also while they initially taste pretty disgusting, it’s definitely an acquired taste as well. And you simply can’t beat the post-meal smoke - non-smokers can’t grok what I’m talking about, but every former smoker will tell you the same thing : it’s that one specific cigarette they miss the most. Smoking on a happily full stomach is definitely pleasurable.
And sure, later on you mainly smoke to stop the bad feelings associated with withdrawal or due to habitual, mechanical patterns (e.g. I smoke a lot more when I’m in front of my computer or on the phone, because my hands just keep getting to the pack like a routine action, even when I just crushed the last one. When I’m reading or watching TV, I smoke half as much) and so on. But you’re not going to understand the answers you get to your question if you get the very basics wrong : people start smoking because smoking is pleasurable. End of story, and no big mystery. You might as well as why people start drinking or doing drugs when it’s definitely not great for one’s health - both things that poor people tend to do more too, btw.
I agree with Kobal2. Why not ask why anyone would get a tattoo or smoke dope? You’re preempting any possible answer by stating that there’s no reason at all to smoke.
As for me, my wife of 18 years smoked since she was 16. I never smoked. She died at the age of 43 from a cause unrelated to smoking, after suffering for almost three years. I smoked her remaining cigarettes and then smoked for about five years. During that time, my doctor put some pressure on me to quit. I explained to him (and to others) that it was either drink or smoke after my wife’s death. (He, of course, said, “Don’t do either.” That’s easy to say.)
There really two answers here. One obvious and one that takes a bit more subtlety.
First, I’m told it’s pleasurable. I’ve never smoked but people do say it is. And humans, obviously, like doing pleasurable things.
The second is an all time controller on human behavior: humans are very bad at assessing risk. Any risk to life and limb that isn’t immediate people just wish away. Whether it’s smoking, drinking, texting and driving, risky sex or whatever, people are very bad at doing any form of risk-benefit analysis.
Smoking fits that second profile perfectly. It’s short term pleasurable - and then addictive - and long term destructive. Humans will take that bet 99 times out of 100.
nicotine relaxes you and helps you lose weight. Also nicotine helps keep some mental illnesses like schizophrenia under control. Nicotine may also help protect the brain from the ravages of age like Alzheimers. Having said that, it is nicotine that does these things (AFAIK), not smoking. So you could get these benefits from vaping or chewing nicotine gum, which aren’t nearly as unhealthy as smoking.
Also smoking rates used to be fairly evenly split among education levels, but when the health risks were better understood the rates dropped, but they are now strongly tied to education level. I’m not sure what the reasoning is though. Back before the health risks were understood, it was more educated people who smoked more. Now its the opposite. I think in the 60s around 30-50% of doctors smoked. Now its something like <5%.
I smoke one hand-rolled cigarette, of natural Danish tobacco, every morning with my coffee. Why? It’s a purposeful ritual that makes getting up and starting my day a little bit easier and more satisfying. The tobacco gives me a pleasant buzz that, combined with the coffee, provides the energy to get motivated to do whatever it is I need to do. And it feels good. And it gives me something to look forward to every morning when I wake up.
That’s the only time I smoke, though. Throughout the rest of the day I just use a JUUL.
I know I’d be better off not smoking any cigarettes at all - or not using any nicotine at all, for that matter - but in the scheme of things this concern is not enough for me to justify stopping it. I’m otherwise healthy, I eat in moderation, and I move around enough to stay reasonably fit. People need to have their little vices in life, it’s the only way to get through it without going insane.
I disagree that cigarettes aren’t “cool”. No matter how stigmatized they may be, they still have some cachet as a sign of rebellion among young people. And while no one takes up smoking as an adult just to look “cool”, it can be difficult to be the lone non-smoker in a social circle full of smokers. So someone might take up smoking just to fit in.
I don’t smoke, and it probably isn’t chic to smoke anymore unless you are French, a hardened cop, or in the army. But young people still watch old movies. Off the top of my head all of these films feature smoking: Citizen Kane (1941), Casablanca (1942), The Sound of Music (1965), The Godfather (1972), Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Scarface (1983), The Terminator (1984), Jurassic Park (1993), Schindler’s List (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Fight Club (1999).
And further, actors still smoke in new movies. According to the CDC[1], 45% of top-grossing movies in the US were rated PG-13 and 57% of PG-13 movies showed smoking or other tobacco use. Movie companies with tobacco depiction policies included tobacco in as many of their youth-rated movies in 2017 as they did in 2010 and each of these movies included 37% more tobacco incidents, on average.
Also there is smoking in television shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy. These aren’t made for kids but kids and teenagers definitely watch them.
There is still smoking in movies, and there’s still smoking in the serial programming which has largely REPLACED movies anyway. About 55% of all the scenes of the last season of “True Detective” consisted of Stephen Dorff smoking cigarettes and being the most likeable character ever. Cigarettes on the screen are not going anywhere.
Part of it is just that from a cinematographer’s perspective they are the perfect prop. The action of pulling one out and lighting it provides action for a moment that would otherwise have no action. The smoke itself provides a moody visual backdrop. A hand gesturing with a cigarette looks more profound than an empty hand doing the same thing. A pause in a conversation to draw on a cigarette before saying something seems more profound than the same pause without doing anything.
And part of it is that a lot of people still smoke cigarettes. And a lot of them don’t chain-smoke either, or even smoke habitually. Tons of people smoke only when they’re drinking, or when they’re really stressed out, or when they’re at a show and want to hang out with the inevitable cluster of people outside the venue smoking. Smoking has decreased in general, but among people who do smoke, habits have also changed. “Social smoking” is a thing.
It’s a steady source of income for pathologists. Just a couple days ago I signed out a case of small cell carcinoma of the lung (almost certainly due to smoking) and the total pathology charges* came to about $570. So who am I to discourage smoking? And the long-term effects of nicotine addiction (i.e. vaping) are only starting to be understood, so future pathologists will likely have benefits to reap there too.
*what we eventually collect from insurance companies is considerably less than this, but still a decent chunk of change.
I have a friend who quit smoking for 15 years and then about 6 years ago started up again. I was baffled and asked him why. He was going through a tough time with a failing side business and was so stressed about it all that he needed the cigarettes to calm his nerves. He said half-jokingly that otherwise he would have ended up knocking himself off. Thankfully, things are good for him now and he’s retired and quit smoking again.
I would assume that a fair number of people take up smoking now for the same reason I took up smoking in 1976.
nicotine feels good
although there’s a lot of public awareness that nicotine is “addictive”, there’s insufficient information about what addictive means. I knew, for example, that it meant I could end up finding it irresistible to keep on smoking, that I’d be unable to stop. I did not know that it means that nicotine would cease to make me feel good. That my body would get used to it and it would cease to feel like anything special. (But that I’d have to smoke to feel normal, that to try to go without would mean feeling bloody awful)
That’s not what “addictive” means. That’s what “building up a tolerance” means. But not all addictive substances or activities work that way.
Alcohol is addictive - and it will keep on fucking you up no matter how much or how long you routinely drink it. In fact, in my experience as a semi-professional lush, as it deteriorates your liver it will fuck you up more better more faster as time and usage goes by. Also it will fuck up your life harder and harder.
Nicotine is addictive. That’s why people smoke. Oh sure there are reasons why people *start *smoking, but the addiction is why they dont stop.
Of course they always taste disgusting, just that the drug needs you to like getting the drug, so you think there’s actually some nice taste. *Perhaps *with $20 cigars and high end pipe tobacco, but not the chemically treated sweepings they put in cigs.
Your post meal cig happiness is due to getting the drug back in your system. Nothing else.
It’s also why people think smoking reduces stress- it doesnt. It actually increases stress. But when you first light up and the addiction knows the drug is on the way- you get less stressed for a brief time.
Altho indeed, nicotine may have some effect on schizophrenia & Alzheimers, you are correct that it isnt cigs, it’s the drug.
But Nicotine does *not *relax you. It’s a stimulant.
Weight is controversial: it may be the nicotine (stimulant), it may be oral cravings (you can also lose weight by chewing gum) or it may be just that food smells and tastes so much better.
