# Why would one smoke in the first place? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 17, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467 "2005-11-17T06:54:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/21 "2005-11-17T15:00:32Z")
> [@Idle Thoughts](#): > > I’m just seriously mystified why anyone would ever smoke anyway. I honestly don’t think there’s any way for me to make you understand why I smoke. I don’t think there is anything comparable for a non-smoker. I’ve tried to figure out a way to explain it in the past, attempted to come up with an analogy that would make sense, and have always failed. This is not to say I don’t recognize the health risks, nor is it an attempt to claim I’m not an addict, nor that teen-age stupidity didn’t play a role in my starting. Just that whenever someone asks “Why do you smoke?”, I know beforehand, through experience, that making any attempt to explain is a lost cause. It goes beyond simple “enjoyment” (and enjoy it I do), beyond the overly simplistic “smoking is just a habit” (which it most definitely is, to some extent); smoking is a part of my makeup, flawed as it may be. I should mention that perhaps, at some point in the future, I’ll quit for some reason. Even if I do, I will always miss it. Also based on experience, others will now try to convince me that smoking is _bad, bad, bad_, that it’s “just an addiction”, that I’m being stupid for continuing, and I’ll be regaled with stories of inconsiderate smokers or health horror stories. Although this is GD, I have no desire to debate my smoking; words fail me. You asked and I just felt like putting in my two cents. > [@E72521](#): > > It only takes three to four cigarettes for an individual to become addicted to nicotine. As **LonesomePolecat** put it, so much nicer than I would’ve, cite? ---
**Author:** ![Fringe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5a626/32.png) [@Fringe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fringe)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/22 "2005-11-17T15:08:30Z")
> [@E72521](#): > > It only takes three to four cigarettes for an individual to become addicted to nicotine. There’s not a lot of room between the “Wow this tastes like shit and makes me cough” and the “I need a cigarette” phases of becoming an addict. I totally disagree with the notion that smoking in moderation is an acceptable risk. If this is true, then the difficulty of quitting is entirely exagerrated. I smoked for about 8 months, usually at least 5 a day, and quit without any difficulty. Does this only apply to certain people? Or do I have a different idea of what “addicted to nicotine” actually is? In short, how would you define an addiction? ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/23 "2005-11-17T15:13:42Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I forgot to mention that I saw the same nasty behavior in Nevada too. Both places are a far, far cry different than California when it comes to smokers’ behavior. I notice you’re in Korea. I understand the anti-smoking thing is mostly a Western thing, and anti-smoking campaigns haven’t made nearly as much progress in places other than North America and Europe. In the U.S. even Southern states where tobacco is still a major cash crop are putting severe restrictions on smoking. Why would Nevada be different, I wonder? It also seems to me that tobacco use is getting to be a habit more and more of the lower classes rather than the upper. I haven’t got any stats to back it up, though I do know that college graduates are less likely to smoke than high school dropouts and people with only a high school diploma. ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/24 "2005-11-17T15:22:28Z")
> [@E72521](#): > > It only takes three to four cigarettes for an individual to become addicted to nicotine. There’s not a lot of room between the “Wow this tastes like shit and makes me cough” and the “I need a cigarette” phases of becoming an addict. I totally disagree with the notion that smoking in moderation is an acceptable risk. Ridiculous assertion. As someone who has smoked more than three or four cigarettes at a time and did not become addicted (and how knows many who have done the same), I can’t disagree more with you. In fact, the number of social smokers I know (only smoking when they drink) also disproves this statement. People smoke because it’s pleasurable. They quit when the benefits of doing so outweighs the pleasure they derive. I don’t really believe in addiction – I just think that people who don’t want to quit enjoy the activity so much that they are unwilling to forgo that pleasure. You do something because it feels good. Generally, you don’t want to give up what feels good. Drugs, alcohol, nicotine, sex, porn, food – all these things give pleasure to people. When people don’t want to stop using these substances in excess they say they are “addicted.” I don’t buy it. Sorry. They just don’t want to give up the pleasure the substances give. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/25 "2005-11-17T15:24:38Z")
I like it, it tastes good, and it gives me something to do with my hands. I like rituals and the ritual of smoking is very relaxing to me. I don’t care about my health. I have no plans to quit. I am miserable pretty much 24/7 and one of the few times I’m happy is when I’m smoking. Why does anyone do anything? Because they like it and the detriments aren’t enough to make them stop. Smoking is no different. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/26 "2005-11-17T15:24:50Z")
I didn’t see anyone mention this, but I started smoking as a teen to cover up the smell of the pot I was smoking. My dad would have killed me for the pot but tolerated the cigarettes. Later, I ditched the pot, but the cigarettes stuck. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/27 "2005-11-17T15:31:32Z")
> [@Renob](#): > > I don’t really believe in addiction – I just think that people who don’t want to quit enjoy the activity so much that they are unwilling to forgo that pleasure. I think there is such a thing as real, physical addiction, with drugs such as heroin, but you’re right about cigarettes. Nicotine leaves your body in three or four days usually, a week tops. The addiction to cigarettes is mostly psychological, and while it’s powerful, it’s not the same as a heroin addiction, where people will often DIE if they quit cold turkey because the internal chemistry of their body has changed so drastically. I’ve never had any problem quitting for extended periods. Then again I am a very light smoker, just a little over a pack a week. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/28 "2005-11-17T15:32:46Z")
> [@Fringe](#): > > If this is true, then the difficulty of quitting is entirely exagerrated. I smoked for about 8 months, usually at least 5 a day, and quit without any difficulty. > > Does this only apply to certain people? Or do I have a different idea of what “addicted to nicotine” actually is? In short, how would you define an addiction? Hmmm … eight months, probably less than half a pack a day … I’d say you were only mildly addicted, if you were addicted at all. In my twenties I smoke two packs a day of unfiltered Pall Malls. I made several attempts to quit, and it was hell. When you’ve smoke a pack or more a day for years, you’re probably going to have a much harder time quitting than someone who’s smoked less than half a pack a day for less than a year. I think quitting was made easier for me because I couldn’t smoke at work at my various jobs. Sure, I could go outside and smoke, but that usually meant that I got behind in my work and made all sorts of other problems. (“Where have you been for the last twenty minutes? Your phone’s been ringing off the hook. How many bathroom breaks do you need?”) Then other places, like restaurants and shopping malls started restricting or banning tobacco use. So I got used to going without tobacco for longer and longer periods of times, and I think it eventually made it easier for me to quit. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/29 "2005-11-17T15:36:46Z")
I don’t smoke, not really; smoked a pipe less than once a week for a year; smoked maybe a dozen cigars in my life, almost always on special occasions; never smoked cigarettes except for two drags. However, I know the answer to the OP. Smoking is cool. It looks cool, it makes you cooler. There’s no use trying to dissemble about this. It’ll kill ya, which is why it’s not worth it, but it is cool. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/30 "2005-11-17T15:37:34Z")
> [@davenportavenger](#): > > The addiction to cigarettes is mostly psychological, and while it’s powerful, it’s not the same as a heroin addiction, where people will often DIE if they quit cold turkey because the internal chemistry of their body has changed so drastically. Not to get off on a tangent here, but it seems the addictive nature of heroin is a bit overstated: [H – Reason.com](http://www.reason.com/0306/fe.js.h.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/31 "2005-11-17T15:59:04Z")
> [@davenportavenger](#): > > Nicotine leaves your body in three or four days usually, a week tops. The addiction to cigarettes is mostly psychological, and while it’s powerful, it’s not the same as a heroin addiction, where people will often DIE if they quit cold turkey because the internal chemistry of their body has changed so drastically. Starving people have been known to trade food for tobacco. In the Philipines during the Second World War, starving Japanese soldiers on the run from Allied troops still went to great lengths to get tobacco. It can be a very powerful addiction. William Burroughs in his novel, _Junkie_, said that no one wakes up one morning and decides to be a heroin addict, that the first few times you wake up in withdrawal the craving isn’t very strong or difficult to ignore. Addiction is something you slide into bit by bit. Nicotine addiction is the same way. I know from personal experience that the craving for nicotine can be an intense physical need every bit as powerful as the need for sex. I have no cites immediately at hand, but the medical community seems to believe that nicotine is in fact a strong physical addiction. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/32 "2005-11-17T16:05:47Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > I > Smoking is cool. It looks cool, it makes you cooler. There’s no use trying to dissemble about this. It’ll kill ya, which is why it’s not worth it, but it is cool. > > –Cliffy 🙂 Yeah! Who doesn’t want to be as cool as Humphrey Bogart? ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/33 "2005-11-17T16:16:30Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > Smoking is cool. It looks cool, it makes you cooler. There’s no use trying to dissemble about this. It’ll kill ya, which is why it’s not worth it, but it is cool. Another non-smoker chiming in to agree. And I would say that the fact that they _will_ kill you is one of the reasons they are so cool. You know, in a James Dean kind of way. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/34 "2005-11-17T17:04:20Z")
Me? It was to fit in. Twice. The first time, it was because my sister didn’t want to be known as the chick with the square brother. She pretty much made me buy my first pack. Ironically, she’s now trying to get me to quit. After maybe 6 months, I did quit. But a little later, my new friend told me I was not cool if I didn’t smoke. So I tried it, and realized just how much I loved it. The rest _cough_ is _hack_, as they say, _hork_ history. Peer pressure sucks. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/35 "2005-11-17T17:17:39Z")
It pisses off health nazis and other annoying people. Hey, Johnny, What are you rebelling against? What’ve you got? “The Wild One” ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/36 "2005-11-17T17:24:58Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > I have no cites immediately at hand, but the medical community seems to believe that nicotine is in fact a strong physical addiction. But how do you divorce the addiction to the ritual from the addiction to the substance? Many people who try to fail using gums or patches fail, even though nicotine is still getting into their bodies and being tapered down very slowly, slow enough to satisfy a physical hunger. That, to me, suggests that people are addicted to smoking itself, and not nicotine per se. The real test would be to give someone nicotine pills or patches or something else that isn’t all cool and ritualistic and see how they go through withdrawal. I don’t know if that study’s ever been done, though. Also, nobody has ever died from stopping cigs cold turkey, like they have with hard drugs or even some prescription drugs. So while there is some metabolic change that goes along with nicotine addiction, it is not nearly as strong as it is with other drugs. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/37 "2005-11-17T18:04:14Z")
I started smoking because it relieved stress for me in my job waiting on tables immediately after High School. I kep smoking because, as Frank Zappa said even as he was dying of cancer, that it tastes great. I quite five years ago and I still miss it very much. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/38 "2005-11-17T18:40:39Z")
> [@davenportavenger](#): > > But how do you divorce the addiction to the ritual from the addiction to the substance? Many people who try to fail using gums or patches fail, even though nicotine is still getting into their bodies and being tapered down very slowly, slow enough to satisfy a physical hunger. That, to me, suggests that people are addicted to smoking itself, and not nicotine per se. The real test would be to give someone nicotine pills or patches or something else that isn’t all cool and ritualistic and see how they go through withdrawal. I don’t know if that study’s ever been done, though. Yeah, there’s the “ritual” and the camaraderie, I wouldn’t deny that; and deprived of those two factors a lot of people would taper off and quit (which seems to be what happened in my case). And as Digital Stimulus said, there’s a certain indefinable “something” about it that gives it a strong psychological appeal to many people. Being a smoker becomes part of your self-image or your sense of identity or whatever you want to call it. No one’s denying the importance of the psychological factor here, but I would still have to insist that a major part of the smoking habit is also the physical addiction. I think it would be a huge mistake to focus on the psychological side at the expense of the physical side. > [@davenportavenger](#): > > Also, nobody has ever died from stopping cigs cold turkey, like they have with hard drugs or even some prescription drugs. So while there is some metabolic change that goes along with nicotine addiction, it is not nearly as strong as it is with other drugs. You know, I rather doubt that anyone ever died solely of heroin withdrawal. I strongly suspect that there were other medical problems besides the heroin addiction involved in such cases. Most of the problems with heroin derive from its illegal status, not from heroin use itself, and the health problems generally have more to do with malnutrition, sharing dirty needles and the like rather than actual heroin use. And if nicotine were injected with needles instead of smoked, we’d probably get deaths from nicotine overdoses. The link Renob gave is a good one. We have fewer heroin users than nicotine users because heroin is much less socially acceptable than tobacco. Now that there’s more and more social pressure against tobacco, we’re seeing fewer users. But for both heroin and tobacco, physical addiction is still a central issue for many users. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/39 "2005-11-17T19:55:46Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > I notice you’re in Korea. I understand the anti-smoking thing is mostly a Western thing, and anti-smoking campaigns haven’t made nearly as much progress in places other than North America and Europe. It seems to me that the two reasons why anti-smoking campaigns aren’t working here is that they’re just lame. First, the government announces a miniscule price increase in the cost of cigarettes and congratulates itslef for its campaign. Second, there is zero enforcement of no-smoking areas–an example is the bus driver, who’s supposed to enforce the no smoking rule on buses, is himself smoking while he’s driving the route. Come to think of it, bus drivers in Korea merit their own BBQ thread, and not just because of the smoking. ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467/40 "2005-11-17T20:35:32Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Of course, I’m refering to the reason why I began smoking at the first place. > > Besides I had a hard doing so. I really didn’t like it… I hope there’s a word missing after “hard” 🙂 (assuming you’re a male) I was another who smoked because he didn’t want to be the odd one out. Practically every actor seemed to smoke in the films then (mid 50s) and it was so common as to be the norm. I’d already watched my father die from it 2/3 years before but it didn’t deter me in the slightest. Fortunately for me lack of money helped wean me off it before I became more dependent on it. I haven’t seen it mentioned here, but isn’t there a theory that young girls smoke as a way of keeping weight down? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-one-smoke-in-the-first-place/331467.md?page=3)