I grew up in household where two older brothers smoked, and various assorted aunts and uncles, but I never started smoking cigarettes (still meaning to try them just to see). I think I became addicted to second hand smoke, actually. In college during an emotionally tumultous time I found that hanging around with people who smoked soothed my nerves – maybe just reminded me of home, who knows – but still didn’t start smoking. Then I worked with people who smoked, and the smoke pad was the happening social place at work – still didn’t smoke. It wasn’t until Mrs. Rainy and I were on a couples vacation with one of the guys I worked with and his wife, that I began smoking cigars. We were all drunk off our asses in a bar with a humidor and I decided I really wanted to smoke a cigar. I liked it, and still have one as often as once a week or as seldom as once every few months. So does the missus, if she didn’t I probably wouldn’t.
My earlier post was from my memory of the American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking program. Feel free to register for the ALA’s online program and read the exact quote for yourself.
P.S. I was able quit smoking five years ago using this program.
Addiction exists. I’ll take the words of scientists, doctors, researchers, nurses - and yes, those who are or have been addicted - over you and your “opinion.”
I physically ached when I quit smoking (and I used a drug to help me). I stopped playing basketball some time ago, a quite pleasurable activity. I never woke up in a cold sweat because of it, shaking and desperate for a game of HORSE.
I can’t let this one go. You do realize that the statement “ridiculous assertion” was made in reference to your statement “It only takes three to four cigarettes for an individual to become addicted to nicotine”, right? Which sounds way too extreme – the tobacco version of Reefer Madness.
So, since you post from memory and don’t give a proper cite, I just tried to register for ALA’s online program, just to see this quote in all its glory. No dice. It seems they’re having issues with people logging in. If and when the issues are resolved, I’ll post a follow up with the quote. Meantime, I call bullshit.
As to the link you’ve posted above - that, I can believe. It would go far in providing a reason that I like to smoke as much as I do, in that I’m now “wired” that way. And explain why it is do difficult for me to convey this to others. I wonder how universal the results are. Nonetheless, it is a far cry from additction.
Pretty much what Sam Stone said…in fact kind of wierdly similar. I managed to avoid picking up the cigarette habit while I was in the Navy (no small feat IMO), and mostly avoided picking up smoking, er, alternative things from my barrio days (an even bigger feat). When I turned 30 I was out with some buddies and they were having some cigars so I looked into it, visited some cigar shops, read up on it and decided to give it a go…seemed enjoyable and the health risks seemed minimal if I kept the habit under control. I have. Even after years of smoking I still manage to hold myself to one or two cigars a month (less some months, more others especially around the holidays)…and my doctor has given me a clean bill of health every visit (like Clinton I don’t inhale ).
So, why did I start? Consious choice. I always enjoyed the smell of a fine cigar (especially in a good humidor). I tried it and found that it was quite pleasant…depending on the quality of the cigar more than pleasant in fact. So, like Sam, I added it to my short list of vices…single malt whiskey, Guiness, watching Lost and good pizza.
I grew up in a smoking household and most of my friends smoked. I just sort of started one very stressful day at work when I was 21. It was also to look cool, seem more adult, socialize, etc… What they say about “you have to learn to smoke” wasn’t true in my case as it’s the one thing I’ve ever taken to completely naturally- I picked one up, inhaled, liked it, never coughed, etc… That was 18 years ago. I quit for 3 1/2 years and have a new quit date of December 5.
It was a stupid thing to do, beginning, but you don’t have to be stupid to do stupid things. I’m always amazed by the number of extremely intelligent people, including many medical professionals (nurses smoke like freaking steel mills in every hospital I’ve ever been to), who know fully well what can happen and puff away.
If you have that much trouble coming to grips with the fact that you can get hooked after a few cigs, just like a few hits of crack or heroin, you probably aren’t ready to quit. I claim, from memory, 3 -4 cigs makes one’s body crave more nicotine to maintain homeostasis. The article claims “minimal exposure” starts the physiological ball rolling. It was easy enough to google.
Yes, there was a missing word, and it wasn’t “on”.
Thinking of it, a friend of mine began smoking in an original way. I wasn’t a smoker, his girlfriend was. He didn’t have a driving license, his girlfriend had hers.
So, each time they were going somewhere, while driving, she would ask him to reach for her cigarettes and to light one up for her. Eventually, he began to smoke too, first only in the car, and finally regularily.
Having both cigar and pipe smokers participating here, why does pipe tobacco smell so good, but taste so bland compared to a cigar. Is it the afore mentioned quality of the tobacco, or the method of smoking it which affects how much flavor you get?
There is nothing, nothing, more uncool than making a conscious effort to appear cool. Consequently many smokers look like foolish children attempting to look like adults. And the others look like addicts.
Yes, I’m not ready to quit, which is an awfully pretentious statement in and of itself. As I said, I’m not looking to quit, nor am I sure that I ever will (though I don’t dismiss the possibility). I should say that part of the tone of that last post was that I spent quite some time getting rejected by the ALA website. Having just switched ISPs, it took some time to figure out that the problem was indeed the ALA website. As a computer guy, things like that frustrate me greatly.
At any rate, can you see the difference between these following statements?
The second is not what you originally claimed. As far as I (and others) am concerned, your statement was patently false using any reasonable definition of “addicted”. If you wish to equate “addiction” and “maintain homeostatis”, that’s fine; I’ll simply dismiss your claim and file it away as an example of semantic gymnastics. As a student of philosophy, I’ve developed that ability, but I have the same reaction to word twisting in any context. Words have meaning and their use is important; that’s my issue.
But you’re right – this is unimportant quibbling, and a hijack to boot. I’ll let it go.
Bleah…one more post on this, because these things really do bother me.
And some people claim that teenagers who listen to Ozzy might commit suicide. Furthermore, some experts claim that astrology is science. And others claim that playing violent video games might lead to emotionally disturbed teenagers.
And I claim that some people that make overblown claims might strangle puppies and eat babies for fun (or was it eat puppies and strangle babies? I’ll have to check that).
Well, yeah, he dropped a lit cigarette in his lap.
But seriously, folks, I was only referencing JD as an example of the “live fast and die young” mindset.
Come on, everone knows Walt Disney is frozen in a cryonic chamber full of liquid nitrogen, and he now awaits the day when medical technology makes his re-animation possible. Sounds pretty cool to me!
Never smoked as a kid. Started smoking a pipe when I was around 29 years old as a result of many years spent reading Sherlock Holmes stories.
About 33 years old started smoking Black & Milds (the pipe tobacco cigars favored by royalty) got to where I’d be up to 5 per day and about 10 per day on weekends, then I’d quit for 6 months or so. Mostly because I stopped enjoying it. So I’d quit in July and promise myself not to smoke until New Year’s eve or something. Then I’d enjoy it again. Just to be clear, I inhale the smoke deep down into my lungs.
Got married to a nurse at 39 years old and quit for 4 years. No problem, didn’t miss it. Never even thought about it.
44 years old now, seperated from my wife so I decided to start smoking again. It’s been one year and I’m up to 10 a day. I jokingly tell my freinds that it’s a substitute for sex, which is not altogether untrue. Occainsionly still smoke a pipe, too.
It is difficult to admit that you’re an addict. I still crave the goddamn things.
If you need a chemical to maintain homeostasis that you otherwise didn’t need before the chemical was introduced, you’re an addict. Otherwise, kids who smoke would quit after hacking and coughing through the first three or four cigarettes. I’d like to hear your explaination of why people continue to inhale superheated carbon monoxide after their first few cigarettes, while every defence mechanism in your body is telling you that this smoking thing is really, really bad. Could it be that just maybe nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs known to man?
Oh please, it’s been said by many here that it is enjoyable and relaxing, doesn’t that mean that it’s not really “every defense mechanism” in my body? How do you explain my quitting for 4 years?
People do things for the sake of image despite finding them unpleasant. Piercings, bulimia, plastic surgery, etc. I don’t think most people find these things fun fun fun, but they still do them. Why? Because their desire for the goal (positive image) overrides the pain of achieving it.
Sure, if you do a bad job of it. But a well-crafted frisson of nonchalance, in my experience, that’s how you get chicks, boy. And smoking helps. Again, not worth it. But pretending smoking doesn’t make someone look cool (even if, let’s assume arguendo, you happen to be perspicacious enough not to be fooled) is a path towards disaster.
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