Community Chat

[VanSleepy]

On 1/13/2014 NoelSeven said:

On 1/13/2014 VanSleepy said: Because they are addicted...it's relaxing...it's enjoyable...they want to stay thin...they think they can quit before any harm is done...

There it is! That used to be a real factor. I wonder if anyone thinks that now?

Maybe not a reason for starting, but I'm sure it's one of the excuses for not quitting.

[Qwackertoo]

Former smoker here. Started in high school. Quit before I had kids. My father smoked while I was growing up. He finally quit in 1997. Mother smoked one cigarette in her life as a kid and thought it was the worst thing ever. I quit in 1991. It was hard to quit. I still remember going to the counter asking for Benson & Hedges Menthol Deluxe Ultra Lights in the Box Please . . . which I usually had to repeat. I would only buy them a pack or two at a time, never a carton, thinking I'd smoke less. Not. Gained a good 15 or so pounds after quitting but then I needed it. For the longest time I included my "no smoking money" in the money budget and bought various collectibles with it. Finally several years ago my husband said OK I think that ship has sailed. haha

Now when I have to walk through a smoke-filled area . . . it about gags me to smell it.

As are gone by the wayside . . . Happy Hour after work. Do they still even have those?

[JustJules]

On 1/13/2014 NoelSeven said:

On 1/13/2014 Yuban3 said:

Simple. Nicotine is addictive.

Yes, it is, but that doesn't explain why thousands of new smokers start up every year in spite of knowing it will do them tremendous harm.

We're missing something here... as parents? I don't know, maybe most who start smoking have parents who smoke.

I don't think that is true, although in some instances it might be a contributing factor. My father grew up during the depression (born in 1925) to a hard working farm family. Many of my dads relatives smoked, his grandma, his mom, his dad... it was fashionable back then and they had no idea how bad it was for them. My dad said as a little boy (he was ornery) he and his friends would try to smoke anything they could set on fire, in fact they burned down a barn because they were smoking hay. It looked cool to them because all the adults did it. However, when my dad starting taking his parent's cigarettes he got in trouble. His father told him he had no problem with my dad smoking (which was bad parenting in my opinion, but it was the generation) but if my dad wanted to smoke he had to purchase his own cigarettes. My dad recalled imagining lighting $1 bills on fire and watching them fly away in smoke, and decided he didn't want to smoke that bad. Then he got into doing the Charles Atlas course for body building, graduated high school and joined the Navy. He was surrounded by lots of smokers in the military during the war, it's what kept some guys going, but he was never tempted to take up the habit. His father and step mother both died from complications of a lifetime of smoking... lung cancer and emphysema.

When I was in my teens and 20's I tried smoking.. made myself sick smoking clove cigarettes, still can't stand the aroma of those to this day. When my girlfriends would go out drinking and clubbing we would smoke, but I never liked it. Hated coming home with the stench in my hair and my clothes. I am very thankful that I didn't get addicted to it, because I know from watching relatives struggle, what a horrible thing it is to try and quit. I don't know what makes people start, especially these days when it has been proven that it's a killer, it's not socially acceptable or cool anymore, and it's ridiculously expensive. I can understand how hard it is for people that have been smoking for years to try and quit, but I don't understand why anyone would take it on as a new habit. If anything, I would think growing up around parents that smoke would be more of a deterrent than a reason to take up the habit. JMO

[Jannabelle]

On 1/13/2014 beammeupscottie said:

I am totally mystified. Besides the fact that everybody knows it can kill you (my nieces smoke after they watched my mother die a horrible cancer death from cigarettes);

it is also VERY expensive. I understand those who are already addicted and just cannot (or won't) quit but why do young people still take it up? It costs as much as a car payment!!

Scottie, I am so sorry about your mom,.....young people often think nothing bad will ever happen to them, no matter their life style, they feel strong and healthy and believe it will always be so, it is the same as any other unhealthy habit, they get something from it and will only give it up if and when they see it as a problem.

[Cranberries]

I've known a few people who use the weight loss/weight gain reason to smoke or not quit smoking. Then they complain they're out of shape yet can't get active because they're out of breath all the time. Well yeah ...

Both of my parents have smoked off and on for years. Even growing up they smoked, so maybe that is why I don't? Sometimes they 'quit' but always re-started at some point.

* I did try a drag once. Only because my cousin made me do it and I about barfed from coughing so hard. She still smokes today.

[chickenbutt]

Noel Hope you are having a lovely day today!

Somebody mentioned pets - One time, quite a few years ago, I was on ebay looking at stuff for the bird and I found this lady who was selling these really lovely little towels with the species of parrot and your bird's name embroidered on.

I thought that was a great idea and they looked so nice. I wanted one for him, so I got one made from her.

O-MG! When I got that I could not believe that this brand new towel was SOOOOOOOOO (even more than that!) saturated in smoke. It was truly sickening. It took me two weeks to wash and soak the smoke out of that thing.

Found out this woman has birds and smokes! That is just unbelievable. One has every right to destroy their own body but to do that to those poor birdies just - dam! I can't even think about it because it's upsetting me. I've seen birds that were taken out of homes of smokers. It's horrible what it does to them. Dogs, cats, other pets too. :'(

[QueenDanceALot]

On 1/13/2014 NoelSeven said:

On 1/13/2014 gazelle77 said:

I ask the same thing about why people eat so bad when they know that the saturated, trans fats sugar. simple carbs etc. are killing them.... why would you eat something just because it tastes good??, or just because it is Christmas or for whatever reason people eat wrong--- what ever the excuse. I would never consume food that is not good for me as I choose to be healthy as I can. People have to want to be healthy... and want to not smoke or eat wrong <em>more</em> than getting the few moments of pleasure(?) that these two things give you.

There's not a one to one relationship. Even a little smoking will hurt us, not true with Christmas cookies, nor are Christmas cookies addictive.

Sugar IS addictive.

[RedTop]

My parents smoked, and everyone on both sides of my extended family smoked, except for my maternal grandmother. Growing up, I dumped, and washed so many nasty ashtrays, I swore I would never smoke! And I never have. My Mom can remember hiding under the front porch at 5 years old and waiting for someone on the porch to throw a cigarette butt into the yard, which she would retrieve and try to get a puff or two off of. Mom was stealing cigarettes by the time she was 8 years old, and @ almost 80, she is still puffing away. Mom has looked many a doctor in the eye and told them she has absolutely no intentions to stop smoking, as she enjoys it, and she will smoke until the day she dies. She has not been diagnosed with any breathing disorders, such as emphysema or COPD. Mom grew up in an era where smoking was readily accepted, and almost encouraged; she was well into her 30's before there were any cigarette warnings. She tells the doctors she's going to die of something, and it might as well be something she enjoys.

I married a man who has smoked since he was 14. @ 20 years old, my husband was sent to Vietnam for a year as a medical corpsman, and to this day he tells that within hours after his unit landed and started establishing their camp, the first supply delivery to them was cigarettes, followed by alcohol, then food. Everyone in his unit smoked (and drank), and the supply of cigarettes (and liquor) was constant. My husband has tried numerous times to quit, with assistance, but he cannot. @ 47 he survived the widow maker MI, and now struggles with progressive diabetes and COPD, but even knowing that his life depends on it, he cannot break free from the addiction to cigarettes. I cannot tolerate being around someone who smokes, so my husband does not smoke inside our home, and he cannot smoke in my vehicle. He smokes inside his vehicle, but I do not ride in his vehicle. I am as determined today as I was @ 12 years old, that I will never smoke; I absolutely HATE cigarettes. After 40 years of living with a smoker, I realize he is exactly like my Mom; he will smoke until the day he dies. I do not like it, but I can honestly say he has tried to quit, and he cannot, so I have learned to accept how he chooses to live his life.

[Irshgrl31201]

The amount of people that I know who smoked has dropped drastically in the last 20 yrs. In the early 90's I knew many people that smoked. For what ever reason, the cost of smoking, health reasons most have quit. I smoked a cigarette when I was about 13 yrs old. I got so sick and threw up and after that I had no desire to feel like that again.

I live PT in Australia and I don't think I know anyone there who smokes though the cost for a pack there is about $15 American dollars. You do get 25 there in a pack as opposed to 20. I do notice that if someone happens to have a pack of cigarettes there even people who claim they don't smoke will bum a cigarette off the smoker. There seem to be a lot more social smokers there as opposed to people I know here.

When I was in high school I knew many people who smoked. I graduated in 1988. My daughter graduated in 2007 and she didn't have one single friend who smoked. I think that is progress.

[RetRN]

Congratulations to all who have quit.

For those who say they smoke to lose weight, I would think eating less and moving more would be a better choice.

Was surprised to learn that Jackie Kennedy was a smoker. She sure was discreet.