Why do we still have smokers?
 

I've never understood why people start in the first place. From the the people I've known when they started, they had to force themselves to do it in the first place, as an act of rebellion, and then is nearly impossible to quit. My sister went thru this phase in high school.

It seems the 'enjoyment' in smoking is the not-quitting, in much that same way that I enjoy breathing while someone isn't holding my head under water in a fish tank.

The adverse health effects have been known so long that nobody should be surprised when they get some nasty ailment. Every now and then I see a vintage advert with a doctor recommending a particular brand of cigarettes, which is humorous in a sort of retro-ignorance way, but that was how many decades ago?

The worst part of smokers is the smell. They stink, their breath stinks, and everything they own stinks. I don't think most of them comprehend this part. My MIL is a heavy smoker; I can smell her across the room, and her breath would knock a fly off a rendering truck at 40 paces. She gave us a ride to the airport in her car one time, and I had to hang my head out the window like a dog.

Is your disdain and bewilderment just for cigarette smokers, or does it extend to all tobacco products such as cigars and pipes?

NYC Smoking Ban Signed Into Law By Mayor Bloomberg
02/22/11 03:48 PM ET
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/22/nyc-smoking-ban_n_826755.html


Mayor Bloomberg bids to ban cigarettes and tobacco from being displayed in any stores
PUBLISHED: MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013, 12:18 PM
UPDATED: MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013, 11:14 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mayor-youth-smoking-tobacco-product-display-restriction-bill-article-1.1291818

Mostly cigarette smokers, as I rarely see people with cigars or pipes; I don't think I've seen someone smoking a (tobacco) pipe since I was a kid.

I don't like cigarette's either, the users seem to be lighting up all the time - it is an addiction after all.

Cigars have a social element to them when in the company of other cigar smokers at a club or specialized store.

Pipes can be a quick solo thing on your front porch, and I'm told the most economical way to smoke.

Cigarette smoking on the street can be invasive. It irritates non-smokers throats and lungs causing discomfort to say the least. Cold days are the worst.

Once a guy was flicking his ashes behind his back and into my eyes as I walked behind him, it almost came to a fist fight.

I won't get into the why...I bought a relatively new guitar amp from a guy...i don't think he had it that long. When the tubes warm up, it REEKS. I can only imagine what his lungs/house must be like.

I don't know anyone who has a cigar going most of the time, so cigars aren't so objectionable to me as cigarettes. It's not that they smell better, they just aren't as ubiquitous as cigarettes. My dad used to smoke some pipe tobacco that actually smelled good when he was outside with it. The stale smoke from it stank up the house though.

AMA years ago issued a 30+ page report on nicotine and its addictive qualities. It was found to be more addictive than the hard drugs people find so hard to kick, including cocaine and heroin. We also know that cig mfrs infuse their products with other chemicals to make it harder for smokers to put them down for good. Mix that in with the fact that smokers likely have "addictive" personality types and that may answer your question.

And some may just like shooting the bird to all those smoke Nazis out there....

I can't quite figure out how people start either. I tried a cigarette a few times and I hated it. I can't figure out how you force yourself long enough to get addicted or why you'd want to.

I used to manage a video game store in college an people brought in the most gross electronics with smoke nastiness infused inside. Gross.

IMHO pretty much a peer pressure/fashion/cool factor for the young folks (I hate the phrase because I dabbled with drugs in my college years and no one ever pressed me to try drugs, more just a personal curiosity on my part).

That and the "forbidden fruit"/rebel thing...

Then of course once they have you hooked you are in for life (or death as the case may be)...

But then why do people drink beer? How many people had there first sip of beer and went "YUM! Give me more!!!" (Disclaimer: I drank beer last night)

...always thought if Keef could quite heroin smokers can also quit...bring me a beer!

I've never seen anyone chain-smoke a pipe or cigars.

I also don't generally see pipe or cigar smokers trying to light up in inappropriate places, or at inappropriate times. In fact, what I see of that subset of smokers is that they usually treat smoking the pipe or cigar as a reward. They go to dedicated places, such as a cigar bar, and enjoy the hobby with like-minded people.

Once a smoker and so on..

Funny how incredibly strong the mental conditioning establishes itself. Deprived of the poison you pretty soon feel you will belong in an establishment that offers free electric chocks and pj´s buttoned in the back.

I'll have to agree with scottmandue on the reasons for starting, at least for the time when I was a mid to late teenager. Everyone did it, well almost everyone. I had a really good friend in HS who never picked up a cigarette and died of cancer at 49. But Thom is right. Everything a person who smokes touches, owns, lives in, drives, wears, etc. smells to high heaven. That and the fact I didn't want to be a slave to cigarettes is why I quit by the time I was in my late 20s.

I started because it was the only way I could take a break from my dishwashing job around age 19. The restaurant simply did not allow breaks unless you smoked. I knew that was illegal at the time. But they gave me beer, so I didn't want to make waves. I bought a pack and held a lit cigarette while sitting on the loading dock after a few hours of standing non-stop. Eventually, I started to inhale and liked it.

I haven't had a smoke in three weeks. Before that I was a half pack a day smoker for a year and a half. Before that hadn't touched one in over two years. It comes and goes with me, usually directly proportional to job stress. It's a lot easier to be a non-smoker in the US than in other countries. I really worry about my willpower to resist on my next trip abroad.

You really have to start when you're young. You can't tell kids they're doing something wrong, they know better. For the most part, nobody picks up smoking as an adult.

joe camel
http://www.wutsamada.com/alma/bizeth/boyjoe.jpg

We were in a theater a few weeks ago, and an older man came in and sat a few rows in front of us. He smelled of stale smoke so bad we had to move. Then at the end of the movie, I stopped to use the toilet, and who shows up, but the same stinker again. This guy really reeked! Then believe it or not we get stuck in traffic, and who is ahead of us but the same guy with a cigar and a cloud of smoke coming out the window. I don't know what he was smoking, but it sure did stink.
I feel sorry for his neighbors and relatives.

I smoked for 10 years. One day I got out of the shower and put the towel on my face and it stank like cigarettes. It was then that I knew I wanted to quit. I quit cold turkey, and to prove to myself I could, I went out that night drinking with friends in a smoky bar. Pounded beers all night and never looked back. I did start smoking again socially a few years later, but that lasted a few months before I realized it stank and I hated it.

I have very little sympathy for people who say they "can't" quit.

...free country?

Do you:

1. Eat any processed foods?
2. Drink alcohol?
3. Engage in competetive sports?
4. etc...

These are all unhealthy for you. Why do you do any of them? Maybe less so, but that's a matter of degrees and a grey area.

...because most people start when they are young an invincible. It's not untill you start putting on a few years that this stuff really matters. ...and by then the smoking habit has a stranglehold on your life. It literally invades every part of it. It becomes something you have to plan your day around, your trips around. You think about "How can I catch a smoke if I'm sitting in this meeting for 8 hours, etc.."

It's fuchin horrible and a PITA, which should then show you how hard it gets control of you because you'll put up with that stuff since it's easier than quitting. I new a Jazz musician that told me quitting smoking was harder than quitting H for him.

BTW I just passed 5 weeks... ...every day is hard.... ...and so far not getting much easier.