posted April 18, 2011 03:20 PM            

I suppose it's possible that early childhood experiences may be why I don't smoke. Granny said I stole a puff of her cigarette once and got sick. Dad often fell asleep drinking with a cigarette in hand which gave me nightmares of him dropping his cigarette and starting fires that chased me so I probably associated smoking with danger (and today I shrug off "second hand smoke dangers" for the most part but fear the fires smoking can cause). I was independent-minded so I wasn't inclined to do as my family did.

But thing was I experimented with drugs in my youth, including tobacco. But while most drugs I experimented with made me feel good, tobacco just made me feel sick. And I understand it's a common reaction. So my question is why would people continue to smoke if it made them feel bad? Why would they burden themselves with an expensive addiction when it doesn't even feel good?

I asked one person years ago and she said she hoped it made her appear more adult and thus to be taken seriously (and her family smoked). And I've seen plenty of advertisement to create an image (like a Virginia Slim showing sophisticated women smoking, or Marlboro Man making it seem tough, rugged guys smoke), which presumably has an affect.

So if you chose to smoke, why? Was it to feel more adult? To be like family? Because it was part of an image? Did it seem empowering (if so, why)? Even if it was "just peer pressure," why do you think your peers smoked? And did any smoking ad ever particularly appeal to (or repulse) you?

posted April 18, 2011 04:50 PM            

i think i originally started smoking to be "naughty"..def not peer pressure, as i tend to rebel against any social expectations!

i still smoke because i find it grounding and as addictions go it is actually very cheap. a single beer costs almost as much as a pack of cigs, and other drugs? off the charts...

just for the record i have tried almost every "addictive" substance known to modern man...and cigarettes are the only ones that didn't get too expensive, dangerous or boring to continue. i have stopped a couple of times and had several spells where i only had one or two a day.

since a high percentage of those who live to well over 100 are smokers i refuse to be cowed by popular opinion and so-called proofs that it is deadly. the human being is such an un-controll-able species i don't rate much of the "evidence" as being conclusive, and tobacco has been part of our collective lives throughout history. the natives considered it sacred..

posted April 18, 2011 05:06 PM            

but yea i generally agree too. now i stopped smoking regularly… because i don't want to spend money on it anymore. i never got addicted to nicotine. i never got addicted to anything really.

as an infant i had asthma, so my mother was paranoid about me getting anywhere near smokers. but my step-grandfather who was tutoring me was a chain-smoker, and i hated it… but i think it was just all in the head though, because of my mother's reaction. i didn't care much for it, i tried a few times a year off someone, etc. i started really smoking in my mid-twenties. no reason. i have no idea why i started.

but for one, i like rolling. i don't smoke cigarettes, they feel dry. nowadays i just roll off my partner's once in a while, but really can go without for weeks without any craving.

posted April 18, 2011 06:56 PM            

I enjoy it,
it calms me and makes my mind clearer.
Main reason I am going to quit is because I have other things I could use the money on and also a few folks I am close to do not like it.
Might continue to smoke a no tobacco blend of like spearmint, catnip, and raspberry leaf, but not sure yet.

PS.
Anyone here old enough to remember
Lemon Twist cigarettes?
They had a cute little lemon on them.

posted April 18, 2011 07:12 PM            

I have quit on and off over the years but do smoke today. It is a bad habit and costly yet it sooths and relaxs me.
Yes it stinks and offends many and a real down side. I try keep it to myself ie not smoking around others and carry febrez and mints.

lexx, yes I remember Lemon Twists. They were menthol and not very tasty

posted April 18, 2011 07:48 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by juniperb:
Like lexx, my entire family smoked and it was accepted then.

I have quit on and off over the years but do smoke today. It is a bad habit and costly yet it sooths and relaxs me.
Yes it stinks and offends many and a real down side. I try keep it to myself ie not smoking around others and carry febrez and mints.

lexx, yes I remember Lemon Twists. They were menthol and not very tasty

---

Yeah Lemon Twists were kinda bland weird, I preferred Silvathins and Benson & Hedges,
and Winstons.

posted April 20, 2011 06:37 PM            

Jk

posted April 20, 2011 07:48 PM            

and I also believe that we can become tolerant to the poison, and it may never kill us, because tobacco is a medicine, and it will only kill you if you want it too, but the poison can actually do harm which I have seen.

But when I talk about health, I mean me personally. I feel better without those commercial ones.

sorry I keep editing in thoughts, once I spent a lot of time on this, every smoker will justify their habit and at the same time I wanted health, so I looked for answers and found out I was normal and found out about the history of tobacco, what it USED to be, what is it now, ceremony, psychology, including bogan psychology lol as much as I could learn and understand because there is no simple answer here.

posted April 21, 2011 01:39 AM            

*WHUMP!*

(That was me falling out of my chair.)

One more surprise out of you, young lady, you're liable to give this old man a coronary!

I don't know why I started smoking. Most likely two influences and one event:
- I started shortly before the whole public "stop smoking" campaign. It was still socially acceptable; you could smoke in restaurants, bars, everywhere.
- Both of my parents were smokers, so, subconsciously, it must be all right.
- When I was 16, one day when my best friend Kevin and I were skipping school and in the field across from it, he pulled out a pack of Marlboros and offered me one.

I used to enjoy it (or think I did), but ever since Linda clued me in to possibility of life without death, it's more and more become just about avoiding the pain of withdrawal.

I think quitting is in the near future, though, because the withdrawals seem less and less severe as time goes by, and they seem to taste worse and worse. Wish me luck.

posted April 21, 2011 01:59 AM            

But yes, I used to smoke on and off and never say never for the future! But like I said, pure organic tobacco it will be.