Smoking & Why?

[MoparManJim]

I have a rather good question here. I have been thinking on it for the past few days now. Why do people smoke for? why burn the money up into thin air? Because if you set back and really think about it, that is all they are really doing is just burning there money up into thin air with smokes   and then they have nothing to really show for it. I smoked one time when I was younger just to see why folks smoke for and after that I gave it up as I couldn't see no point in it at all. I would rather spend my money on my charger to get it in shape then up in the air in a pack of smokes that gets you no where but maybe for some bad lungs  . I have been trying to figure out why people loves to smoke for and been just for the heck of it studying the issue for the past few years now. But it really makes me wonder though.  

The way I see it, while your standing there next to the charger having a smoke, that time you sped on that smoke you could have spent on the car it self and it would be that much more done  . When a person tells me that they don't have time for something then turns around and light one up, and stands there with it, um... they didn't have time but yet they have time for a smoke  . The more I see the prices of a single pack and then the prices of a carton, it really makes me wonder even more  .  

As for me, I don't smoke BUT did that one time to understand why folks does it for though and then after that I gave it back up. I would rather spend my doe ray me on importing things then into the air   and then complain that I don't have doe ray me for when I really needed something and didn't have the doe ray me for it.  

I'm sorry if this thread offends anyone. 

[Silver R/T]

People like wasting time and money. Consider health problems down the road. I know a guy who has problems breathing but he's regular smoker....not very smart

[Mopar440+6]

Well as a smoker, here's my two cents. I started smoking about 6 years ago. I was at a rather rough/stressful point in my life and a lot of my friends smoked. It started out as a stress reliever/social thing. At the time I'd smoke one maybe two cigarettes a day. Didn't feel like I ever needed a smoke. But after a few months I got hooked. It is an addiction. It is a scientifically proven fact that nicotine is more addictive than heroin. Now, I smoke roughly a pack/day. When I wake up in the morning I have to have a cigarette before I can get anything done. And you know what? I hate it. I hate the time and money I waste on it (roughly $20K in 6 years), I hate smelling like an ashtray all the time, I hate the fact that my truck's interior is pretty well destroyed from it and I hate not being in shape like I used to be. But I have yet to be able to quit and I have earnestly tried.

Quitting smoking takes more willpower than anything I have ever had to do. Not only do you have to break the addiction you have to break the habit. When you start trying to quit your brain is freaking out because you don't have the nicotine in your system. The cravings for a smoke are extremely strong. But that actually goes away within a week or two. It's breaking the habit that is the most difficult part of quitting. I smoke a lot when I'm driving. When I have tried to quit in the past, driving down the road I literally don't know what to do with the hand that's not on the steering wheel because I used to always be holding a cigarette. Breaking the habit of smoking isn't just not doing it. It involves a complete lifestyle change. Most people who smoke aren't willing to put in that kind of effort.

Quitting is something you have to WANT to do, not for anyone else or any reason, but for yourself. But as bad as I hate smoking, I'm not to the point in my life where I want to quit. That time is hopefully coming soon but it probably won't be anytime this week...

[Ghoste]

As an ex-smoker the only thing I can tell you is that while I fully understand your question about it, it is something that you just cannot understand until you've been hooked on it.  It just isn't something you can explain to someone who has never smoked.  Yes, we all know the stupidity of it, even going in.  I don't even remember why I started but I remember how hard it was to quit.  Actually quitting was easy, staying quit was hard.  It's been over 25 years since I had a cigarette last but it has only been about the last 10 or so that when someone lit up my brand I didn't instantly get either a craving for one or a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Other brands didn't bother me so much but I could sure pick mine out of a crowd.

[RD]

...It is an addiction. It is a scientifically proven fact that nicotine is more addictive than heroin. Now, I smoke roughly a pack/day. When I wake up in the morning I have to have a cigarette before I can get anything done.

Totally true

And you know what? I hate it. I hate the time and money I waste on it (roughly $20K in 6 years), I hate smelling like an ashtray all the time, I hate the fact that my truck's interior is pretty well destroyed from it and I hate not being in shape like I used to be. But I have yet to be able to quit and I have earnestly tried.

Wanting to change is the first step.. the need to quit smoking and the development of a plan and the desire to keep to it is the next step.

Quitting smoking takes more willpower than anything I have ever had to do. Not only do you have to break the addiction you have to break the habit. When you start trying to quit your brain is freaking out because you don't have the nicotine in your system. The cravings for a smoke are extremely strong. But that actually goes away within a week or two. It's breaking the habit that is the most difficult part of quitting. I smoke a lot when I'm driving. When I have tried to quit in the past, driving down the road I literally don't know what to do with the hand that's not on the steering wheel because I used to always be holding a cigarette. Breaking the habit of smoking isn't just not doing it. It involves a complete lifestyle change. Most people who smoke aren't willing to put in that kind of effort.

True again, but you can replace the fidgeting and need for the hand to do something with twiddling a pen, tapping your fingers to music, singing.. all things get your mind off of what you think you should be doing.

Quitting is something you have to WANT to do, not for anyone else or any reason, but for yourself. But as bad as I hate smoking, I'm not to the point in my life where I want to quit. That time is hopefully coming soon but it probably won't be anytime this week...

it can be tomorrow, you just have to make the choice and believe in yourself to get it done.  I have worked with addicts in my counseling days, and I am also a former 10 year, 2 pack a day smoker.  I quit in 2002 when my daughter was born.  I DID NOT WANT TO QUIT.  But, for my daughter I will do anything.  I still get cravings, but I never act on it.  The cravings never go away, it is just your "will" that does.  You are more important and stronger than any cigarettes.  

MY METHOD OF QUITTING AND IT HAS LASTED 8 YEARS:

STEP DOWN METHOD

• I smoked marlboro reds and menthols (full flavor <--- whatever that means.. it more like full pollutants, full poison, or full cancer if you ask me).  


• I stepped down to Marlboro lights and cut the filter in half for 2 weeks.  


• I then went to full filter length marlboro lights for 2 weeks.
• I then went to half filter marlboro ultra lights for 2 weeks.
• I then went to full filter marlboro ultra lights for 2 weeks and on the last pack before the 2nd week, I just quit.

It takes will power, it takes the gumption.. but the benefits monetarily and with your health are far more important than the outcomes if you keep smoking.

There is a difference in thinking and wanting to quit smoking because you know it has good reasons.. and actually needing to quit smoking for the right reasons.  We all want things in our lives, but we know we can never get them.  Do not think of quitting as wanting, but rather as a "need".  You do this, things have a better chance at success.

Remember this, people are making millions off your impending death.  Why pay people to kill you?

[MoparManJim]

Thank you both for being upfront on the issue. You see I'm trying to understand why folks do it for as that is why I kinda ask the question for or mention it. But have for the ones that are hook on it, have you ever tryed to say replace it with something good? say like instead of liting one up go get a can of soda? Back when I smoke over 10 years ago. I smoke for at least 3 months.  My late dad was a smoker also and smoke daily and went through maybe 6 a day maybe afew more. He had the smoke smell on him and in his skin. much as I love my dad I couldn't get close to him because of that issue, mom would always get sick also when she hug or kissed him. She was a smoker back in her younger days but afew she had me she just up and gave up one day out of the blues. All the years I seen people smoke and later down the road past away because of it, it really made me wonder why people did such a stupid thing to themselfs for. So over 10 years ago, I decided I would give it a try to see why people wanted them all the time. After 3 months, I couldn't yet understand there reason for it at all and why they do it for all the time. I just threw the pack in the trash can and went on, the cravings did hit me but I didn't even flich at them at all and just rather stuck them aside and out of my mind all togother. My friends asked me how in the world did I do that and I told them I just did and they ask me how did I handle the cravings and I told them what I did. Afew months later my one friends did give up smoking as well and he was doing it for like a year or more and now days he is plain happy that he did give it up.   

[MoparManJim]

I totally agree with RD and what he said  . Very well spoken RD. 

[LeadfootBob]

A related question... Why do people drink alcohol? Almost every single bad aspect of smoking applies to booze too...

[RD]

A related question... Why do people drink alcohol? Almost every single bad aspect of smoking applies to booze too...

I think your question would better be asked "Why do people drink alcohol everyday?"

then it would be an apples to apples.  Just my two pennies... but, you are right.. if they drank every day, then all would still apply.

[Khyron]

I smoke to piss non smokers off....


at least im honest about it

[Ghoste]

And I drink because I'm married.

[Khyron]

And I drink LOTS because I'm married.

fixed

[MoparManJim]

I smoke to piss non smokers off....


at least im honest about it

You might be doing that to think that you are pissing off the non smokers.... but think of it this way, all your doing is just hurting youself   

[Ghoste]

And I drink LOTS because I'm married.

fixed

 

[Belgium R/T -68]

A related question... Why do people drink alcohol? Almost every single bad aspect of smoking applies to booze too...

I think your question would better be asked "Why do people drink alcohol everyday?"

then it would be an apples to apples.  Just my two pennies... but, you are right.. if they drank every day, then all would still apply.

I'm now sober exactly 3 years after 10 years of daily drinking so I can surely agree that it applies to booze aswell. Without having replaced the alcohol with
my Mopars I would still be drinking and propably would have lost both family and work.

Per

[tricky lugnuts]

Good Questions!

As a former smoker of 10-plus years, I quit cold turkey in September 2008.

I had one more cigarette in my pack that day, smoked it at lunch, threw out the butt in the sidewalk trash can (as a side note, I hate most of all smokers who toss out their butts whenever, wherever and think those people should have their cigarettes extinguished on their faces or flipped back into the interiors of their cars when they're not looking), and quit smoking. once and for all. Haven't had one since.

Yes, it was tough to do, especially for the first couple days and weeks. Any habit of that magnitude - one pack a day or more - is going to be hard to break. I chewed on tooth picks, pens, whatever I could find; I fell victim to various outbursts and tantrums. For a while, I was not a very pleasant person to be around.

I quit smoking because I was tired of paying $5 for a pack of cigarettes that might, just might, last me one day and leave my lungs feeling sore the next morning. It is burning money. It is also burning lung tissue. I can now breathe, smell, and taste better than at any other time since I was 17.

I hate all the smoking bans and all the stupid taxes.

People should be able to smoke if they want, when and where they want, within reason. Just don't come looking to me to pay for your lung transplant, you tracheotomy, your oxygen breathing system, or your BS nicotine gum. Something has to kill everybody, so if some people insist on dying by sucking on the RJ Reynolds Corporate Tailpipe, so be it.

The bigger question here is not why people smoke or drink, but why they do irrational things at all. There are millions of things that could pop to mind.

[Tilar]

I started smoking back in 73 or 4 before I graduated and smoked anywhere from 2 to 3 packs a day for 30 years. I think in my peak it got close to 4 packs. I would buy a carton of cigarettes every 3 to 4 days.

The longest I went without a cigarette was probably 6 months between 1990 and 91 during a run-in with cancer and that was because most of that time I was in the hospital. I was allowed to smoke in there I just didn't feel like it.  I tried to "quit" a few times prior but I finally put my last one down on Memorial Day of 2005. They just got to be too expensive and they were starting to take a toll on my stamina.  I did go to a hypnosis seminar once a few years before I actually quit and wanted a cigarette as soon as I got out of the place. Cancelled the check on that one.

I started taking a prescription pill to stop smoking. I can't remember the name of it but it helped me get it done.

On one hand I wish they had put a $5 a pack tax on them... But I have to say that I enjoyed every one of them that I lit up and even though I quit, It still pisses me off that all the whiney-asses are making it where people can't even go to a private club and light up a smoke.  I don't feel that is anything the government has a right to stick their nose in.

[Todd Wilson]

I need a cigar and a cold PBR!


Todd

[Back N Black]

I have a rather good question here. I have been thinking on it for the past few days now. Why do people smoke for? why burn the money up into thin air? Because if you set back and really think about it, that is all they are really doing is just burning there money up into thin air with smokes   and then they have nothing to really show for it. I smoked one time when I was younger just to see why folks smoke for and after that I gave it up as I couldn't see no point in it at all. I would rather spend my money on my charger to get it in shape then up in the air in a pack of smokes that gets you no where but maybe for some bad lungs  . I have been trying to figure out why people loves to smoke for and been just for the heck of it studying the issue for the past few years now. But it really makes me wonder though.  

The way I see it, while your standing there next to the charger having a smoke, that time you sped on that smoke you could have spent on the car it self and it would be that much more done  . When a person tells me that they don't have time for something then turns around and light one up, and stands there with it, um... they didn't have time but yet they have time for a smoke  . The more I see the prices of a single pack and then the prices of a carton, it really makes me wonder even more  .  

As for me, I don't smoke BUT did that one time to understand why folks does it for though and then after that I gave it back up. I would rather spend my doe ray me on importing things then into the air   and then complain that I don't have doe ray me for when I really needed something and didn't have the doe ray me for it.  

I'm sorry if this thread offends anyone.  

The number 1 killer is heart attack, from eating greasy cheese burgers. So why do people waste their money on fast food?

[MoparManJim]

I have a rather good question here. I have been thinking on it for the past few days now. Why do people smoke for? why burn the money up into thin air? Because if you set back and really think about it, that is all they are really doing is just burning there money up into thin air with smokes   and then they have nothing to really show for it. I smoked one time when I was younger just to see why folks smoke for and after that I gave it up as I couldn't see no point in it at all. I would rather spend my money on my charger to get it in shape then up in the air in a pack of smokes that gets you no where but maybe for some bad lungs  . I have been trying to figure out why people loves to smoke for and been just for the heck of it studying the issue for the past few years now. But it really makes me wonder though.  

The way I see it, while your standing there next to the charger having a smoke, that time you sped on that smoke you could have spent on the car it self and it would be that much more done  . When a person tells me that they don't have time for something then turns around and light one up, and stands there with it, um... they didn't have time but yet they have time for a smoke  . The more I see the prices of a single pack and then the prices of a carton, it really makes me wonder even more  .  

As for me, I don't smoke BUT did that one time to understand why folks does it for though and then after that I gave it back up. I would rather spend my doe ray me on importing things then into the air   and then complain that I don't have doe ray me for when I really needed something and didn't have the doe ray me for it.  

I'm sorry if this thread offends anyone.  

The number 1 killer is heart attack, from eating greasy cheese burgers. So why do people waste their money on fast food?

Well your right about that bud, my aunt was taken last year due to a heart attack  , now about fast food, think of it this way, smokes can kill you, they don't keep you living. Cheese burgers on the other hand will keep you living longer as it "is" food   that you body can use. What is a pack of smokes to the body? nothing.  

[BIRD67]

I think the big question is why do we do what we do.. I'll never touch booze after hearing about how it made my father owe $12k to the state of California and technically took his life for 8 minutes..He has been sober for gosh, almost 20 years now..I've watched my aunt go from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye with drinking, needless to say, we dont see much of her anymore.. As for smoking, a great case in how bad it is for you can be the presentations they show at our school, there is so much chemical shit in there, the same stuff they use in rat poison.. It is an addictin, and if you are not careful it can rob you of everything.. Thats just this teenager's  I'll choose a long healthy life over a life filled with toxins any day of the week!

[Khyron]

I smoke to piss non smokers off....


at least im honest about it

You might be doing that to think that you are pissing off the non smokers.... but think of it this way, all your doing is just hurting youself   

aaaannnnnnndddddddd??? hehehe you know how many brain cels I loose tuning that old 440 in my garage? lol

[TylerCharger69]

I'm a smoker....about a pack and a half a day....Anyway...the suggestions to switching to lighter cigarettes doesn't solve the problem because you tend to smoke more of them to make up the difference....plus....there is no such thing as a safe cigarette.  There are many ways to quit, but first you have to have the willpower to do so, and the want to.  It's hard to kick that habit.  Ive been smoking since i was in 9th grade in high school.  (I'm 44 now)  I'm one of the rare cases that I'm still in good health and i don't ever suffer loss of breath.  I'm a drummer and a lead vocalist in a metal band, so I get good cardiovascular workouts in that capacity.  Yes...I would like to quit....When I started, cigarettes were only about 75 cents a pack....for Marlboro or other premium name brand cigarettes.  Nowadays....around 5 bucks a pack.  So yes...the money issue really hits below the belt.  And yes...it is basically "pissing away" money.  But it is an addiction that is very hard to kick.  I'm sure I'll quit soon, but not really thinking about it too much yet.  There are products to aid in quitting....some can quit cold turkey.  Just have to decide what's the right direction to choose in order to kick the habit.  If you've never smoked...I can see where it would be hard to fathom the reasoning as to why we do it.  I'd like to add...a lot of states and cities have ordinances about smoking in public places....well....I agree with that because a non-smoker has the right to clean air.  And the booze issue.....drinking and smoking go hand-in-hand.   You'll find yourself smoking more while drinking than you would on a normal state.  If I'm in a non-smokers house, car....whatever....I go outside and smoke.  If you notice....there are a lot less smokers these days then there were say 10 or 20 years ago.

[Mike DC]

  
   
In some of the 1700s-1800s penal colonies run by europeans, smoking was against the rules for the prisoners.  The officials sometimes punished men for repeat offense smoking by flogging them with multiple-rope whips that had iron points on the ends of the ropes.  Plenty of men were regularly ripped to shreds (and some even died from the whippings) rather than give up smoking tobacco.  



Tobacco is one of the most addictive things known to man.  It won't wreck your body immediately like some stronger drugs, but that's not a measure of how addictive something is.  Tobacco is as addictive as any of the big-name stuff that gets rockstars killed.  
   
 

[nh_mopar_fan]

I was a runner and I smoked. How f*cking stupid is that?

I hated it. But it quickly got associated with other things, like drinking or morning coffee or taking a break at work...and I was hooked. I wasn't as heavy as others, I maxed out at a pack a day. I hated it. Quit multiple times, something multiple times in one day.

One morning, after a particularly hard night out with the boys, I woke up feeling like shit and vowed to never smoke again and that time it stuck.

I chewed ALOT of gum for months. It really helped.

One of the weird things for me was that the people I hung around with on breaks at work stopped asking me to go outside after I stopped. It was almost like I wasn't there any more. Very weird.

I can't stand being in the same room with smokers now.

[TylerCharger69]

 
   
In some of the 1700s-1800s penal colonies run by europeans, smoking was against the rules for the prisoners.  The officials sometimes punished men for repeat offense smoking by flogging them with multiple-rope whips that had iron points on the ends of the ropes.  Plenty of men were regularly ripped to shreds (and some even died from the whippings) rather than give up smoking tobacco.  



Tobacco is one of the most addictive things known to man.  It won't wreck your body immediately like some stronger drugs, but that's not a measure of how addictive something is.  Tobacco is as addictive as any of the big-name stuff that gets rockstars killed.  
   
 

I guess getting a good flogging with a cat-o-nine-tails  would cure a smoking addiction....lol

[Todd Wilson]

People are killed every day in car accidents..................so why are we all driving cars for fun?



Todd

[68charger383]

I smoked for 25 years and quit in 10/08. I quit after my father died from cancer at the age of 75, Probably due to smoking? He also quit when he was 44 years of age.

I used the chantix pills to quit smoking. It worked as far as stopping the physical withdrawal and enabled me to stop smoking, but the habit urge still remains. In fact, eventhough when I smell cigarettes it gets me sick and has no appeal, I would love to go outside and have one since the habit remains strong.

If I can quit, so can you. Go get a prescription for this stuff and give it an honest try. The only draw back was I gained about 35 pounds in 6 months, but I've lost 15 and working on the last 20 right now. They say your taste buds can finally taste the food and stuff sure taste good right now.

Thinking back, taking up smoking was the worst life choice I made so far.

[Tilar]

now about fast food, think of it this way, smokes can kill you, they don't keep you living. Cheese burgers on the other hand will keep you living longer as it "is" food

I don't know that i'd call that a valid arguement. My grandmothers second husband lived to 90 and smoked non-filter lucky strikes as long as I knew him. His doctor said that the main reason he was still in good health with smoking so long was that he ate onions and radishes like they were candy. 

There are kids in their 20's having heart attacks directly related to fast food. The generations coming up are just plain fat mostly from this fast food. I had a cousin die at 33 from a heart attack and he was definitely a fast food junky.

My grandmother died this last december, 3 days before her 103rd birthday. She went down on her 100th birthday and got her drivers license renewed. She said that the key to living long was what you eat, and believe it or not her main complaint in food was store bought bread. She just would not eat it. She baked her own bread up until about a year ago. She said the preservatives in store bought bread was not good for you.  

[Mike DC]

There are kids in their 20's having heart attacks directly related to fast food. The generations coming up are just plain fat mostly from this fast food. I had a cousin die at 33 from a heart attack and he was definitely a fast food junky.

 
Believe it or not, the fast-food culture's heart problems aren't unique to modern times.  


I've read that in the later middle ages, the life expectancy for middle/upper class men was down to like 40 years old because they constantly ate so much meat and died of heart attacks.  The volume of meat they ate was probably way beyond what we're doing now.  (Although we've still got them whupped on sugar & fried stuff by a wide margin.)    

          

[b5blue]

I tried using patches, the darn things are too hard to keep lit! 

[RECHRGD]

When I was growing up everybody smoked.  I started as a young teenager and my parents gave me a zippo lighter with my initials in it for my 18th birthday.  Everywhere you went, restaurants, theaters, even doctors offices had smoke hanging in the air and ashtrays were on every table.  In the early 1960's a pack was only $0.25 so money spent was not a consideration.  I developed about a 1 1/2 pack a day habit.  I treated cigarettes as an award.  If something good happened, I smoked.  If something bad happened, I smoked.  If I had a beer, I smoked.  If I was happy, I smoked.  If I was sad, I smoked.  You get the idea.  When I was in my mid twenties my chest would start feeling tight from time to time.  That bothered me because by that time people had figured out the life shortening effects of smoking.  One night we had friends over and were enjoying some adult beverages.  I remember looking down at the ashtray on the table.  I had a cigarette going in my hand and also one in the FULL ashtray at the same time.  I just got discusted with the filthy habit at that moment and put them down for good.  Cold turkey, no gradual tapering off.  Sure I had cravings for years and my hand would go to my shirt pocket automatically from time to time, but it was the best thing that I ever did.  My Mom continued smoking until the day she died of lung cancer at 79.  All of her older siblings (that didn't smoke) have lived well into their 90's.  I do find it troubling today with all the known risks and high monetary costs that anyone would decide start smoking.  But, plenty still do and they're usually the ones that can least afford it.  Bob

[jb666]

My wife's a smoker... I despise it... It's the ONLY thing about her that I really can say that I hate... It's a nasty habit that makes you, your clothes and your breath stink. And if you're unfortunate enough to have a smoker in the house, all of your nice white painted walls and ceilings will soon be Yellow... like their teeth and lungs. Oh, sorry, those are Black. 

[Mike DC]

  

If we were serious about fighting the problem then we would get the FDA to stop letting the tobacco producers hot-rod the addictiveness of the product.

I don't know any smokers over the age of 16 or 17 that wouldn't like to quit.  They all just did it to be cool in junior high and that choice costs them dearly for the rest of their lives.   Give these people half a chance against the Big Tobacco chemists trying to kill them and significant portion of the problem would take care of itself.  No need for govt to ban the products, close down a private industry that employs all those people, create a black market, etc.    We say we are serious about fighting this but we haven't even stopped the industry from playing totally dirty pool yet.  




 

[jb666]

 

If we were serious about fighting the problem then we would get the FDA to stop letting the tobacco producers hot-rod the addictiveness of the product.

I don't know any smokers over the age of 16 or 17 that wouldn't like to quit.  They all just did it to be cool in junior high and that choice costs them dearly for the rest of their lives.   Give these people half a chance against the Big Tobacco chemists trying to kill them and significant portion of the problem would take care of itself.  No need for govt to ban the products, close down a private industry that employs all those people, create a black market, etc.    We say we are serious about fighting this but we haven't even stopped the industry from playing totally dirty pool yet.  




 

They are a multi-billion dollar industry. "We" , collectively, don't stand a fighting chance... Sure, maybe if 2/3 of the country got together, but it would take some major financial backup to go against these giants...

And I agree, "hot rodding the addictiveness" is exactly what they are doing... My wife started smoking when she was 12. She had too much time on her hands and it was "cool" to smoke... 

[69DodgeCharger]

I started smoking in 80-81 Marlboro Reds for 10 years then Newports and Marlboro Light menthols the last couple years. I quit cold turkey. I was just sick of it. First 3-4 days were kinda of rough but it was the routine that was so hard to break, not the physical addictions. I had to have something to do with my hands. The one was missing the cigarette, the other was missing it's lighter.  I went to a Dunhams sporting good store one day about a week into it and bought one of those hand squeezer things with the coiled center and two grips. I carried that thing everywhere with me for two months probably. Every time I would get the "urge" I would start squeezing the grips til I forgot about it. The one day about 2 months in the squeezer just snapped in half and after that i figured I didn't need it anymore. It's been almost 17 years since I've had a smoke. It can be done and it's not as hard as people say it is.

[squeakfinder]

  Remember the add on TV? "I'd walk a mile for a Camel."

  With all the no smoking signs around nowday's I think they were on to something. 
 

[MoparManJim]

Well let me say one thing here first, Smoking isn't cool at all. You are littery putting other peoples health at risk when you do it. I can understand the smoking ban in places also. The non-smokers also has a right to be there in that place just as much as you do even if they don't smoke. 

Now about the fast food thing, you certainly over looked my point. Let me point this out so that you can see where I was aiming at. Smoking does your body no good, there is no protines in smoking for you body to use. Now even though fast food is also kinda no good because of grease, yet it does have protines in the food that your body can use though  . Where is the protines in the smokes at? no where and yet the money is gone into the air. With the fast food you get food to put in your body and not into the air. Yes fast food can kill you also if you don't use it right and use it as an everyday meal. 

About the onions, I heard that they are in fact good for your body. 

My aunt lived with her body for for a very long time, she was a non smoker and he was a smoker. He would smoke in the house. She went to the doctors for her feet all the time (she had issues with her feet all the time with pains) and the doctor one day ask her why was she having issues at breathing for and she told him that she had a boyfriend that wass a smoker and smoke in the house all the time. The doctor told her that wasn't gfood for her health. Her boy friend didn't belive her (he didn't belive anybody) and kapt right on doing it. Her son was also a smoker and didn't care either  . She took them both one day in with her at the doctor office. He told them back in the room about the smoking issue, even then they didn't care about her and her breathing issue she was coming down with because of the smoke. She would coufh at times because of it. Then one evening I was up at her place, and it was a nice summer evening, her boyfriend lit one up setting just like 4 feet away. The smoke started to travel to her and she started to coufh. The room was starting to get like a very sligh light fog in there, I walk over got one of the fans that was next to the front door and just turn the sob around  . I aimed it where the smoke was and aim the fan to channeled it back to the boyfriend area  . I turn the fan on and left it do it's job  . The boyfriend started to cough real good then and had to get up and go into the next room  . My aunt just set there starting to laugh. Her boyfriend kinda didn't like me anyways because of what my late dad had went and told (lied) to him one time about me. I was the only honest one in the bunch besides my aunt and they (her son and her boyfriend) didn't like that. She had health issues because of a bad foot she had and but sadly early last year (09) I lost her due to a heart attack at the age of 72. But smoking didn't take her though and I won't blame smoking for soming it didn't do kinda. 

But when I go to town and in the summers I am just shaking my head when I see people coming out of the stores/malls and liting one up to think they look cool when they don't. If you want to look cool they are other ways to do so and not only with smoking either. Just because afew folks does it, doesn't mean you have to do it to fit in with them, be smart and do your own thing as that is what will make you cool in away and stand out  . I have alot of friends that smokes but as for me, I gave it up long time ago cold turkey. You be suprize at some of the females that walks up to me in town ask for lit thinking I so and I tell them "sorry I don't smoke" and they look at me like I'm nuts   

Jeff, you and the others on here would have laughed you rear ends off last year if you all would have been with me in town and seen what happen like I did. I went to the market with my cousin (we both was going the same place anyways so I rode in with him. We are walking up the parking lot. This one young woman in your 20's at least is standing out with afew of her friends smoking. They are standing at least well maybe 10 feets from this big a$$ pole. The young girl lights one up and trys to look cool for afew minutes, she's standing there and as my cousin and I are starting to get closer to the market entrance. She's not watching where she is at and turns and walks right into the pole with the cigerette in her mouth! . Well being the gentelmen that I am I stop (trying not to luagh to hard) and help her up as when she hit the pole she went down, as I help her back up onto her feet (her boyfriend didn't even try to help) I said to her "Smoking isn't good for you, and neither is walking into poles" and her friends started to chuckle on that also. She thank me and I continued into the store. 

[Brock Samson]

I could go on for a bit, but, I think on earlier threads i wrote quite extensively about quitting smoking with my dad in the mid '90s and the how and why.
The only point i want to make here - is how smoking impares oxygen from reaching the extremities causing conditions like thrombosis which i suffered from for two years until I quit smoking.
  I am extreamly aware of Cigg. smoke now, when the guy next door lights up i can smell it upstairs at the other end of my house. 

[NorwayCharger]

I started smoking when i was 26, i am 45 now-
Money is my main reason for quit smoking.
1 pack of sigarettes cost about $12 here in Norway
I smoke aprox 30 sig´s a day.
That will be around  $6500 a year

[Musicman]

OK, here’s my story…
Started smoking steady when I was about 14 years old, and quit when I was 33, that was a long time ago…

Quitting was easy… remaining smoke free took some real dedication however.
I enjoyed smoking… I always found it to be a very relaxing drug. It allowed me to think more clearly, and it also kept my Irish temper under control. Never really thought about it as being Cool though… but then I’ve never been the trendy type.
When I was young and cigarettes were cheap, things were Ok… but when I started getting older, and the price of cigarettes started rising exponentially, I knew it was time for a change. I tried to quit a few times, but the atmosphere at my place of employment at the time, just wouldn’t allow it… I would have surely dropped some poor bastard where he stood inside of an hour.
Fortunately for me (or unfortunately depending on your point of view) a got a little assistance in that area one morning. I had just woken up that morning and made myself that all important first cup of coffee. Of course you can’t have a coffee without a cigarette, so I lit up and sat down at my table to do some paperwork for a project I was working on. As soon as I sat down I started getting one of those morning cramps in my left arm, you know the one you get when you sleep on your arm all night… so I got up and shook it off and got the blood flowing normally again. I reached over to the table and picked up my cigarette, took a couple of drags, and the next thing I knew I was on the floor writhing in pain, trying my best to remain conscious. Best I could tell… someone behind me had just reached into my chest and was trying their best to rip everything out.
Being the sound logical minded individual that I am, I realized that fear and tension were only going to make things worse, so I recomposed and calmed myself down immediately.
I got back up on my feet like any good Irishman would and shook it off, but I truly felt as though I had just taken a thorough beating from a bunch of guys with steel pipes and aluminum bats. Well I was still soar several hours later, and after a while I thought for sure that I had certainly popped my left lung. So after a good stubborn debate with myself I reluctantly decided to call a doctor. I didn’t have one at the time however, so it was first come first serve. Anyway… I went to the doctor’s office and told them what had happened earlier, so they did the usual checks and hooked me up to machine. Next thing I knew, all hell was braking loose. The Doctor got a terrified look on his face, the nurses started scrambling, and the next thing I know I’m being told that I’m going to a hospital RIGHT NOW!
Turns out I was wrong about the lung… it was a heart attach… That doctor was pissed at me for years...
Long story short… I spent a few weeks in the hospital which gave me the perfect opportunity to quit… so I did!
I still tell folks however… It’s not that I didn’t want to finish that last cigarette, I just couldn’t do it.

[mikesbbody]

Never smoked, never taken drugs, I do have the odd drink now and again but very rarely. Never been drunk I guess I'm kinda rare for this day and age? I just look at it this way, if its bad for you, don't do it. 

[BB1]

Why be a nanny, people do what they do and I really don't care. 

[jaak]

I don"t smoke, but I use smokeless tobacco, started using it when I was 13. Hard habit to break, about ten years ago, a suspicious spot was on my inner lip. I had to have a biopsy done on it....it came back all clear, but scared the shit out of me, so I stopped dippin' for about 10-11 months. Then one day a guy next to me opened up a can on Copenhagen.......then the scent hit me, had to get a pinch, and like a dumbass I started back 

IDK, I guess I feel like I can't function without nicotine?

Jason

[Mike DC]

  

Genetics are probably also relevant in terms of quitting smoking.  It sure is in terms of other addictive substances, and even some addictive habits.

The "addictive personality".  I've seen it, known it, been around it, dealt with it, etc.  But I definitely don't have it myself.  I got lucky.
     

[mikesbbody]

"The "addictive personality".  I've seen it, known it, been around it, dealt with it, etc.  But I definitely don't have it myself.  I got lucky"

I think that's why i decided to stay away from those things because I feel I do have the addictive personality so why cause myself problems? each to his/her own I'm not about preaching do what you like. I'm a organ donor it would kinda suck if my smoke free lungs
Went to a smoker but then again I wouldn't need them I'd be dead 

[bull]

This thread is kinda goofy. You can't make rational sense out of addictive behaviors. It's like trying to scientifically study why a woman stays with a man who routinely beats the crap out of her. You might be able to explain what's going on inside her head but it still won't make any sense to a rational mind.

[jb666]

This thread is kinda goofy. You can't make rational sense out of addictive behaviors. It's like trying to scientifically study why a woman stays with a man who routinely beats the crap out of her. You might be able to explain what's going on inside her head but it still won't make any sense to a rational mind.

Maybe not, but without that kind of woman there'd be no need for the Lifetime Movie Network.

[Khyron]

This thread is kinda goofy. You can't make rational sense out of addictive behaviors. It's like trying to scientifically study why a woman stays with a man who routinely beats the crap out of her. You might be able to explain what's going on inside her head but it still won't make any sense to a rational mind.

and he usually beats her with a Marlbaro hanging out his mouth!

[MoparManJim]

This thread is kinda goofy. You can't make rational sense out of addictive behaviors. It's like trying to scientifically study why a woman stays with a man who routinely beats the crap out of her. You might be able to explain what's going on inside her head but it still won't make any sense to a rational mind.

This thread maybe kinda goofy... but look at all the goofy members that are also on here! 

[bull]

This thread is kinda goofy. You can't make rational sense out of addictive behaviors. It's like trying to scientifically study why a woman stays with a man who routinely beats the crap out of her. You might be able to explain what's going on inside her head but it still won't make any sense to a rational mind.

This thread maybe kinda goofy... but look at all the goofy members that are also on here! 

You don't know how right you are, Goofy.

[Mike DC]

  
This stuff is almost as goofy as trying to make a 3800-lb 40yo autombile blast itself 1/4 away from a stop in 10 or 12 seconds.