Smokers when did you start and why?.

a reply to: boymonkey74

I was 12 years old and was hanging out with my crew at the playground. We called ourselves the GVC+LE and though we were so cool and popular. My mom was a smoker and had a whole drawer filled with cartons, lighters ashtrays, so I took a pack and a few lighters. We each smoked a cigarette, it was so nasty but we though we looked super cool. They were long slim ones and we all thought they made us look like ladies, so stupid!!!

Flash forward 25 years later and I'm still smoking. I quit for 2 years after a 3 week stay in the hospital after my NDE, figured that would be a good time to quit. I can remember thinking about hopping out the window of the ICU and having a smoke, it was difficult but at least I was on good medication at the time.

I was 4 months away from my 3 year anniversary of quoting smoking when a childhood friend passed away. At his funeral reception at the local bar (our friends hangout) and everyone had a shot of tequila for my friend. (I had also quit drinking because it went hand in hand with smoking.) That night I smoked almost a pack of cigarettes and haven't stopped yet.

It's time to quit, I want to but I don't. The worst part of quitting was boredom, smoking gives you something to do. It's also a social thing, "the smokers corner." I'm torn about quitting...

a reply to: boymonkey74

First time I was about 9 - stole two from parents for the "cool guy" at school, he offered me one, so I did, not really giving it any thought. Did it for about a year, stopped until about 13, when some "Big School" friends didn't believe I ever had, so I it one up to prove a point. Ridiculous. since then i have quit twice for 6-12 months then started again due to stress. I did use a Vape but lost it and not entirely sure they're any healthier after accidentally getting a mouthful of the liquid.

a reply to: boymonkey74
lol did i read that right? you started smoking at 19 because you wanted to be like the fonz?

i started when i was relativly old/young, for the image, like neon bumbags.

I've always wondered if smoker's kids were far more likely to take up smoking; you could even argue that exposure in utero would predispose them to it. Can you be 'pre-addicted'?

Another reason not to start, or to quit if you do.

a reply to: boymonkey74

Been smoking since I was 16 and that was around 16 years ago. At the time it felt cool but now, it's a burden that I cannot kick lol

Started when I was 17 because I wanted to make a boy mad, lol. Not usually one to be swayed into anything for the sake of anyone, yet for some reason at the time I just wanted his attention. Now a number of years and a happy marriage later it seems so very trivial. I have quit here and there and when I want to I know I can just don't have the desire to.

16 years old. My good friend was doing it at the time and decided to join him.

Haven't stopped since.

I was 13 when i started (23 now), because of curiousity really no peer pressure or anything and i found it helped me calm down and got addicted pretty quick.. I have only quit about 3 times for about 2 weeks at a time and stress made me start again! i want too quit though its just so hard!

originally posted by: Jennyfrenzy
a reply to: boymonkey74

I was 12 years old and was hanging out with my crew at the playground. We called ourselves the GVC+LE and though we were so cool and popular. My mom was a smoker and had a whole drawer filled with cartons, lighters ashtrays, so I took a pack and a few lighters. We each smoked a cigarette, it was so nasty but we though we looked super cool. They were long slim ones and we all thought they made us look like ladies, so stupid!!!

Flash forward 25 years later and I'm still smoking. I quit for 2 years after a 3 week stay in the hospital after my NDE, figured that would be a good time to quit. I can remember thinking about hopping out the window of the ICU and having a smoke, it was difficult but at least I was on good medication at the time.

I was 4 months away from my 3 year anniversary of quoting smoking when a childhood friend passed away. At his funeral reception at the local bar (our friends hangout) and everyone had a shot of tequila for my friend. (I had also quit drinking because it went hand in hand with smoking.) That night I smoked almost a pack of cigarettes and haven't stopped yet.

It's time to quit, I want to but I don't. The worst part of quitting was boredom, smoking gives you something to do. It's also a social thing, "the smokers corner." I'm torn about quitting...

I totally understand what you mean by the worst part of quitting being the boredom! Thats a huge ptoblem for me i definitely notice how much time i invest in smoking a day when i have tried to quit! and its extremely hard to find something else too occupy you in the time where you would be having a cig, its torture, the last time i tried i used a quit smoking app on my phone and i think it did help but stress and everyday life made me give in.. And also it gives you an excuse for a 5 minute break from everything when you feel like it, i don't want to give that up!

I smoked my first cigarette at the age of 7. My cousin lit one up in the roller rink's bathroom. Both my parents smoked. Both sets of my grandparents smoked. I would say that I started smoking consistently around the age of 12/14. I can't quite remember and I can't remember why either. I suppose it was because I was always around it.

I officially quit well over a year ago thanks to ecigs. I still get a craving when things get uber stressful but I try to remind myself that I will have wasted over an entire year of being smoke free if I cave just once. I KNOW that I can't smoke just one. So I don't even attempt it.

My husband still smokes though.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

good on you p.s what do smokers smell like to you now /and did you have chocolate cig's when you were a kid

originally posted by: douglas5
a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

good on you p.s what do smokers smell like to you now /and did you have chocolate cig's when you were a kid

Thanks.

Even before I quit I knew how disgusting it smelled. It's a disgusting habit all the way around and I don't know many smokers that would disagree. I can smell it within seconds of my husband getting home and lighting one up in the bathroom right before he gets in the shower. It does indeed stink. A lot.

I didn't have the chocolate cigarettes, but we did have the ones that were chewing gum and you could blow into them and powdered sugar would "poof" out of the end just like real cigarette smoke! You can't find those anywhere. It's funny how times have changed concerning the habit.

My mom smoked through both pregnancies and says that the doctors back then would tell you to switch to menthols if you had a cold or cough. She remembers them smoking in the actual doctor's offices when they were seeing you.

I don't think I have one birthday picture, Christmas picture, etc. that doesn't have one or both of my parents holding/smoking a cigarette lol.

Too piss off my mom who would brag about having never smoked cigarettes while she had a needle in her arm. I found it completely hypocritical that she would take illegal drugs but thought herself above smoking.

I am nearly 2 years smoke free thanks to e-cigs

I started when I was about 12 because others around me were smoking.
25 years later I still can't drop the habit.

Started at 19 or so... because they smelled great and gave me a buzz... I still think they look stupid.

And as far as relating them to opiates... both are addictive in the extreme, but you don't actually feel like, or actually, die when you stop smoking like you do, or can, from stopping opiates... I know both too well.

And Void is correct, if given their clean, cheap doses, opiate addicts can live "normal" productive lives... the damage comes from adulterants and illegality... and thus disease from having to use more economical needles and paying inflated black market prices.

That's why methadone works for opiate addicts, despite the ignorance surrounding the subject.

Of course, using too much of anything or abandoning moderation all the time can end you very quickly... smoking might take awhile longer, though.

And it's likely far better to not get hooked on either of them... though going through life stone sober had drawbacks for some of us as well.

originally posted by: Rikku
a reply to: boymonkey74
lol did i read that right? you started smoking at 19 because you wanted to be like the fonz?

i started when i was relativly old/young, for the image, like neon bumbags.

Yup I was an odd young chap....now Iam an odd old man

originally posted by: VoidHawk
Yep, I too was told by the fag makers that I wouldn't be a real man unless I smoked!

Been smoking for.....too long! 45 years

Rolled my own for most of that time.

I suspect us brits might be in for an ear bashing for the "fag" word LOL

Naww you stick it in yer gob and suck and then get sick from it.

Sounds like smoking to me

*huzzah, woo woo* skips over the pond..