Are You A Smoker?

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I saw another thread on here this morning about giving things up for the New Year. I'm at the end of my sixties now (pause for condolences), and smoked between the ages of 15 to about 27/28. I often say I could have 'smoked for England'. I smoked everything, plain cigs mostly, pipe, cigars, roll ups, I even tried smoking chewing tobacco!
Since I gave up I have been progressively anti-smoking, and perhaps more so since I see my neighbour who has emphysema and can't move about much and is fully reliant on an oxygen tube, following a life time of smoking.
So what, you are thinking?
Well I went to see the asthma nurse the other week and she says I might have a mild case of COPD probably directly related to my smoking all those years ago. So it may have come back to haunt me, in spite of the early recognition of the harm it was doing to me.
So, I wondered, how many of our forum members still smoke and perhaps why and will they be giving up for the New Year, given the evidence concerning the health problems it causes?
And how many of you did smoke but have properly given up?
And how many have never smoked, a group I wish I was in!?
 
I've never smoked, barring the odd puff or 2 at teenage house parties which I hated. It's expensive, stinks and slowly kills you - I don't understand why anyone would even want to start these days, given the information widely available! At least "proper" drugs give you a high!
 
I smoked from the age of 12 until I was 36 (I'm 44 now). I was quite a heavy smoker, probably 20 a day and more if I went for a night out. I gave up by going cold turkey, no patches or cutting down. It was bloody hard and the cravings were terrible. To keep me on track I bought a motor bike with the money I was saving from not smoking and promised myself that if I started smoking again I would have to sell the bike. It worked and I have not smoked in the last 8 years.

I'm a smoker, but I have not had a cigarette for the last 8 years.........
 
Ugh. I smoked for almost 15 years and regret every single one.
 
Yup. Love smoking, always have and probably always will. Am I allowed to say that, these days? But, I have tried to stop for all the usual reasons but all I've achieved is periods of misery during abstinence. All the prescribed, pharmaceutical grade nicotine stuff is useless because there is none of the pleasure of smoking; addiction is about far more than nicotine. Don't get me started about vaping! However, about a year ago I took up snuff and discovered a whole new world of tobacco yumminess. It hasn't stopped me smoking but I've cut down by maybe 75% with hardly any effort or pain.
 
I'm an ex smoker, I gave up twice in the end! I started when I was 13 and gave up when I was 30 when I started scuba diving - as with everything I do I do it to the nth degree - and my incentive was to increase my lung efficiency for decompression diving.
Then at my sisters wedding my brother in law gave me a cigar and I thought 'yea, no problem' then before I knew it I was right back on the Marlboros...
I found it really hard to give up so I read 'How to stop smoking the easy way' (both times!) and it was like someone flicked a switch, I just stopped overnight, no craving, no desire to smoke at all...
I agree with Bigjas though, I'm still a smoker who hasn't had a smoke for a while.

While we're on it, why are plkaces now banning vaping? I thought that was the clean alternative?
 
gave up nearly 18 years ago, at my peak i was on 40 aday, 20 at work, 20 when i got home,
loved it, miss like i gave up a week ago, would love to spark up right now,
the only reason i dont is i class myself as a none smoker, i do feel differently about now, the money,,£20 a day now, the smell on my clothes, etc,,
but boy do i miss it, really really do,,, even now, 18years later,, quite a lot actually, mmmmm
 
Smoked for around 40 odd years until 7 years ago.Pipe, rollups mainly and some tailor mades. Have C.O.P.D which isn't chronic but does restrict me somewhat.
Guess it was easy to give up(and it was, just threw my baccy away), either carry on and face worsening effects,possibly having to eventually use oxygen or pack em in, no contest.
Don't have a problem with others smoking, but can't stand the smell of stale smoke.
 
I'm a non smoker and never have smoked.

On a slight tangent I was in the new craft ale pub I go into on a Sat eve the other week and a saw a young guy in his twenties with a pipe. I just thought, 'you're a total hipster mate, who smokes a pipe in their twenties nowadays.:roll:'
He was sitting on the table next to ours and out of the corner of my eye I saw him smoking it. On taking a closer look he was smoking and electronic pipe! This guy was the hipster king! :lol:
 
Gave up 13 years ago when I was forty-one. Never a big smoker, but downthe pub. Glad I quit. My Dad smokd and peer pressure led me in. Hard to stop but well worth it in every sense. Don't think my kidz will smoke so perhaps I've broken the cycle.
 
I grew up in a house full of smokers - it was just like the tap room at the local WMC, so I guess I was addicted to nicotine and smoking in general before I actually tried one. I mentioned snuff earlier, it has all the nicotine of cigs so addresses that part, but not the habit. However... there's some snuff available made from Nicotiana Rustica, not Nicotiana Tabacum (which is what is used in almost all commercial tobacco products). The Rustica has nine times the nicotine content of Tabacum and is spectacularly good. Still doesn't deal with breaking the habit of smoking but anyone who can face a cigarette after a goodly dose of that is something of a hero.
 
I'm a non smoker and never have smoked.

On a slight tangent I was in the new craft ale pub I go into on a Sat eve the other week and a saw a young guy in his twenties with a pipe. I just thought, 'you're a total hipster mate, who smokes a pipe in their twenties nowadays.:roll:'
He was sitting on the table next to ours and out of the corner of my eye I saw him smoking it. On taking a closer look he was smoking and electronic pipe! This guy was the hipster king! :lol:

Maybe in years to come he will have a digital cough to go with it!
 
Both of my parents smoked like chimneys when I was young and i detested it and I have never smoked a cigarette. My dad gave up in his forties , just stopped but my Mam carried on through thick and think , survived a lung removal and then got secondary brain cancer. She was still smoking the day they took her into hospital and died three weeks later. Suffice to say I am still not in favour of smoking.

I seriously can't see how anyone can say the "enjoy" inhaling what they know to be a cocktail of carcinogenic chemicals and highly addictive nicotine knowing what the likely outcome can be. Even if you don't succeed in getting the ultimate breathless, choking death it can still bring life long health problems that people seem to be aware of but accept as part of the risk but hey, that life ( and Death obviously).
 
Another ex smoker here.

I smoked from around age 16 to 25 ish. Smoked around 20 a day when I could afford it before moving to roll ups and getting through about 10g a day. Stopped cold turkey and never looked back. Still regret starting.
 
Tried a few that were given to me as a teenager, but was too tight to buy my own. I valued my money more than that and wanted to save for a car.

There may have been the odd 'roll up' in my university days.

I do feel that attitudes towards smoking have changed significantly in my lifetime. Seems like it is a dying pastime in the UK (no pun intended).
 
Brought up by a mother who smoked 60 a day and like an idiot started smoking in my teens. Pipe and roll-ups. Gave it up about 20 years ago. If i think about it I can still smell it and still smell an ashtray full of dog ends.
I now have asthma for my sins.
 
Never have smoked. I don't understand why people of my generation (I'm 28) and younger start. The ill effects of smoking have been rammed down our throat (no pun intended) since we were in Primary School. My missus quit smoking about 4 months ago now...she's doing really well to be fair to her...albeit she tends to have cravings after a few drinks, though she resists.
 
Never have smoked. I don't understand why people of my generation (I'm 28) and younger start. The ill effects of smoking have been rammed down our throat (no pun intended) since we were in Primary School. My missus quit smoking about 4 months ago now...she's doing really well to be fair to her...albeit she tends to have cravings after a few drinks, though she resists.
The one plus of not being able to smoke in pubs restaurants etc, more so on a cold or wet winter day when you have to stand outside:thumb:. If your missus has not had one for 4 months, she's there.
As i said previously i gave up around 7 years ago, don't miss it now BUT if i did have just the one, that would be it !!!!
 
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