Are You A Smoker?

[Pope]

The most shocking thing about this thread, is the ages people started smoking.

I've read people saying that they smoked from 13, 9 and even 3! It's nuts!

 

[RexBanner]

I've read every post in this thread and it make for familiar sentiments.
For those who ask "how can you enjoy it?" It's similar to alcohol, high fat foods and even for alot of us, riding motorcycles. Its just....nice. it does things to your brain that a sober outside environment can't do I suppose.

Anyways, im 29 started at 13 (peer presure thiught i was cool) and packed in 2 years and 2 months. Ive had about 4 tokes on a spliff in that time and regreted it, it tasted aweful.
The birth of my daughter and my mother being diagnosed with severe throat cancer.

The method I used was a stupid one, its a drug called CHAMPIX do your research and take at your peril.
I took the course of pills for the 12 weeks and it got me off the smokes. 60 a day to nout in 2 weeks.
However I am now a shell of a person somewhat. Used to smile and laugh alot. Now in my head im in a dark dark world and cant escape it. They changed me and I'm not who I used to be by any measure but hey, I'll live longer

So if I'm gonna fling 2 pence in it would be to try and quite via any other method but them damn pills. They are dangerous.

 

[Jakeyboi]

I started smoking at 14 until 5 months ago, I'm 28. I loved smoking and was probably smoking 25 a day, I still crave but I'm also empowered by the fact I cold turkeyed it and kick the habit. I am becoming more and more anti smoking (much to annoyance of friends) just because i can be lol. Even when I was a smoker I believed that Tabacco should be illegal to sell in this country. If it was invented today it would definitely be illegal, same with alcohol I guess.

I'm also impressed with amount of people who have given up here. Well done all

 

[chub1]

Yep, smoke and have done since I was nine, I'm early sixties now and have C.O.P.D. I smoke a pipe, cigars and cigs and I enjoy it. The longest I packed it in for was about six months years ago. Mostly I smoke the pipe now, nothing like it to relax, love it.

I have COPD and gave up 7 years ago and damn glad i did.I am not chronicly bad but am retricted at times at what i would like to be able to do due to the shortness of breath.I did not want to have to rely on oxygen as that is how it ends up i am afraid, have seen it with two other people, one died!.
Sorry, don't mean to be rude but i really don't understand how you can continue smoking with the disease.

 

[Godsdog]

thing that amazes me is some of these smokers who have COPD in a wheelchair being pushed around the town by a relative with the oxygen tube up their noses puffing on a fag,see it quite a lot where I live.have they got a death wish ffs?oxygen and a naked flame is asking for trouble.i suppose you cant educate some,but maybe they feel its better to go out with the preverbial bang rather than linger on for years with COPD

 

[chub1]

thing that amazes me is some of these smokers who have COPD in a wheelchair being pushed around the town by a relative with the oxygen tube up their noses puffing on a fag,see it quite a lot where I live.have they got a death wish ffs?oxygen and a naked flame is asking for trouble.i suppose you cant educate some,but maybe they feel its better to go out with the preverbial bang rather than linger on for years with COPD

I really do not think that these people should be given oxygen unless they are prepared to quit! What the f### is the point!!!!

 

[terrym]

Well my OP has provoked a lot of interesting comments!
So to anyone out there thinking about giving up, from what I remember
- decide that you really really want to do it; it's no good to you or anyone else if you aren't truly committed; why go though all the angst and then start again?
- decide your reasons for giving up, and write them down, if you waver later on read what you said at the beginning, for most little will have changed .
- put the money aside you save by quitting and then buy something, I bought records, I still have them and a few are now collectors items if I ever chose to sell them; if you want to save for a major holiday this is the way to do it, if you are on 20 a day, over a year it costs you at least �£2500, and if you work and pay tax at the standard rate that's about �£3100 before tax out of your wages/salary just going up in smoke
- try to do without gums, funny electronic sticks and the like, you will only become addicted to them later on
- decide how you are going to do it; slowly cut down or stop straight away, the latter is best since you have no excuses to keep on smoking or just have an 'extra one'
- you will be grumpy for at least a month, just deal with it, you are a responsible adult after all, aren't you?, with a reason for quitting
- you start to notice an improvement when you start to cough up the black bits that have accumulated in your lungs; you won't see your lungs but they will slowly start to turn pink from grey or black; and, if you have one, your cough will go and you will find you breath easier,
- yourself and where you live, and if you smoke in the car, will slowly stop smelling of tobacco smoke
- you will start to regain your taste and smell
- it takes at least 5 years plus before you start thinking of yourself as a non smoker; you will be tempted up until then; 'well one won't hurt' etc etc'
- and if like me you took a drag on an ordinary cigarette 15 years on you will truly find it disgusting
- best of luck to anyone out there who gives it a try

 

[geetee]

Well my OP has provoked a lot of interesting comments!
So to anyone out there thinking about giving up, from what I remember
- decide that you really really want to do it; it's no good to you or anyone else if you aren't truly committed; why go though all the angst and then start again?

This reminds me of the old joke about 65 year old Dean Martin talking to his Doctor

Doc says " Well Dean if you give up smoking and drinking and women you will live until you are 90"

and Dean replies " if I give that lot up what's the point of living to 90"

It's not always all or nothing though is it?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Great post terry, one thing i do disagree with slightly, i wish when i was trying to give up (seriously not just "i will have another try") *E cigarettes had been around, i like the fact you can lower the nicotine content gradually and think i may have stopped earlier had they been around, the smoking ban would have helped but came in years after i stopped.

*When i say E cigarettes i don't mean those things that look like a real cigarette i mean these.

 

[JFB]

I used hypnotherapy, Best 150 quid ive ever spent.
The hypnotherapist talks to your subconscious or the little man that's been talked about. Once he's told you actually become a non smoker not a nicotine addict who no longer uses.

 

[geetee]

When I worked in labs we had some nicotinic acid in a dessicator in a room and someone left the lid off. These are crystals of a compound that is a derivative of nicotine. Two women went into the same room to weigh some stuff and after 3- 4 minutes came out with their hearts racing , bright red skin and very anxious.

They went to medical and confirmed that exposure to nicotine compounds can do this , they were sent home for the day. this stuff can do this without even touching it and people knowingly ingest this daily.

I suppose it's like the thrill of standing on the edge of a cliff or on a rollercoaster, not really a nice feeling , not for everyone but addictive for those who do.

 

[Amidared]

........... i really don't understand how you can continue smoking with the disease.

Neither with the pipe or the cigars do I inhale, the nicotine is delivered through the mouth in much the same way as when people chew gum. I was diagnosed with COPD over twenty years ago when there were far more smokers than today and the cancer rate was something like one in thirty, today with much much less smokers, the rate is almost one in two. Sure smoking isn't a great pastime but some would also argue that beer and alcohol isn't either. I guess its a question of moderation and how they are used.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Sure smoking isn't a great pastime but some would also argue that beer and alcohol isn't either.I guess its a question of moderation and how they are used.

Alcohol for the majority is not addictive whereas nicotine is, most of us have a beer because we want one not because our body craves it.

.

 

[Gunge]

When I worked in labs we had some nicotinic acid in a dessicator in a room and someone left the lid off. These are crystals of a compound that is a derivative of nicotine. Two women went into the same room to weigh some stuff and after 3- 4 minutes came out with their hearts racing , bright red skin and very anxious.

They went to medical and confirmed that exposure to nicotine compounds can do this , they were sent home for the day. this stuff can do this without even touching it and people knowingly ingest this daily.

I suppose it's like the thrill of standing on the edge of a cliff or on a rollercoaster, not really a nice feeling , not for everyone but addictive for those who do.

My mate used to work in a plant nursery. They had these devices which looked like a firework. When lit, they poured forth clouds of nicotine-rich smoke which filled the greenhouse in short order. They had to get outta there immediately, lest they succumb to the nicotine which after all, is a defence mechanism employed by certain plants to kill insect pests. Do you know that tomatoes,spuds and aubergines belong to the same family and also contain nicotine?

Anyways as I said earlier, for the hopelessly addicted (ie. me), the way to go is snuff. Nicotine in itself, in the doses we smokers consume, is no more harmful than caffeine - look it up - it's all the **** added to smoking tobacco and the by- products of burning it that's the problem. And snuff is cheap, I mean dirt cheap... a 25g tin costs less than £4 and easily lasts 2 weeks! Forget the pharmaceutical grade prescription stuff which the government peddle. They only maintain the addiction but are priced so that they don't lose revenue from the smokers who've been fooled. A neat, neat trick for sure.

 

[Amidared]

Alcohol for the majority is not addictive whereas nicotine is, most of us have a beer because we want one not because our body craves it.

.

As someone who's worked in substance and alcohol misuse for over twenty years I'm not saying I disagree with you regarding your 'most of us' claim but I have to say I have seen enough to know first hand the damage done through alcohol misuse, especially by teens and younger. I'm not dumb, I know I'm on a brewers forum as a brewer (and drinker) but to attempt to trivialise the risks of alcohol or imply that more damage is done by tobacco than alcohol I think, and I stress thats its just my opinion, is quite unrealistic.

 

[Dutto]

...........

Anyways as I said earlier, for the hopelessly addicted (ie. me), the way to go is snuff. ..................

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

I've still got an unopened tin of the original McChrystals snuff knocking around the house somewhere.

https://www.mcchrystals.co.uk

Magical stuff ... :thumb: :thumb:

... and if I ever find out I am terminally ill I will be using it until such time as I can buy a packet of fags! :whistle: :whistle:

 

[pms67]

I stood and watched my father inlaw dying of emphysema ,struggling for every breath,I used to smoke and that would put anyone off for life, a horrible way to go,he was 60.
Sorry to all who enjoy smoking,just my take on it

 

[Chippy_Tea]

As someone who's worked in substance and alcohol misuse for over twenty years I'm not saying I disagree with you regarding your 'most of us' claim but I have to say I have seen enough to know first hand the damage done through alcohol misuse, especially by teens and younger. I'm not dumb, I know I'm on a brewers forum as a brewer (and drinker) but to attempt to trivialise the risks of alcohol or imply that more damage is done by tobacco than alcohol I think, and I stress thats its just my opinion, is quite unrealistic.

I wasn't trying to trivialise the risk of alcohol abuse (i didn't mean it to sound like i was) i just meant its easy to have a smoke anytime of the day at work, in town even in your car but it is not to drink alcohol in any (most towns now don't let you drink on the street) therefore the chances of becoming addicted to nicotine in my opinion are far greater than becoming addicted to alcohol.

 

[Gunge]

pms67 I too watched my father in law die after a very long and tortuous battle with throat cancer. Truly horrendous, not just a case of having an op and then moving on. Incredibly, it didn't put off the smokers around him, just as my very,very close encounter with death related to alcohol didn't turn anyone that witnessed it turn teetotal. I've seen close mates meet their maker on motorbikes but it's not stopped me riding stupidly powerful bikes.
I guess it's all the roll of the dice. If we cut out everything that posed a risk, we'd live in a vacuum.

 

[pms67]

I know mate,its nasty,but,the more high risks taken,the more likely the dice will go against you.
Ive said before, life is for living, but I'd like to get past sixty at least 😉