View Poll Results: Smoke?

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  • Never smoked

    31 65.96%
  • Former smoker

    7 14.89%
  • Occasional social smoker

    6 12.77%
  • Totally addicted

    3 6.38%
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Thread: Smoke?

  1. #21
    Senior Member sandydandy's Avatar
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    Hopelessly and helplessly addicted. Not something I'm proud of. I never do it around the kids, (though they both know), never do in the house, and never in the new car...well not yet at least.

    Started in the mid-nineties as a social habit. Smoking on the patio of nightclub was a great way to meet girls. Socially, it tends to bring people together, (probably it's only good quality).

    I began full-time around 1999. In 2002 I quit for about two years, then started again. Then in 2005 I quit again for a year, but of course started again. In 2010 I quit for a month or so, (New Year's resolution), as I wanted to test the 21-day myth of changing a habit. Sadly, it didn't happen for me. 2010-present is the longest I've gone without quitting. I did try 'vaping' but that lasted only a week...and I think I quit for a day last year.

    Just to give you a hint at how insidious this habit is...my entire day is planned around when I'll have the opportunity to smoke. When I'm denied that opportunity, I'll get irritable as if there's a conspiracy against me. I love taking the old car to work so I can smoke. I'll deliberately take the long way home, or to the store so I can smoke some more. I'm always looking to squeeze an extra smoke in whenever possible. When I'm not smoking it feels like I'm missing out on something. When I do smoke I barely notice that I'm doing it. Go figure.

    What does the family think? Well my parents stopped criticizing me about it a long time ago. I'm a 39-year-old man now, so they're not going say anything about it ever again. Wife is at that point now too. Kids don't seem to have an opinion yet. I sometimes wonder what they think of the stench that's become part of my bodily aura...to them I guess that's just the way dad smells.

    I often think about how my life could change for the better if I just quit. Health-wise it goes without saying...being 39, I'm getting close to the age where continuing with this 'cool' habit could bring some disastrous results. Maybe I'm pushing my luck. But then again I have an uncle, (don't we all have one of those?), who has been smoking his whole life and is now almost 70, and he seems to be doing just fine still smoking a pack a day, (I hope I didn't just jinx him). Financially too, I could save between $300-400 a month if I just gave it up. That's how much I spend on smokes and all the ancillaries that go with it: scratch and win lotteries, coffee, gas, lighters, etc. All the financial and health benefits that I could be enjoying seem to have ZERO impact on me at the convenience store when I'm buying my next pack(s). They're about as unimportant to me in the moment as the looks of disdain from passersby when I'm enjoying a smoke. I scoff and wave it off, as in my eyes, I'm a star.

    It's a trap.

    Pretty sad, huh? I envy those of you who never started in the first place. You're not missing out on ANYTHING special.

    Any suggestions on how to kick the habit?
    Last edited by sandydandy; February 19th, 2015 at 02:43 PM.

  2. #22
    What fresh hell is this? overpowered's Avatar
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    I've got asthma but no family history of asthma. My dad smoked until I was 22. When I was a baby, my parents had a roommate who smoked as well. They say they didn't smoke in the same room as me when I was a baby but as we all know, if you smoke in the house, it goes everywhere. I'm sure my mom got a lot of second hand smoke while she was pregnant with me too.

    Smoke makes my nose run and my eyes burn. I grew up tolerating it. My dad smoked in the house all the time as well as in the car. Most of my dad's friends smoked. I had bronchitis several times as a kid and teen, though air pollution from cars in the 70's/early 80's probably had a lot to do with that as well. I worked in food service for part of college and had to clean tables in the smoking section. Remember the joke we called smoking sections?

    I remember people smoking on airplanes. That was hell.

    I was recently at a casino out in the desert and went "Oh yeah. I remember that hell." The smoke was everywhere. I'm so glad that it's banned almost everywhere in public. I don't miss it one little bit.
    Last edited by overpowered; February 19th, 2015 at 02:32 PM.

  3. #23
    Where are my keys? GB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by overpowered View Post
    I worked in food service for part of college and had to clean tables in the smoking section. Remember the joke we called smoking sections?

    I remember people smoking on airplanes. That was hell.
    All this. And you could smoke in hospitals fer Chris'sake.

  4. #24
    Relaxing and enjoying life MR2 Fan's Avatar
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    my grandfather died from smoking when I was 10 years old...and before that i tried to get him to quit...but young kids don't have much pull.

    Never wanted to get anywhere near cigarettes my entire life.

    Most people at my job have moved on to e-cigs and love them. I love them too even though I don't use them because even if there is some small risks they haven't found yet, there's so many improvements over regular smoking....it isn't taxed (yet), they smell good with the different flavors, no effect on asthma, clothes don't smell bad, teeth don't turn yellow, no cigarette butts left everywhere, no risk of starting fires and probably a lot of other things I'm not thinking of.

  5. #25
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GB View Post
    All this. And you could smoke in hospitals fer Chris'sake.
    Ha! I'm into Old Time Radio, of which there are a zillion episodes available for free at www.archive.com. I was listening to a 1951 episode of Dragnet the other day and Sgt. Joe Friday was in the hospital after getting shot, twice. Yeah, '50s radio Dragnet was a whole different animal than late '60s cheesy TV Dragnet. Back then there were shootouts and fistfights and chases and all kinds of rough stuff that the middle-aged Jack Webb and his partner Harry Morgan didn't do in 1969. Heck, back in the early '50s, on the radio Sgt. Joe Friday still lived at home with his mother. Really!

    Anyway, his partner went to visit him in the hospital in an episode called The Big Ben and brought him a carton of cigarettes!

    I guess it didn't hurt that in '51, Dragnet was sponsored by Fatima Cigarettes. In many, many Dragnet episodes people ask for or offer each other cigarettes, and sometimes you can hear a match being struck followed by someone inhaling and then sighing contentedly.





    And then in later years...




  6. #26
    Subaru Unimpreza SportWagon's Avatar
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    Da da dum dum! Da da dum dum DA!

    Edit: Oh yes. G'day forgot to have a "smoked epsilon cigarettes" category. For people who tried a pack just to be able to claim they weren't not smoking in ignorance. Or something like that. Or got perhaps some got dared by friends but never picked it up as a habit.
    Last edited by SportWagon; February 19th, 2015 at 03:41 PM.

  7. #27
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    Tried one when I was about 12. hated it and was very nearly sick. Decided at that point if that was my body's immediate reaction it can't be good for me and that was that. My mum gave up years ago, probably around 30 years ago, maybe more. I think my Dad still has the occasional smoke but maybe one or two a week.

  8. #28
    Spiny beast TheBenior's Avatar
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    I very occasionally smoke a cigar, maybe 2-3 times per year.

  9. #29
    Senior Member Leon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sandydandy View Post
    Any suggestions on how to kick the habit?
    Can you channel parental guilt?

    As in, every minute you spend smoking, is a minute off the end of your life, that you won't be around for you kids.

  10. #30
    Parts Guy tigeraid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by George View Post
    The good news: my kids were too young to remember me using it - although I was a crafty sneak about it - and nowadays when they see people smoking, they always comment, like "EWWW! THAT GUY IS SMOKING!" and "That will make him die, right Daddy?" I didn't put that in their heads, so it must be what they're learning in school and among their friends.

    I could not be happier to hear things like that.

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