Why do you smoke?

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The earlier thread about how wonderful it is to smoke got me to wondering how people in this day and age come to be smokers. I think that the campaign to educate people about smoking has been largely successful (in the US anyway). It is virtually impossible for a person by the age of 10 in the United States to not know about the deleterious effects smoking has on people's health. And yet many still choose to do it. I don’t understand.

I’m interested to hear from those SP’ers who smoke why you decided to smoke and if you felt you were making an informed decision when you decided to start. What sort of education efforts are there in your country? What factors override that when you decide to smoke despite the risks? I am truly curious here.

 

You're not going to live forever just because you don't smoke. And I for one would rather not be a doddery old man, proud of myself for living so long because I never smoked, whilst someone else wipes my own arse for me.

Everyone who smokes are aware of the risks. Same as everyone who drinks are aware of the risks. People smoke because it is relaxing and uplifting. The effect of having a smoke is good in many situations. You've just woken up, driving to work half dead still.. have a ciggy you feel a million dollars. Stressful time at work, have a cig and it unwinds you. It also goes down so well with a beer or coffee.

The education against smoking in this country is huge, yet 3 in 5 male adults in the UK smoke. I don't remember when I started and I doubt most people do either. You're just in the pub having a drink, someone offers you a cig, you have one. You're not ignorant to the risks, you're not unaware of them, you're completely concious of risks but choose to anyway. There's so many things in this world that can/will hurt and harm you. Cigarettes are enjoyable and you feel better after having one, why not have one just because of what 'may' happen? As I say, not smoking is not a ticket to everlasting life. You've got to die of something. Non-smokers die... all the time.

This modern world is a stressful place, anything that helps me chill out (and is legal) is good in my book.

Bill Hicks - I smoke. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your ****in' mouth.

 

First, let me say that I don't hate smokers, (many of my friends are smokers), I hate the cancer stick they suck on.

Ah, but you don't just keel over and die unexpectedly one day. It's a slow, painful death. I think Jon Irenicus sums it up best, "It is the worse of fates...you will wither, you will wane, and you will die."
After many years of hacking your lungs up, you'll develop emphysema, one or more types of cancer, heart problems, discolored teeth and fingers, and a host of other problems.

The thing I hate about smoking the most is how it doesn't just affect the person sucking on the cancer stick, it affects everyone in the immediate area. Besides the affects of second hand smoke, people like me who have allergies *and* asthma, smokers cause a very real threat to my health. Just walking through a cloud of smoke can (and often time does) cause a asthma attack.

Oh, and to answer the thread name's question:
Because they're addicts! Even if they wanted to stop, they wouldn't be able without help, or a very strong willpower.

 

You'd have to smoke like a bloody chimney for that to happen to you.

 

Err, reading is a quality thing matey!

 

I started to smoke socially, and I got addicted.

Decided to quit because I needed the cash. I also was starting to have some health problems, which have more or less resorbed since I quit a year or so ago.

 

I started for the same reason that I guess many teenagers start, wnating to be a bit rebellious but not doing anything that seems too 'out there' or anything like that. I grew up with a parent who smokes and ironically enough, I was more vocal to my mum than my brother and sister were about her giving it up but neither of them smoke.

I continue to smoke because psychologically it IS relaxing, any kind of major stress that hits me (like a pregnant ex) and I feel the need tp light up to help me relax and think a little more clearly about the situation, whatever the situation. I continue to smoke because I'm addicted and can't seem to find the willpower to quit.

I know all about the risks, every smoker does, but I just can't seem to give a damn about them anymore.

 

I used to smoke for a very short period of time until I realized how expensive it was. Plus my Mom gave me a good whuping when she smelled stale smoke on my clothes. So I've been smoke-free for almost 3 months now.

(I decided a smart-assed reply was OK because this is Whatnots and not AoDA. Not that it would have necessarily made any difference. )

Edit: But seriously, my comment was true, other than the 3 months is really 35 years, and the whuping was just a good tongue-lashing .)

 

Once upon a time, I tried to smoke cigarettes, but I hated it. I did fall in love with the Mary Jane however, and I smoked it because I enjoyed the buzz. It was never a physiological addiction, like Tobacco comes complete with, but it became a habit.

 

I smoked for a few years but it was always off and on. When I was first married my husband smoked a lot more than I did and it used to really bother me because I wanted us both to quit. Finally, after a particularly nasty cold (smokers always get colds harder and faster than non-smokers) we both quit. Quitting when we felt horrible was the easiest way to do it. Now we spend the saved money on computer stuff, our cloths and breath don't stink, and we will probably live to see grandchildren. I'd say it was worth it.

 

Thanks for the replies. For those of you who have responded, but not stated directly, I am still interested in what your thought process was when you decided "to hell with the facts/my health I'm going to smoke". Or was it even like that at all?

 

As an ex-smoker it wasn't like that for me at all. I started as a teenager and at that age you think you're bulletproof, so even though I knew all the facts, you don't think about your health or how long you're going to live when you aren't even in your 20s yet. As an aside, while I quit and I am happy I did, I would like to point out the corrolary to the often-cited statistic of "1 in 3 people who smoke die from a smoking related illness". That means that 2 in 3 people who smoke don't.

 

Humans put all sorts of substances into their bodies to get a buzz. Life is often about the pursuit of the next buzz. Sorry to be such an existentialist about it, but that's my view.

Whether it's sugar, caffiene, nicotine or something far stronger, it's hard to get through life without a little help from our little friends. Whatever it takes to inspire the brain to pump out some opiates, I guess. Sad but true.

Having said that, I fully understand people finding smoking annoying and disgusting and not wanting to come anywere near someone who's smoking. I try to be as curteous a smoker as you're going to find and I don't blame folks for finding my habit disgusting. I'll try not to get on your case about the 2 gallons of Mountain Dew a day you drink and what that's doing to your immune system, pancreas and waist line.

 

Speculation. There's no way you make that statement solidly, without relying on conjecture.

 

You could say that about anything. No one dies of cancer if something else kills them first. No one dies of heart disease if something else kills them first. What are you getting at with this statement?

 

I will go out on a limb and suggest that what Tal was getting at was that just because only a third of smokers die from a smoking related illness, it doesn't mean that the percentage wouldn't be higher if other illnesses didn't kill some of the two-thirds first. A third of people dying because of their smoking habits does not mean that smoking is only a danger to one person out of every three.

I could be mistaken, but that is what it appeared to be.

On the contrary. Tal's statement does not rely on solid empirical evidence- it doesn't need to. Do not confuse 'they would have, if other illnesses didn't kill them first' with what he said.

Although surely it is possible that the damage smoking did to their health was a significant factor in indirectly making them more vulnerable to other illnesses?