and yes, I know this has been covered before but as time goes on relentlessly, surely opinions change!
I know it's a habit, and an expensive one, but why do people continue? Fag-face is the way one late 30s girl is referred to that we know well (sucking on fags rather than something far more exciting), wrinkles galore, leather skin, looks nearer 60. 20 fags a day, ( ) is over £200 a month, £2500 a year after tax so nearer £4000 of income needed to have those 20 a day. Who in their right mind can afford that? That's new Mercedes area, or a bloody good holiday every year for free!
It's not glamorous anymore, so come on folks, why smoke? Honestly, and as a never smoker with never a fag in the mouth, why?
I've been smoking for 35 odd years, I've stopped a few times but always started again, one day I hope to stop for good as I don't like the smell it leaves on my clothes, the damage it does to my health or the huge expense, I don't think anyone that's been smoking for some time thinks that it looks cool or gives them special powers and I'm sure many wish that they'd never started in the first place.
Looking back I recall starting, peer pressure or just plain old wanting to fit in probably played its part in me starting, I didn't really enjoy it either at first, but once that nicotine starts working and the habit builds you're hooked, it affects some people more than others, some can smoke a couple and quit at the drop of a hat whenever they want, others are slaves to it, I suppose it depends on how you are, some are more susceptible than others at getting hooked.
I remember the days of starting smoking...
A packet of 5 Park Drive from the cigarette machine outside the local sweet shop in the high street close to where I lived aged about 14.
I also remember well, honking my guts up in the alleyway after taking too long a drag :uhoh:
Incredibly, this didn't deter me and I continued to smoke until about 30 years ago when I finally gave it up for good.
I remember just as well, the occasion of finally giving up and how I did it.
I'd recommend giving up to everyone. I'm not convinced the financial aspect is good enough incentive to be honest. When I discussed this with someone fairly recently, they said that the savings would be immediately diverted to eating to replace the smoking habit.
The REAL incentive is the health benefit :thumbup:
Ex-smoker here.... 30 a day at the height. Cubette used to be amazed to wake up at 3am to see the glow of one of my 3 or 4 through the night. I too was drawn in by peer pressure in my early teens.
Obviously the addiction to the nicotine is key, but so is the physical habit. After all, eating or drinking doesn't reduce the amount of nicotine in your system so why do people have to smoke after (or during!) a meal or when out drinking? Because of the habit is all.
In my opinion the other major reason people continue is because the negative connotations all have positive offsets in their own minds, mostly based on folklore. For example:
They say smoking is bad for you, but I know someone who smoked 20 a day all their life and lived to 110.
I would give up but I'd put on so much weight I'd die of diabetes.
Smoking stops me getting a cold or flue.
Last time I gave up I was so ratty I nearly killed a traffic warden.
Going out for a smoke is the only chance I have to get away from my desk.
The bottom line is that all these are falsehoods, but if you're desperately seeking validation for your weakness then it's out there in its many nefarious forms.
I managed to give up quite suddenly after many, many failed attempts. All it took was a serious look at what I was doing, and coming to the realisation that I could do something about it. The key is self-belief and the desire to be a better/healthier/richer/fresher-smelling person. :thumbup:
I am someone who has not smoked for 15 years, I never intend to smoke again but I do not consider myself an ex smoker,more a smoker that doesn't.
It is not just a habit but an addiction, one that the lead singer of Arrowsmith once said was harder to give up than hard drugs and booze.
So it's not a case of why do people smoke, more a case of why did they start. Most smokers want to give up, if it was easy they would. When I was smoking I thought the worse thing was (what I perceived at the time)sanctimonious, holly do gooders who wrapped there prejudice up in the statement "but I don't understand why!" Only since my last fag (well last fag in the smoking sense) can I see why never smokers can't understand. There is no incentive in saying "price of a car" none at all. The body craves the nicotine and the next one will be the last, but it isn't. It takes will power and support and in my case a few trial runs (failed attempts) on the way.
PS. As I am writing this an owl has just landed on my shed, utterly stunning not sure what type but it has very feathery legs, sorry got to go take a closer look.
I smoked 30 to 40 rollups a day for over 20 years until 3 years ago. I had tried to give up several times, my best was 6 months, but every moment of every day, I wanted a rollup and eventually I gave in each time. I missed the sensation of smoke hitting my throat more than the nicotine.
3 years ago I decided to give these electronic vaping devices a try. The first one at around £30 was pretty rubbish, it didn't deliver enough vapour. So a bit of research and a further £70 ish, got me an industrial strength job and I never looked back. Immediately I substituted my smoking for vaping, without any desire to go back to rollups.
I can run faster and further, my sense of smell is back and I've not put on any weight. I get through around £10 a month in consumables by buying in bulk. So for me, these wonderful devices are the answer.
Quick owl update, according to my eye-spy book of birds it is a Tawny Owl, according to my neighbour it means I have mice in my shed!(won't be going in there for a sly ciggy for sure)
what a bloody sactimonious topic........ i smoke because i want too.... or maybe to keep the nhs going
One only has to read a daily paper to see that
smoking is bad for you
drinking alcohol is bad for you
drinking moderate amount is good for you / bad for you (both in same week in same paper)
drinking tea / coffee / fruit juice is good or bad (depending which survey)
stepping out the door is bad for you, though most accidents happen in the home (or is it workplace, gave up reading those surveys)
your borne and you die, simple. Can't change those.
(seems some think they've found the way around the 'paying taxes' part of the old adage)
it's who you are and how you live your life is what most people consider the important part.
so as every person is different, then stands to reason each individual has a different set of priorities and their own perception/evaluation of the risks in the world. If some one chooses to smoke, does that make them any lessor person that someone who choses to drink ?
At the moment smoking isn't illegal in the main (HMG make lots of money via taxation from it), pubs and workplaces, etc. acknowledged. Granted speeding is illegal, as is driving un-insured, using a mobile whilst driving, riding cycles on the pavement, lots of things around fireworks, tax evasion, etc.
Live and let live and if you don't like what someone does, do what you might about employers, companies/brands, or neighbours, neighbourhoods, etc...............avoid.
Afterall just because the Taliban (insert any despot or group you dislike) imposed their view on various subjects on a wider population does that make them right (we sent troops and have spent £billions imposing 'our' view to change that)
Earlier this year I was diagnosed with C.O.P.D. it will probably kill me ........ I would recommend stopping smoking
The next time my doctor tells me to stop smoking, I'm going to play this ad to him/her:-
The next time my doctor tells me to stop smoking, I'm going to play this ad to him/her:-
Best of luck Stagger :thumbup:
I would like to give up smoking, I even have enough willpower to do it, alone, but Sasha doesn't and my willpower does not extend to giving up while living in a house where someone else smokes, I encourage her to give up, she is my partner and it is not good for us, not some random person on a swingers site whose daily habits are none of my business since they don't affect me.
That said, I enjoy smoking and have done for over 40 years, it helps control my weight, it calms me down at times of stress, it relaxes me at other times, without smoking I get aggressive, yes this is a self inflicted condition caused by smoking but one which I now have, encouraged to smoke by the Government and advertising back in the day, neither the cigarette companies nor the Government are doing much to help me with the side effects of smoking, smoke free devices still contain nicotine so I would still be hooked on the substance.
My smoking has never cost the NHS a penny, perhaps it will in the future who knows, but I doubt at my age it will ever cost the NHS as much as teen binge drinking, the NHS, Police, Courts, Council clean up crews etc. Nor will it have as much impact on the general public even in the days of passive smoking as will unsocial behaviour. It will never make me violent towards others nor will it make me commit acts of vandalism or bloody mindedness.
At a bar on Saturday night it wasn't my smoking that made walking into the gents like walking into a paddling pool, nor was it the reason the toilet and walls to be covered in puke, unlike many in the bar I wasn't over loud or bumping into people, others in the bar did not have to step lightly around me in fear of me becoming aggressive towards them nor did they have to listen to ramble on unintelligibly while outside smoking as did I.
The Police did not have to attend the bar because I am a smoker but they did turn up to deal with some drunken guys.
The bar did not have to employ the bouncers for fear of what I might do.
And that was just one normal night in one normal bar.
The NHS has not had to employ extra staff to man the half a million pound over sized ambulance specially ordered to cater for obese people on my behalf nor have they had to pay for extra sized hospital beds in case I should need one.
Binge drinking and obesity are accepted by society as "the norm", everyday life, smoking has made me a pariah subjected to abuse with people thinking it is acceptable to ridicule me as a smoker saying I do it to "look glamorous".
Sadly an average town centre pub in 21st Century Britain.
Well I for one would not use a pub that did not provide adequate and discrete smoking facilities on the premises, I do not agree with standing outside on the public pavement making a mess with ciggie butts etc, here in Stoke that doesn't seem to happen much especially since it is illegal to drink alcohol in the street.
The regular club I use has a covered, heated smoking area out of sight of the passing public.
Anyone who sees people smoking in the street outside bars or clubs should report it to the council as unsocial behaviour, it may not be illegal but if councils get enough complaints they may act upon it or lobby MPs to regulate it.