Smoking

[Cadmium]

I've been smoking since I was sixteen. A lot of people in my environment have given up smoking recently. I'm still having trouble quitting. I don't smoke that much during daytime, no more than three sigarettes. But once I'm done working and eating, I light one after another.

I was wondering how many of you smoke. I think fewer people in America smoke compared to Europe. Since the beginning of this year, we have a new law in Holland. Noone is allowed to smoke in public buildings anymore (with the exception of bars). This and making the taxes higher (still nothing compared to England) is meant to get more people to quit.

[Phoebus]

No, I never did and never will either.

[CoolBot]

I've have a cigar or two, but I've never smoked.

[Dasquian]

Ditto. Neither of my parents smoke and I was always brought up with the "it's a bad idea" mindset, so I've never been remotely tempted. I support any kind of smoking ban, but then again it's very easy for me to say that not knowing what it's like to be a smoker

Over here, they've recently started "shock tactics" adverts of people smoking cigarettes oozing fat, designed to disgust people into quitting, and other ones of people on breath machines choking out that they're dying of lung cancer after smoking so much. They're pretty distressing :/

[Leonardo 007]

Not smoking, never did. Neither cigarettes, cigars nor hookah. Don't wanna try, I can manage perfectly without it, thank you

But I drink once in a while...

[Dragon Phoenix]

What Phoebus said. One of the few good things about living in Singapore was the wide-spread smoke ban. Hurray for fresh air! And bah at French restaurants where - if they have a non-smoker section at all - all tables still contain ashtrays and nothing is said or done when clients smoke there.

[Dragon Slayer]

And never will....

[Thoth]

About 10 years ago I smoked occassionally when drinking, but I never bought any cigarettes myself. So I voted no.

[edit:For some reasons the Dutch posters used sigarettes [/edit]

[Yoko Kurama]

I smoke two joints in the mourning. I smoke two joints at night. I smoke two joints in the afternoon, it makes me feel alright. I smoke two joints in a time of peace and two in a time of war. I smoke two joints then I smoke two joints and then I smoke two more.

Though I've never smoked or done drugs I have that damn

Sublime

song stuck in my head.

[Jaguar]

I used to smoke. Not heavily, about a pack every two or three days or so (25 in a pack). I started when I was 19 and quit when I was 23, so not for very long. My incentive: Stop smoking or find a new boyfriend... I stopped smoking and haven't regretted it for the last 7 years. And yes, I'm still with the same guy

[God]

Cigars and

pot

But no cigarettes.

[Talitha]

I clicked that "I never did" but that's not quite true. I tried a couple of times (to be "cool") but they never quite agreed with me, thankfully.
NZ is introducing legislation to make bars smokefree (just like every other workplace).
My husband used to smoke a lot, but he gave up after meeting me!
(And no, I didn't ask him to!)

Yoko - you young thing. That's a Bob Marley song

[gslamm]

I smoke two joints then I smoke two joints and then I smoke two mo

That is a Bob Marley song that Sublime did a great cover of.

[shadyforce]

Both my parents smoked, and drink. So like every influence I had until I left for college: Smoking, drinking, Catholic Religion, Traditional Values, etc... I rebelled.

[Macros]

never have, never will, i work in abar, bad enough thank you.
i dont agree with smoking, its a filthy disgusting rotten dirty habit, but in saying that, i dont agree with banning smoking in public. You dont like it, leave. i agree with non smoking sections, that really are "smoke free" but in a bar, you dont like it, tough, go to a non smokers bar.
thus ends my story.

[PolarBoy]

Never have smoked. Don't plan to ever. Dasquian, they've been doing those here for years now. My favorite is still the crazy driving one; "You endanger my life, I endanger yours.".

[Totem]

Never smoked. Both my dad and older brother smoked. They both quit couple of years ago.
Hate smoking. I keep telling people that I am alergic to nicotyne just to have some fresh air.
Once or twice i have threatened people at my university with the fire extinguisher("If you dont put that out I will cover you with foam and latter tell that I thought that your clothes were on fire. I have a bad eyesight you know")

[Gaspode'sTooLazyToLogin]

Never have, never will. I just find it disgusting, and the last thing I want to do is mess with my health. It

really

bugs me when people smoke in non-smoking areas, and I make it a point to cough very loudly when they walk by. If you're going to smoke in public, go off to the side or to a designated smoking section.

[Jaguar]

A recent by-law in Calgary also bans smoking in public places and if you allow minors in, no smoking at all, unless it is a separate room that is separately vented and completely enclosed.

There's problem with Macros' statement:

You dont like it, leave. i agree with non smoking sections, that really are "smoke free" but in a bar, you dont like it, tough, go to a non smokers bar.

There are no "non-smoking" bars in the City I live in as far as I know. The other problem is that there is not always a non-smoking alternative.

I agree with not allowing people to smoke in public places. It is a hazard to your health, even if you are a non-smoker (here in Canada we've been inundated with an ad campaign where a non-smoker who worked in a bar all her live is now dying of lung cancer). Now I know that is a case where she was exposed every day that she worked, but there are people that are severely affected by cigarette smoke due to asthma or other respiratory problems and by making public areas non-smoking it improves their environment and may even allow them more freedom of movement if they have severe problems.

[/rant]

[Dragon Slayer]

I'm disappointed, God...

[cuban smoker]

I've never touched Cigarettes, never will, but I'm up to about 1 Dominican cigar every 2 days or so.

[Leonardo 007]

Dominican. Right.

[d8P]

Smoking is a ludicrous affectation, nothing more.

I smoked for about 15 years, ruined my helatlh to the point where I couldn't even run for a bus without wheezing, puffing and breaking into sweat. Must have been really good to damage myself to that extent, right?

Wrong. I hated having to smoke most of the time. I hated wanting to stop and not simply never doing it. "I can quit any time I want - I've done it hundreds of times before" I used to quote. This was, in fact, the only thing I used to tell myself about smoking that was actually true.

I read one of Allen Carr's book twice. The first time I stopped for about a month with less discomfort than putting on coldsore cream. But I'd stopped to appease my girlfriend and ended up back on them.

Last year in June I stopped for good. It was great, even the "cravings" - I revelled in them, knowing what they signified. They only lasted three days. I'd always thought those cravings lasted for ages - total crap spread about by people excusing themselves from sorting themselves out.

So much of smoking is surrounded in myth, Cadmium. The only difficult thing about stopping is seeing through the illusions you've been entertaining about it since before you even started.

Ask yourself while you're smoking your next cigarette if you really like that combination of taste and smell, the one you've chosen above other brands. Really focus on it as you inhale, so it's just you and the smells and tastes of the cigarette.
You smoke, so there must be a reason, right? Try to find it.

Does it really give you something or just return you to the state you constantly had before you developed the addiction?

If you're like me you're thinking "but OK, there's the one after [insert occasion here]. I always enjoyed that one." Check it out. Next time you have [whatever], when you light up ask yourself the same questions, and what exactly it's adding to the experience.

These were observations that Carr makes that woke me up. Smoking "cravings" are 99% psychological. Deal with them one at a time. When you feel one, it's like a vague feeling of hunger, but you can analyze that sensation rather than let it fester in your subconscious. Recognising the feeling for what it really is, you can quickly turn the niggling into a rush of happiness, because a craving means you'redoing something positive.

Any cravings you have, drag them into the light and see them for what they are - the exact same feelings that kept you smoking from the age of 16.

Bah. I really want to help, but reading through this I don't think I've said it well enough or clearly enough. I hope it does help though. If not, you could always try to get a copy of one of his stop smoking books. "Stop" not "quit" or "give up", by the way. "Quit" sounds like a lack of perseverance, so that's not right. "Give up" implies a sacrifice and that's not right. "Stop" fits the bill.

I know the method was good because a friend asked me in June how long I'd been off them and I'd lost count of the days. After one week.

Anyway, my email is in my profile if I can help more.

[jeep]

The only difficult thing about stopping is seeing through the illusions you've been entertaining about it since before you even started.

Not true. If you do not have an addictive personality, this may be true. For those who get addicted, you will have difficulty breakin git without help.

-JEEP

[Stewie]

Never did, never will. In here, they are going to introduce a proposal to make smoking illegal not only in public places, like it already is, but 4 to 50 meters away from those public places too. I hope they make it 50.