I don't smoke. I'm 19, and I've never tried. Never will also. People find that hard to believe when I tell them that.

 

Nothing surprising about that.
I used to be a big health freak just prior to starting smoking. I used to work out 4-5 hours a day (rowing practice, running, weights).
Never told myself I would smoke then, but then again I really was still quite young. Who knows what might happen 10 years down the track?

But really, don't.

 

Let me first say that I don't smoke, but I do smokeless tobacco. It's a nasty habit I picked up at work around 1980. The guys that worked in my area wanted to quit smoking and started doing snuff. I started along with them just to see what it was like. Before you knew it, I was hooked. I'm sorry I ever started putting that stuff in my mouth. I have tried to quit several times, but can't seem to kick the habit.
Having said that, I can't stand smoking around me. I go over to my dad's and leave there smelling like I was in a bar. I remember hating going in any of his vehicles because of the smell and the yellow coating on the inside of the windows from all the cigarette smoke he emitted. Personally, I don't care what a person does to their body, as long as it doesn't effect me.

 

When someone asks me why I smoke, my usual answer is "So I don't have to show my sarcasm to you."

nicotine is a very powerful drug. I have had quit it for 2 years. I didn't know how powerful it was then. When I restarted, I had this anger inside of me and couldn't control it. So I bought a pack of cigarette and after 2 puffs, I was so calm.

Seung, I guess you do not smoke and I think you should be proud of it. I'll also be since I know how hard it is not to smoke in Korean community.

 

I never smoked in my life until a few years ago. I don't smoke a lot because I like to be in shape. But I smoke black and milds sometimes to relax and I enjoy the smell. I smoke weed like once every two years for... an outter body experince I guess hahaahaha, but I don't even like doing that because you can get into so much trouble.

 

relaxation. i quit for two years and started back up over the summer...funny story acutally. Two year ago when i quit smoking, i went cold turkey. I took some codeine to get me over the first three days and that was it, no more. Then this summer i got really sick and was prescribed codiene for it. Well i got better and stopped the codiene to find I was going through withdrawl, and I ended up smoking all night in a bar and that's how i started again. Went full circle on the drugs

 

For me I started when I was young and curious/stupid. I started out getting headrushes and then smoking more and more until I was a nicotine junkie. I was definately addicted if I didn't smoke I was just intolerable. From the time I was in my late 20's until about the age of 32 I smoked less and less and less gradually. I figured I would stop the opposite way I started by smoking less and less. The last 2 years I smoked I couldn't get below 1 pack a week finally it just pissed me off so much I quit. The high price also helped every day I didn't buy a pack of smokes I put $3.00 away and stuck to it. Like others here have said you really have to want to quit and having someone busting your chops about quiting all the time isn't going to help most people, positive reinforcement is. And that's all I have to say about that.

 

I started on a cross country run at school when I was about 15

Nicotine is a very powerful drug and it's a very difficult habit to break. I gave up for 6 months once and while I couldn't honestly say every day was a struggle, it really didn't get any easier. The hardest times were social gatherings when I was happiest with a pint in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Many people who've given it up for several years will tell you that they could still smoke a cigarette at the drop of a hat. It's that difficult... I don't think you ever reach a point where it doesn't bother you.

Why we start is a fair question though. Many things in life are an acquired taste and cigarettes is most definitely one of them. Few people would say they enjoyed their first cigarette, so I suppose it's a bravado thing or a 'grown up' thing that that keeps you at it and you're soon hooked.

Smoking is considered far more anti-social than it was only a few years ago, so most of us are far more careful about where we smoke, and I suppose we're more defensive about it. There's only so far I'll go though to meet the 'Holier than thou' halfway. Complain about me smoking in a public place and you'll be invited to find yourself some space somewhere else.

I find the passive smoking hobby horse wearisome and irritating. I was standiing at the bar in a pub once when a rather rotund lady seated at a table about 3 tables away from a smoker said in a loud voice. "My God you're not lighting ANOTHER cigarette!!"

He replied "If you'd just stop farting madam, then I wouldn't need to"

I've actually cut it down quite a bit of late and I may try to give it up again... one of these days.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Elistan
[B]Nearly all of them were cloves - I really dig the smell and taste of them - and it was almost always while we were at a club.

 

haha gotta use that one sometime.