The Joys of Tobacco
 

Let's imagine that tomorrow a medicine is created that makes cancer no more threatening than a mild cold. Would you would drop what you were doing and go buy a pack of cigarettes, or some other enjoyable tobacco product? If cures to common smoking ailments are discovered, will the stigma against smokers lift, or will it remain embedded into our society? If you do not smoke, is it because you value your health, or because you simply do not like the culture? If you presently do smoke, why have you chosen to continue, despite the health ramification?

Having smoked in the past, I can attest to how much fun it is. I've enjoyed cigarettes, cigars, and even hookahs. I just love the culture that surrounds smoking, similar to the way I enjoy the culture that surrounds coffee (cigarettes and coffee anyone?). Sadly, there is a small conflict of interests between tobacco and myself–that whole “it'll kill you” thing. I've been cold turkey for several months now, but damn I miss it! I have a feeling that even if the health impact of smoking was somehow [magically] lessened the stigma against it would remain in place. If I didn't have to worry about my lungs turning into black, leather windbags of cancerous death, I would definitely be smoking a cigarette right now. What do the rest of you make of it?

I'd tell all the people who told me I should quit to fuck right off, while lighting up another one.

I'd probably smoke. It's just fun, like being a dragon. Gives you something to do while waiting for whatever as well.

I mainly don't smoke because it triggers my asthma, it's stinky, and expensive. Oh, and I didn't get anything out of the one ciggie I tried at 19 (except for stinky fingers and hair).

Plus addiction to anything is inconvenient.

Have lost several friends and family members to lung cancer. That also leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

the smell is fucking horrible!!! I get massive headaches from cigarette smoke so smoking is out of the question. plus the massive cost is fucking retarded. Give me a cigarette that will give me vitamines or something with a benifit, and i'd look into it. but even if it wasnt harmful, it would still be baned just from the effect of smoke on everything. (smell, everything looks yellow, you can burn your house or w/e if you drop your cigarette, etc...)

so no, I will never enjoy tobacco.

God I wish I could quit.....you just went cold turkey ryborg??? The health risks, the cost, the stigma.....what more do you need??? The willpower perhaps....

Yeah cold turkey it's been. I look at a person smoking a cigarette and think something to the effect of "yum." Honestly, I think a cigarette smells great fresh out of a pack, and while the odor after you light it up isn't as pleasant, the buzz was worth it to me. The cancer part, however, just isn't. Hopefully I'll continue to avoid one of those "just-one" breaks which typically lead to disaster.

I've been trying the 'cut back first' method....a copout I'm sure, but I just cant bring myself to lay them down yet! I was smoking 2 packs a day, now I'm down to 1...hopefully, I'll get down to 1 or 2 cigs a day and be able to take the blunge. I quit before for 6 months but when I started a new job, everybody smoked and I started back, another copout I'm sure......I guess I really didnt quit either........

I don't like cigarette smoke, nor the feeling of smoking cigarettes, so I wouldn't change my habits.

Yes, its particularly difficult to avoid when you're surrounded by smokers. Thankfully none of the people I presently work with smoke, so I have not had temptation knocking at my door. I've discovered that as long as I keep them out of my home, I can avoid smoking them. Once I actually have them in my possession, I can't help but smoke them because...well...there they are. I live very close to a gas station though, which has proved tough to drive past sometimes.

I agree with zeraph... there is something inherently attractive to me about breathing smoke. I like the smell too, as long as it doesn't linger for too long. I'm willing to overlook the damage tobacco does to my health, but man do i hate the cravings.

I've enjoyed Hookas in the past, but those are vastly different than a cigarette.

Cigarette smoke is just super nasty. It gets all in your hair, your face, and your clothes and makes you smell like you've been rolling in flotsam at low tide, in my opnion. When you're a smoker and walk into somewhere that's non-smoking, everyone can smell it on you and involentairly moves back six inches. My husband works at a computer repair shop and everyone there really hates getting in computers that come from the homes of smokers- they smell awful when you turn them on, and they're always full of congealed smoke, which is a pain to blow out with an air compressor.

Even if there were no more fear of cancer, cigarettes are still just nasty, and I think a lot of people would still have the same opnion about smoking them as they do now. I know I would.

Never smoked, don't plan to try it even if it becomes a health food. Just plain gross and smelly.

Also, I know for a fact that most of my non-smoking friends would never date a smoker long-term. Kissing a smoker grosses them out... maybe it's a superficial thing, but man if I was a smoker I'd hate to have my only dating options be other people who smell like me. That would be enough reason for me to quit!! :) (Sexual selection, anyone?)

I couldn't agree more! I'm not going to tell people not to smoke, but I could never do it. I grew up with my Dad smoking non-stop. Everytime I'd leave the house, I could smell it on me and on my clothes and it was absolutely disgusting. I could never imagine doing that to myself.

Now see, I said the same thing for quite a long time. My boyfriend now is a smoker who is trying to quit. Although i don't like the smoking, I've made it very clear that he should be quitting for himself and not for me - as I'll kiss him either way. :)

I don't think I'd start smoking even if there were no health risks. As it's been stated already..it smells terrible, is expensive, and it also ruins the tastes and smells of food. I wouldn't see any reason to start.

If the health risks were magically negated, I'd feel better about the last thirty years. As it stands, we the smokers are social pariahs, and I'm guessing we'll stay that way. It does stink, after all.

(Prescription for the patch, unfilled. Check!)

If the negative health effects disappeared then hopefully the price of a pack would be more reasonable and I would smoke more.

As it is now the only thing preventing me from smoking all the time is the price.

Cig smoke does smell bad (I'm a smoker) but it's really no worse than the frat-boy covered in cheap cologne, or the woman who put way too much Chanel #5 on.

As far as the pricing goes, prices for smokes around bad where I'm at but I do know that if it was found that lung cancer or cancer in general became equal to the common cold prices would plummet. The reason prices go up so high are because of all the stupid lawsuits against the cigarette companies.

yeah.. they "forced" you to smoke :rolleyes:

/end that rant quickly.

So yeah I would continue to smoke happily and just as tinfoil said, I'd tell everyone who bitched about it before to fuck off

:D

Today happens to be the sixth anniversary of my quitting smoking.

If the health effects of smoking vanished, I'd be tempted to smoke. If the social effects of smoking (the smell, having to go stand outside, etc) vanished, I'd have a cigarette right fucking now.

Maybe in another six years I'll be a non-smoker. These days the cravings only hit me maybe once a month. I'll be walking down the street and walk through a cloud of somebody's smoke and suddenly NEED a cigarette RIGHT NOW. Within a few minutes I've talked myself down, but it's amazing how overwhelming a physical craving can be.

Sorry, dude. You only think that because your sense of smell has been clobbered by the smoking. It's much, much worse.

Well I went years without smoking and I can tell you honestly that I would rather smell a cigarette than a person who bathed in cologne. To this day, even if I am smoking, I get instant headaches if such a person gets close to me or if someone lights a really sweet candle in a small area.

:shrug:

It's funny reading this thread, as I smoke because it makes people crowd away from me.

An interesting rationale for engaging in known cancer-causing behaviors.

Link

Perhaps they'll give you a private room in the cancer ward. :)

Perhaps I smoke because I am horribly depressed by people like you, and I hope for an early departure from this world.

No, really.

That sucks that you let someone else's opinion horribly depress you.

my smoking habbits are so strange. I have two personalities about it, one is that I am consistently around smokers, being a musician you're in bars an clubs, doing with other musicians who are smokers etc etc. The Temptation is always there. I will crack time to time and buy a pack, smoke it slowly over the course of like 2 weeks and then not buy a pack for months. It comes and goes.

When I am not smoking (which is the majority of the time) I hate smokers and hate going to smoky places yet I go to them even though it's bad for me. I'm not exactly the modle of health anyway but still. Especially in bars here in Texas when I moved here from Canada where smoking indoors is flat out illegal now in most parts of the country was such a huge temptation but I avoided it for a whole year until I got my own place and then said Fuck it I need a smoke. Right now as I'm typing this I feel like going to the 7-11 and picking up a pack because my stress level is through the roof and I know it would help me calm down and shit.

Must fight the devil....

IF smoking had no negative health repercussions I would most likely be a full time smoker

That's because you used to be a smoker. This is like having a discussion about the smell of fish - I grew up eating lots of fish that we even doused with vinegar and garlic on to make it taste better (that's filipino food for you). Most people I know go running for the hills when they smell it, but I love when the smell fills my lungs and it makes me quite hungry. I'm guessing you might not feel the same way unless you ate the same food growing up.

I hate the smell of smoke, and I actually even smoked a cigarette once when I was so drunk I didn't know any better. I've been sorry ever since. If it tasted all fruity like a hookah, then that would be another story. I won't even go into the health aspects since the OP is clearly asking for our thoughts NOT having to do with that, and because some sad people are apparently getting depressed every time other people say they don't like carcinogens.

I'll put a question back to the OP - what do you mean the "culture" that surrounds smoking? I didn't realize there was a single culture that encompassed all kinds of smoking. I'd be interested to hear what you mean by that. In my experience, people who enjoy one kind of smoking (say, hookah or cigar) do not necessarily enjoy the other kinds. What does that culture mean to you?

Cancer and other health effects aside, I can't think of any reason why I would start.
Smokers look nervous and fidgety, they can't smell and taste food very good, and they stink, why would one chose that?

Never did like smoking. Give me Cope any day :)

I'm an avid stogie smoker. My good friend is a 5th generation cigar roller and blender who's been in the US from Cuba about 25 years now. He will argue with you any day of the week about different qualities of tobacco, aging, curing, fermentation and various other factors that contribute to a smoke's damage. I'd like to see a study on his cigars alone. Very interesting stuff. I also enjoy hookah about once a week. I have yet to notice any detrimental effects. I tried cigarettes all of twice in my life, both times I was drunk and couldn't breathe the next day.

I enjoy a good cigar every once and a while
and I enjoy smoking hookah occasionally too.

I figure a bit in moderation wont hurt me enough to worry about. and I dont smoke often enough to have cravings... never once have I felt any kind of craving. But I do get a buzz from it.

hmmm I wonder if we have enough cigar smokers here that we could do a box pass or something like that... would be pretty cool.

Nah, i wouldn't I dont have an oral fixation, the smell makes me gag a little, and I have a strong stomach otherwise. Both my parents smoke, I never picked it up, it was just a nasty nasty habit in my eyes.

I have to wonder if this idea that smoking is disgusting is simply due to the negative image that tobacco has gained over the last twenty or thirty years. Yes, it'll kill you. Yes, most people consider this a drawback. But then, I'm sure there are a number of folks here who recall the days when smoking was so prevalent that most hospital rooms had ashtrays in them. There was a time when smoking was just about as common as drinking is now and yet that seems to be forgotten. It strikes me as odd that there weren't more people in those days extolling how it was a dirty disgusting habit with no redeeming qualities.

I grew up in a home with two parents as smokers. Even after my dad split, my mum maintained a pack a day habit for most of my childhood and didn't actually start going outside to smoke until my stepfather more or less forced her to (I was twelve at that point). I don't think my mother is a bad person for smoking. I don't think I'm a bad person for smoking. And, having grown up with it, I'm not particularly bothered by the smell of cigarette smoke.

I'm not one to force my habits on others, just as I expect others not to force their habits on me. I gave up drinking and drugs several years ago. I'm not about to judge people for sparking up now and again (or even every day if that's your thing), but the smell of marijuana bothers me these days and if someone is smoking it I'm likely to be somewhere else. I have no problem with people who take the same attitude towards my cigarettes and I fancy that I'm actually fairly considerate about it. I don't light up in front of anyone unless I know they're okay with it. If I don't know that for a fact, I ask. I don't stand in front of doors, I don't smoke inside bus shelters. In general, I take the consequences of my habit with good humour. What gets me, after all that, is that there are people who feel they have the right to make a moral judgment about me based on my vice. Smoking is not who I am, it's something I do and it does not make me or anyone else a bad person. For those who are assholes about it, I'm inclined to say they're probably assholes in general and it's not fair to those of us who aren't to blame the unrelated habit.

What bothers me even more is the people who feel the need to sermonize. I'm aware of the risks, thanks. Seeing as half the surface of my pack is taken up by big, dramatic warnings (see?), I'd have to be a fool to not be and if that were the case you're probably wasting your breath. If I choose to smoke anyway, odds are I have a reason.

I realize I've gotten a bit off-topic here and I apologize. This is one of those subjects that gets me foaming at the mouth, as some here probably know already. I am a smoker and I am not apologetic about it.

To answer the original question, I do enjoy smoking . I enjoy the rush. The pleasure of that first cigarette of the day, the post-dinner cigarette, the with-coffee cigarette, the post-coitus cigarette. It does give me a way to fill wait time (you say my prescription will take ten minutes to fill? Right, I'll be outside having a smoke). It acts as a social lubricant. Oh, right, there's also that chemically dependent thing.

I started smoking for reasons that I won't go into here. The reasons I continue to smoke are very different, but I consider them valid. And the bottom line is that when it comes to my health and my habits, I really couldn't give a shit about anyone else's opinion but my own.

I've always said that I'll quit smoking the day after I die.

My mom is a Respiratory Registered Nurse. It's amazing how Doctors and her alike light up a cigarette after a major surgery knowing what it can do to their body.

When you're in a stressful environment you tend to do what suits you the best I guess. It's a cost-benefit world...

From an ex-smoker, no I really can't stand the smell. I would rather be stuck in a room with horrid perfume than smoke. Mainly because I've probably smelled cigarettes at their worst.
When the bottle returns come back to the brewery we often have ones that are jam packed with butts. Bottles when they go on the line are flipped upside down and sprayed out inside a machine so that all the random crap in them (butts included) falls into what we call the "butt trays". So called because the most identifiable smell is... you guessed it, cigarette butts. The stale, wet tobacco smell is one of the most disgusting smells I've ever smelled in my whole life, I seriously came very close to vomiting the first time I had to go near those trays. The worst part was that I didn't even really notice it until I quit. Now pretty much any cigarette smoke just reminds me of those trays.

So no, even if they were super-healthy-fun-time cigarettes I still wouldn't smoke them.

Also, I really don't miss the absolutely disgusting smoker's cough I had developed. I was coughing all night long so bad that my girl friend couldn't sleep beside me because my coughing was keeping her up all night.

Well, I'm on Cold Turkey Day 3 and its a freakin' bitch. If I could simply change the fact I ever smoked I would, and if I am successful this time I wont return to the smoking world. I do feel significantly better in some ways already...but withdrawal is simply no fun at all.

Smoking...you can have it, regardless of the health risk. I am tired of allowing a drug to influence my happiness.

Even if that were the case, I wouldn't start. The smell of cigarette smoke is fucking disgusting.

Zyban for me, worked like a champ. I was amazed how I could drop my 14 year, 2-1/2 packs a day habit almost immediately.

In addition, the Zyban did some crazy shit to my brain, I had more energy than I knew what to do with and was hornier than a 16 year old (I was about 32 at the time, not so good when your wife just gave birth).

I freaked out about getting off the stuff, but that went pretty smooth as well.

If there were no ill side-effects to your livelihood, I probably still would not smoke due to the stink, which I never really understood until I quit.

You realize of course that not everyone who smokes dies of cancer. They die of the effects it has on your lungs. You fill up with fluid and you literally drown on dry land, or you can breathe but you get little oxygenation from it- even if pure oxygen is flowing into your nostrils.

So this magic pill would not only have to reverse cancer, but also reverse damage to the entire internal structure of the lungs. No way would that ever happen. Once the alveoli (the sacs that fill with air in your lungs) are dead or hardened, they're done.

Plus, smoking and all things smoking related stink.

It really is amazing how you don't even notice/understand how bad the smell is until you quit.