A question for the cigarette smokers....

[A True Canadian]

I too am puzzled at how smokers started in the first place, especially in this day and age.

I can understand how people become obese. Eating. It is something that we do to survive. Everyone eats food. Some people have developed such a liking to it that they do it more often than others. That I can understand.

I can also understand how people become alcoholics. Drinking. Again, this is something that everyone does to survive. Drinking a beer is not all that different from drinking milk or juice. Everyone has been taught that if you don't drink, you'll die of dehydration. Some people simply decide that they prefer to drink alcohol instead of something more nutricious. That I can understand.

But smoking on the other hand, I still have a hard time grasping peoples motives. Smoking is not necessary for survival like eating or drinking. We're not given things to smoke as kids (although I'm sure there's a few who were subjected to them at a young age), so it's not like we develop a liking for it as the years go on. We also hear about how bad smoking is constantly before we're old enough to try them out, yet people still decide to smoke.

They know the side-effects, they know why they shouldn't do it, yet it still happens. Is it because of curiosity, pressure from peers, or a combination?

 

[Markdude]

I would guess only live-in relatives would get cancer from second hand smoke. With all the other bad crap in the environment, I find it hard to believe a few random wisps of smoke would lead to insta-cancer...

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Anti-smokers act like breathing in a bit of second-hand smoke every now and then is going to undeniably give you cancer. Unless you wander into bars with a vacuum cleaner hooked up to your nose, nothing is going to happen. Grow up and deal with it. The whole world doesn't smell good.

However:

I am very much against transportation via defecation being banned.

If you're going to try to be a funny and make a joke out of a mistake, it helps if there's actually a mistake. Read my statement again.

 

[Kester^]

The honest reason why I started?

I was 13 and it was the cool thing to do. I thought it made me look cool, and people my age looked up to me. Obviously I was young and impressionable.

Now I'm 23, and I smoke around 20 a week. I always have one in the mornings, on the way to work. Then most of the rest are smoked in the pub at the weekend. Again drinking and smoking just feels so right. Even if I need to go outside to smoke now.

 

[Jintor]

The thing is... drinking i feel is more... acceptable because it's a natural bodily reaction to like the stuff. But nicotine is only comforting to the human body because you get hooked on nicotine; that is to say, it is only because you took that first puff you get any satisfaction from it at all. It doesn't engage endorphines or whatever (unless my understanding of smoking is completely wrong) but it makes the body dependant on it, which is the only reason you feel normal when you smoke.

Imho alcohol, drugs and smoking are not neccessary evils, but rather more like guns in America; attempt to take them out and watch society implode.

 

[Xendance]

My grandpa died of lung cancer last September.

I'm not gonna make his mistake.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

Sorry to hear that, Xen.

And Markdude, I know. Just thought it was funny, out of context, especially...

 

[Beerdude26]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Anti-smokers act like breathing in a bit of second-hand smoke every now and then is going to undeniably give you cancer. Unless you wander into bars with a vacuum cleaner hooked up to your nose, nothing is going to happen. Grow up and deal with it. The whole world doesn't smell good.

No need to add even more crap to the world then

If you're going to try to be a funny and make a joke out of a mistake, it helps if there's actually a mistake. Read my statement again.

Easy. Loosen up a bit

 

[Solaris]

You know, they don't want you to know this in school lessons on smoking.

But just like drinking, drugs and unprotected sex - smoking is fun

 

[Tyguy]

You also have to breathe car exhaust every time you step outside. And you have to breathe in the smell of your feces every time you go to the bathroom. Both of those are just about as harmful as second-hand smoke. Do you suggest we ban transportation via automobile and defecation?

Last time I checked there hasn't been any farting-related deaths :|

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

But according to Buzzbomb43, whom I quote: "In World War Two, the Air Force estimates that around 1000 to 2000 airmen were killed because of flatulence. The reason is B-17 bombers were not pressurized, so when bomber crews operated around 20,000 feet, the gas would expand and rupture their intestines."

From the epic Facts on Farts page...

 

[Tyguy]

From the epic Facts on Farts page...

haha, nice link, i actually read all of that

 

[Beerdude26]

haha, nice link, i actually read all of that

Yeah same here

 

[99.vikram]

-Angry LAwyer

-ANgry Lawyer

LA...AN
Rearranging the letters, AN...AL D:

 

[Absinthe]

I started due to intoxication, curiosity, and probably some passive form of peer pressure. My friends never forced me to do anything, but with many of them being smokers at the time, it was sort of an inevitable consequence of my association.

I like to smoke. Explaining why is pointless. All you need to know is that I am well aware of its dangers and try to be reasonably conscientious about where and with whom I'm smoking around. If you want to put yourself on a pedestal above me for it, you can go **** yourself.

 

[Markdude]

Last time I checked there hasn't been any farting-related deaths :|

The bacteria from the flatulence gases can grow to be deadly. It is very rare for it to get bad enough to kill you, but then again, so is getting lung cancer from second-hand smoke, which is the entire point I am making.

And there have actually been babies killed in the womb by breathing in parts of their fecal matter and the bacteria killing them. But once again, nothing of the sort would ever happen unless you shoved feces up your nose, similarly to the way that nothing of the sort would ever happen with second-hand smoke unless you walked into bars with a vacuum cleaner hooked up to your nose.

And Markdude, I know. Just thought it was funny, out of context, especially...

Had I made the typo that you apparently thought I did, I would think it was funny too. But I didn't make the typo.

 

[Krynn72]

I ****ing hate the smokers at my school. They gather around the entrances to the school buildings so that whenever you go outside for break or at the end of class, theres a huge ****ing cancer cloud trapped under the overhang. Its ****ing disgusting. Who in their right mind would pay money to inhale smoke? Enjoy your cancersticks ******s.

 

[Warbie]

It's one of those things you can't appreciate untill you're a smoker. 90% of the time smoking a cigarrette is pleasureless and pretty much pointless, but sometimes there's nothing else quite like it. I haven't smoked for nearly five years and still get cravings after a sunday roast or a particulalrlly energetic period of sexy time with mrs warbie. How can something so filthy sometimes feel so right?

 

[Pulse]

It's one of those things you can't appreciate untill you're a smoker. 90% of the time smoking a cigarrette is pleasureless and pretty much pointless, but sometimes there's nothing else quite like it. I haven't smoked for nearly five years and still get cravings after a sunday roast or a particulalrlly energetic period of sexy time with mrs warbie. How can something so filthy sometimes feel so right?

The filthiest things in life make for some of the finest experiences. :naughty:

I respect non-smokers when having the occasional cigarette by going outside or not smoking at all when at someone's house, but people who kick up a fuss over smoking and call you 'dirty' and/or hurl abuse at you are ****ing idiots.

Biting your nails is equivalent to licking a toilet seat clean. Next time I see someone biting their nails I'll be sure to be instantly sickened and notify them of all of the potential health risks from indulging in such a habit.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Biting your nails is equivalent to licking a toilet seat clean. Next time I see someone biting their nails I'll be sure to be instantly sickened and notify them of all of the potential health risks from indulging in such a habit.

Hey, I have a nail biting fetish...thing okay?
Wait what?

On-topic: I don't smoke and have no intention of starting, ever. However, I do hate it when people say "well, giving into peer pressure is stupid and easy not to do" Cause I've been there, and its not as easy as it sounds. Nevertheless, I passed down smoking, along with weed, and have no intention of doing either.

Finally, I don't have acutally have a nail-biting fetish...thing.

 

[Que-Ever]

Wait, whats's wrong with nail biting?

 

[Gunner]

I ****ing hate the smokers at my school. They gather around the entrances to the school buildings so that whenever you go outside for break or at the end of class, theres a huge ****ing cancer cloud trapped under the overhang. Its ****ing disgusting. Who in their right mind would pay money to inhale smoke? Enjoy your cancersticks ******s.

Then go tell em you stupid ****. Go complain to your school, why come and cry here?

People like you make me sick. Get off your ass and do something instead of bitching to the wrong people.

 

[Mesz]

I've only ever tried it for social reasons. I prefer weed to cigarettes although I've smoked both just as much and thats a fair bit. Yet I'm still not addicted and nothing's happened to my brain. I've started to see that the government are exaggerating the dangers of cigarettes and cannabis. I'm not denying these dangers though. I've never been offended my anyone smoking in a public place and I've never been offended by someone smoking around me. I just think if it's their choice it's not my place to complain. I would hate to be seen as one of these environmentalist complaining student people who think just because they turned 18 and are going for tertiary education that their opinion actually matters to anyone and that they can actually do something to change the world. My grandfather's been smoking since he was 12 and he's lived to the grand old age of 70. In fact he's not unhealthy at all. Right now he's fitting new tiles for the kitchen downstairs.

 

[Ennui]

Exaggerating the dangers of cannabis, yes. Exaggerating the dangers of tobacco, no. They do over-emphasize it, but smoking cigarettes habitually is actually very bad for you (which makes perfect sense given what it is).

 

[Warbie]

I wouldn't say smoking weed habitually is any better for you - especially as it's usually mixed with tobacco and isn't smoked through a filter.

My better half has recently 'given up' smoking. Very pleased with herself, she's going about telling everyone, yet still uses about 20 or so cigarettes a week to skin up with :rolling:

 

[Krynn72]

Then go tell em you stupid ****. Go complain to your school, why come and cry here?

People like you make me sick. Get off your ass and do something instead of bitching to the wrong people.

Nobodys going to do anything, so all thats left is bitching. There was already a complaint and they posted signs saying to be 15 ft away from the building, but everyone ignores it, including faculty and staff. Me and some of my friends even tell people to stop or move sometimes... usually they just get angry and ignore us because they're twats.

 

[Ennui]

I wouldn't say smoking weed habitually is any better for you - especially as it's usually mixed with tobacco and isn't smoked through a filter.

My better half has recently 'given up' smoking. Very pleased with herself, she's going about telling everyone, yet still uses about 20 or so cigarettes a week to skin up with :rolling:

Not puff for puff, but a heavy marijuana smoker goes through far less plant material and smoke volume in a day than does a heavy (or even moderate) tobacco smoker.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

bc they're relaxing and the brief nicotine high is nice?

that's like asking "WHY DO YOU DRINK? IS IT BECAUSE YOU LOVE THE HANGOVERS? DUMB!!!!"


Obviously not retard.

 

[sinkoman]

I'm not a "smoker" mind you, I only do it when I feel like it. And before you start ranting off at me that "i'm addicted and I just don't know it", think about this. I haven't WANTED to do it for about 9 months, and haven't done it for about 9 months.

But the two reasons I DO do it, are because.

A) I just really love the flavour of tobacco, and the texture that follows. You may think it's disgusting, you may think it's crude and raw, but I just love the taste. Of course, after maybe 3 in a day, it becomes overwhelming, and I won't want to do it for a few more months, but it's just the texture, it's something you can't experience with any other medium. We can stimulate our mind with drugs, we can stimulate our taste buds with foods, we can stimulate our eyes with sites, and we can stimulate our olfactory with smells, but smoke is really the only way to stimulate your lungs.

On the flip side though, I absolutely hate the nicotine high. It's encroaching and crushing, and I just don't like the rush. It's an absolutely magnificent feeling when you use it to accentuate a lack of sobriety via other substances, but on its own, I hate it.

B) When you're in any altered state of mind, your mind likes to play on scenarios that aren't really happening. It's allot of fun, when under the influence of ANY substance, to play make believe.

Cigarettes are just one way to play that make believe. They're a way of altering your reality to expand your mind while it's in a state lacking reality.

Good example, I was in a friends room, and I was just baked out of my mind, and was sitting there watching a bird out of his window. The blinds were halfway open, and the noon sunshine broke the bead of the general blue-grayness of the painted walls, to create a pattern of what I must say were fascinating strokes of light running parallel the entire length of the room.

I grabbed once of his cigs, just for the flavor, and my mind immediately changed. I suddenly felt like I was in one of those old film noir movies, and I was staring out of a bleak and dreary pitch black office room, out onto the balcony of the skyrise I was in. A bird sat perched atop the gutter, curiously chirping his situation. It was a juxtaposition of two fascination opposites, the bright and hum outdoors, and a hard and cold noir interior.

I had a few more, just to explore the world of make believe, a little bit more.

That's only one of many moments I can describe to you where cigarettes were a magnificent way to explore situations lacking sobriety in a different tone.

I wouldn't say smoking weed habitually is any better for you - especially as it's usually mixed with tobacco and isn't smoked through a filter.

My better half has recently 'given up' smoking. Very pleased with herself, she's going about telling everyone, yet still uses about 20 or so cigarettes a week to skin up with :rolling:

THC has anti-carcinogenic properties, so while you take in the smoke, you're effectively neutralizing the risk of cancer.

Well, not neutralizing it, but your lessening it.

It's one of the reasons why medical marijuana patients use vapourizers as their main means of ingestion. You eliminate the smoke, but keep the anti-carcinogenic properties, so you basically get rid of your cancer.

Of course, it's not as simple as that, but it's a brief layman overlay of the topic.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

Coolest. Cigarette-related trip report. Evar.

 

[Absinthe]

Just fifteen minutes ago I went out to pick something up. I power-smoked a cig and it made me feel almost like I was getting stoned. Clearly, cigarettes do prompt physiological effects due to chemical interactions, even though they're generally far more subtle.

My point is that cigs are mind-altering substances like any other, and so to supplant that fact with your own stupid "OMG YOU MUST LIKE THE FEELING OF BLACK LUNGS" reasoning is just ignorant. If you want to have some reasonable discourse with smokers out of your own curiosity, it helps if you don't come to the table already smelling like piss and vinegar.

 

[Warbie]

THC has anti-carcinogenic properties, so while you take in the smoke, you're effectively neutralizing the risk of cancer.

Well, not neutralizing it, but your lessening it.

It's one of the reasons why medical marijuana patients use vapourizers as their main means of ingestion. You eliminate the smoke, but keep the anti-carcinogenic properties, so you basically get rid of your cancer.

Of course, it's not as simple as that, but it's a brief layman overlay of the topic.

Interesting, I know very little about the anti-carcinogenic properties of thc.

I appreciate that vapourisers work well, they're just not much fun, which is why I suspect so few people use them. However, I do remember making one years ago when visiting a friend at cambridge uni, and that was a great laugh. It was constructed (mainly by a few boffins) out of various stuff raided from their chemistry lab and powered by a soldering iron. Not as good as store bought, but did the job. It was like an episode of Macgyver meeting Cheech and Chong.

 

[Jintor]

So basically in order to argue against the effects of smoking I must, first, smoke.

 

[Absinthe]

So basically in order to argue against the effects of smoking I must, first, smoke.

I don't know if this is in response to me or not, but I never argued that. I don't particular like that reasoning any way. It's like "don't knock heroin until you try it". I think pretty much everybody, smoker or not, has the ability to objectively critique smoking.

That said, if you've never smoked, I do think you are at a disadvantage at understanding why people still do it (it's not all addiction) and the end result is topics like this with people trying to pass off their soapbox speeches as curiosity.

 

[The Monkey]

It's an advantage in many social situations to smoke, that's one of the reasons people start.

It also looks better to stand around and smoking than standing around doing nothing.

 

[Ennui]

THC has anti-carcinogenic properties, so while you take in the smoke, you're effectively neutralizing the risk of cancer.

Well, not neutralizing it, but your lessening it.

It's one of the reasons why medical marijuana patients use vapourizers as their main means of ingestion. You eliminate the smoke, but keep the anti-carcinogenic properties, so you basically get rid of your cancer.

Of course, it's not as simple as that, but it's a brief layman overlay of the topic.

Hmm. The anti-carcinogen effect is for the most part debatable. It's a relatively new finding, and pretty much all it's based off of is the fact that in a study that was essentially intended to correlate lung cancer with marijuana use, they actually found that it had a mild protective effect. Apparently THC helps to kill possibly cancerous brain cells, or something to that effect.

Just fifteen minutes ago I went out to pick something up. I power-smoked a cig and it made me feel almost like I was getting stoned. Clearly, cigarettes do prompt physiological effects due to chemical interactions, even though they're generally far more subtle.

My point is that cigs are mind-altering substances like any other, and so to supplant that fact with your own stupid "OMG YOU MUST LIKE THE FEELING OF BLACK LUNGS" reasoning is just ignorant. If you want to have some reasonable discourse with smokers out of your own curiosity, it helps if you don't come to the table already smelling like piss and vinegar.

Schwing. I also want to add that I've always been very sensitive to any sort of change in my consciousness - I can always tell if I'm even the tiniest bit different / buzzing - and nicotine buzzes are very noticeable to me (although considerably less so than when I hadn't smoked them before).

I use tobacco (excluding hookah, which is an entirely different experience) mostly as a supplement to other things... if I'm drinking, it deadens my tastebuds a bit so that it's easier to toss back a few shots and it changes / intensifies the drunken state.

The Monkey makes a point too (man, I'm glad you're not Taxman anymore). Smoking is something to do when you're waiting for someone or doing something else that requires you to stand around idly in a public place, and it's more interesting and engaging than fiddling with your cell phone. That's obviously not a reason to start smoking, but it's still a factor.

 

[Jintor]

I don't know if this is in response to me or not, but I never argued that. I don't particular like that reasoning any way. It's like "don't knock heroin until you try it". I think pretty much everybody, smoker or not, has the ability to objectively critique smoking.

That said, if you've never smoked, I do think you are at a disadvantage at understanding why people still do it (it's not all addiction) and the end result is topics like this with people trying to pass off their soapbox speeches as curiosity.

Argh. This damn logic thing knocks all my emotion-based arguements into the ground.

I'm still not smoking ever though.

 

[Gray Fox]

As far as I know drugs like for example meth make your body release about 6 times more endorphins then you could ever achieve on your own. Now getting yourself addicted is like having someone kick you contantly exept for 3 minutes when you take your shot and not only does it feel good because the pain stopped, you also feel an intense pleasure like floating in a spaceship thats like a castle while your being pleasures by 30 pornstars.
It's stupid, but I can somewhat understand it why you'd try it.

Now cigarettes on the other hand are like letting yourself be kicked except for those 3 minutes that you smoke and the pain go's away, and thats it. So as far as I see cigarettes do not give you any additional pleasure you cannot get on your own, they just make your live miserable so that when you take a smoke, you feel normal, which feels great for a smoker because the addiciton makes him feel like shit the rest of time.
So I do not get why someone would want to do it outside of peerpressure, I get meth, I get cocain, I get LSD, I get toadlicking, but smoking as far as I know is just stupid.
And people have the right to call you out on the stupidity.

 

[Ennui]

I'm glad you "get" LSD, because I sure don't. It's an existential kick in the nuts.

Believe it or not, people, cigarettes do have noticeable psychological effects - there is a subtle nicotine high, albeit it's mild and fleeting. They do reduce anxiety temporarily.

Smoking habitually is a bad idea. However, it does have merits, and I can understand someone doing it. I personally am not comfortable enough with the health risks to be able to smoke regularly, but I don't knock people who do.

Also, for those of you who have never been addicted to anything, you are not in a position to comment on addiction itself (I'm not trying to call anyone out here). It's a vastly more powerful force than you could imagine, particularly for certain people.

 

[Gray Fox]

LSD gives you an experience you cannot get without it, plus it's not actually considerd addictive, and while extreemly potent it's far less dangerouse them most legal durgs. In fact you'd will od much faster on caffeine pills then on LSD.

As far as addiction, no one is doubthing the force of addiction, but that is all the more reason to not smoke. When you as a human know the consequences of smoking, know how powerfull addiction can be then it is stupid to go and smoke.

edit: I was wrong about the caffeine pills thing, I got confused. It is real hard to OD on LSD because the dose that you need to OD is so much higher then what you would normally take to get high, about 1000x normal dose.

 

[Beerdude26]

In fact you'd will od much faster on caffeine pills then on LSD.

Taking a mix of pure caffeine and vodka makes for a good party night, I know that