One of these days I am going to buy a pack of cigarettes just to see what I have been missing out on all these decades. 😛
The Rolling Stones and the Beatles were often photographed with cigarette in hand or in mouth, which probably contributed to the cool factor. In the 1970s a number of kids smoked just outside the chain-link-fence perimeter of our high school. Some were quite popular kids, while some others among them were wannabes who probably imagined they were (or should have been) popular.
Adults were permitted to smoke outdoors on public school campuses back then. To this day I associate cigar and pipe smoke with high school football games, where fans in the stands would light up as the spirit moved them. Cigarettes could be advertised on radio and TV in the USA up until maybe sometime in the 1970s or 1980s. I recall the catchy jingle that went, "Happiness is the taste of Kent."
If you smoke, at what age did you start? Do you have brand loyalty? Do you ever roll your own to save money? Did you smoke in the school lavatory? Have you tried to quit?
Father smoked, mother didn't (respectable women didn't in those days). I took it up at 17 to try to break the nailbiting habit, dropped it within a few weeks because I didn't have a wellpaid job and nailbiting was cheaper. I wouldn't call myself an ex-smoker, it was just an experiment, never got to enjoy it or become addicted. First husband was a smoker, I've avoided them ever since. Easy now in Australia, smoking has become the "low-class" thing to do, and nobody wants to admit being one of THOSE, do they?
I smoke Belmont Milds which is the ubiquitous Toronto brand. Started at 19. Ironically, it was probably the last drug I tried after years of experimenting with more illicit ones. Still smoke to this day 15 years later. I've tried to quit many times but have never succeeded, likely because I've never really wanted to quit.
Originally posted by Zamboner I smoke Belmont Milds which is the ubiquitous Toronto brand. Started at 19. Ironically, it was probably the last drug I tried after years of experimenting with more illicit ones. Still smoke to this day 15 years later. I've tried to quit many times but have never succeeded, likely because I've never really wanted to quit.
Your last comment is the clue. YOU have to want to quit. No amount of pressure from without will do it. I smoked for 25 years. I quit 2 times (both times for 2 years) and went back for reasons of stress. I remember saying that when the cost of a pack went to $0.75 I'd quit. Then it was when it hits $1.00/pack....nope, the price didn't matter (when I started smoking they were $0.27/pack). When I did finally quit I remember telling my family and friends that this is my last pack and then this is my last smoke and finally this is the last puff and I was done. That was 26 years ago. It's very, very hard to give up but once you really want to it was quite easy. I put on a few pounds (10) that I haven't been able to shred but I sure feel a lot better. I was the kind of smoker who had a cigarette lit before my feet hit the floor in the morning. Good luck to all who still smoke just remember YOU have to be the one who WANTS to quit.
Agree with you both. The main impetus for me attempting to quit over the years has been to save money and because it is unhealthy but I have always enjoyed it too much to make it stick.
Originally posted by Zamboner Agree with you both. The main impetus for me attempting to quit over the years has been to save money and because it is unhealthy but I have always enjoyed it too much to make it stick.
Money or economy isn't good enough a reason, I think. I started smoking when I was 14 and stopped at 49. All it takes is a conviction to say "no more" - your health should be that reason.
My dad smoked 4 packs a day for decades, quit cold turkey at age 60. I never started and am glad of that. The reason I never started was due to a biology class in HS.
They had this demo of a freshly killed cow lung from some meat processing plant. When the demo started, the lung looked very pink and healthy. They hooked it up to a cigarette smoking machine, had it tied in to the tubes with strings.
They then put a single cigarette on a clamped tube and lit it and it drew air in through the cigarette into the lung. When the cigarette was burned out, the lung had turned this awful shade of black with black stuff dripping out. That made a life long anti smoker out of me instantly.
They should show that demo to every HS class IMHO.
Originally posted by Paul Dirac II If you smoke, at what age did you start? Do you have brand loyalty? Do you ever roll your own to save money? Did you smoke in the school lavatory? Have you tried to quit?
I started smoking cannabis before cigarettes surprisingly, when I was 16. At 18 I started smoking the odd 'social cigarette' in pubs and was soon hooked. I gave up smoking when I was 30 (I'm now 36) and have never looked back. Oh yes and most of my smoking years I smoked rolling tobacco as it cost me £5 for a pouch of Golden Virginia, which lasted me all week.
I still miss having a cigarette now and then; with a pint, with a brew or waiting for a bus/train on a wet day, all still give me the urge to roll one up.
Originally posted by Sicilian Sausage I started smoking cannabis before cigarettes surprisingly, when I was 16. At 18 I started smoking the odd 'social cigarette' in pubs and was soon hooked. I gave up smoking when I was 30 (I'm now 36) and have never looked back. Oh yes and most of my smoking years I smoked rolling tobacco as it cost me £5 for a pouch of Golden Virginia, which lasted m ...[text shortened]... th a brew or waiting for a bus/train on a wet day, all still give me the urge to roll one up.
Any smokers here?
02 Jun '13 20:46
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