How old were you when you had your first cigarette?

[Olas]

Are there still people who smoke cigarettes? I haven't seen one in years.
I assumed that fad had sorta died off.

 

[Living_Brain]

Never. Don't plan to.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Well I have an illness that could easily develop into cancer if I smoke so yeah, self preservation. I did not mean to sound snotty.

Yes if you smoke. Has nothing do with standing a few feet away from someone who does. That wont transform you into a cancer factory.

I don't like the smell of it either. lol.

 

[JochemHippie]

Like.. 15? I smoked weed way before that though so I didn't really dislike it.
Usually only smoke when I'm drinking, some beers are really enhanced with a good smoke.

 

[Muspelheim]

Never.

I don't understand what drives people to take up smoking. I get that you might want to try one, after all what curious child/teenager doesn't try just about everything regardless of whether it's a good idea or not? But surely you can't get addicted through just one cigarette? Perhaps it's a difficult concept for me to grasp, being a non-smoker myself, but isn't the decision to take up smoking a conscious one? A choice that must require a certain amount of thought? So when does the health issues and constant money drain ever seem like a good idea to someone?

Someone help me out here.

I can only really speak for myself, but I think I picked up smoking as a way of coping. It just made me feel alot better, in general. A contributing cause was that the main thing that weighed me down at that time was that dad had recently died, and he was a smoker himself (along with all my older brothers, oddly), so it also had a feeling of familiarity to it. Hell, it still got that feeling for me. It's a stupid habit, but it's at least something we've got in common. Or something like that, it's weird to explain. It just did (and does, I suppose) make me feel better, so I kept going.

In the end, though, it was either nicotine or some kind of ritalin (or some other pill you tend to get thrown at you when you feel down) for me, I wager. Whatever works, and I'm still convinced I could have been worse off.


On a side note; I'm a fairly friendly sort. If my smoking is bothering you, you can just wander up and (reasonably politely, plz :3) tell me. I'll say "Certainly, sorry mate" and nip it off or go somewhere else. Communication is magic!
As a side note to the side note, northerners in general have a tendency to never ever complain to your face about anything, preferring to take the piss out of you when you're not around. So for all I know, some disgruntled neighbour I've never heard of is planning to pump Zyklon B in through my mailslit while I sleep in retaliation right now, instead of telling me that it bothers him and if I could stop.

 

[DugMachine]

Eh... 15? I think?
Must have been a really weak cigarette, or there's some super secret trick to smoking, because it barely felt like anything at all.
Not that I'd have to worry about lung cancer, heart'll get me quicker than that.

Did you actually inhale it? A lot of people don't feel the nicotine rush because they don't know how to inhale properly, myself included when I first tried.

Same with weed. "I tried it and it didn't do anything for me." Yeah you just didn't do it right lmao

 

[Stasisesque]

I had my first cigarette at about 14, smoked for two years before my parents found out, continued smoking for another ten years - then quit.

I started as I was suffering pretty badly from stress - I'd remembered overhearing my mum tell someone smoking relaxed her (she had no idea I had heard this), so gave it a go. It worked.

 

[Mouse One]

Sure one cigar might set me back $30 or more depending on the brand and location of purchase, but since I also only drink high quality whiskey, lookin at a good $120 or higher for a bottle, I tend to enjoy such things only on occassions that call for it, promotions, babies born to friends or close family, marriages, deaths of long standing foes, y'know, stuff like that.

Nice. That's the thing. Taking time to enjoy a good moment, whether huge stuff like you're talking about, or maybe just a damn fine evening with a couple of buds over. Call it a "vice" if you want, but so's ice cream. And you know, life's too short not to allow yourself any indulgence.

 

[ATRAYA]

I think I was about three years old. My grandpa was drunk and gave me a puff (me being a curious child boosted my consent), and I hated the taste and ended up coughing for a minute. That's why I'll never smoke today, because I learned at an early age that smoking is TERRIBLE! See, if I ever have kids I'm going to do the same thing, and hopefully they'll follow the same thought processes as I did, thus never taking up the habit.

Hey, don't look at me like that! It worked for me! And obviously all the media telling kids that smoking is bad doesn't WORK AT ALL, since so many people still buy cigarettes, even as early as thirteen. :/

 

[wulf3n]

Wow you are a bit touchy aren't you would you like some salsa for that chip on your shoulder?

It smells bad? So would you disapprove of fat, sweaty and smelly people coming to the park on a warm day? They must offend you in the same manner if smell your argument.

Well yes, if you stink I don't want you coming near me, now if I come near you I've got nothing to complain about.

This is called interacting among other people.

Really? putting up with bad smells is the definition of interaction...hmmm I must be doing it wrong, I've been, you know talking and doing stuff with people.

And I am not talking about smoking in their faces.

I'm talking about a radius of several feet.

You need to realize that there is no such thing as "being there first" in a public space. Hence the word "public space".

Uhh yes you can, If you get there and no one else is there you got there first, you seem to think I was implying that gives them Ownership of the whole place which I didn't.

What I was referring to was something like a park bench or a tree, where if they're already sitting their doing something, then it takes a real douche to sit next to them and start smoking.

And this being a gamer forum, you might want to comment on this to http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Computer_games_health_issues

There are a lot of things with cause and effect. It is called living.

Well that certainly came out of nowhere. tldr;

 

[DirgeNovak]

I smoked my first cigarette when I was 19. I also smoked my last cigarette when I was 19.
Thing is fucking disgusting.

 

[excalipoor]

Don't know yet. I don't drink either, so that saves me a lot of money to spend on other completely frivolous things. Like games.

My stepdad was a heavy smoker, until he died of lung cancer. I always hated the stench, not to mention the smoke, and the man himself was a massive dickweed too. Maybe that's why I always had such a negative reaction to smoking. Back when I was 13-14 I learned that a close friend of mine was smoking, so I refused to speak to her for weeks. I'm not even sure why, I was just really, really mad at her, like she had just ran over my dog and then pummeled my mother to death with its carcass.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Never have, never will. The only poison I let into my body is alcohol. Besides alcohol is enjoyable. And Second hand smoke in Greece nearly killed me.

 

[GTwander]

13, but I went 2 years of smoking before someone clued me in that I was supposed to inhale it.

 

[Roroshi14]

I actually wait till I was 18. And that was a cigar, then at 19 I started on cigs. I dont think I was addicted to them till I was out of the Navy and on the road back home. That is when I smoked when ever I could. Take a ten min bus stop someone offers me a smoke, why not? And that is how it starts kids. Haha.

If you dont smoke, good for you. I do, and yet I'm a nice guy who works out everyday, eats healthy and loves to run. Sterotypes are meant to be broken.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

Sure one cigar might set me back $30 or more depending on the brand and location of purchase, but since I also only drink high quality whiskey, lookin at a good $120 or higher for a bottle, I tend to enjoy such things only on occassions that call for it, promotions, babies born to friends or close family, marriages, deaths of long standing foes, y'know, stuff like that.

Nice. That's the thing. Taking time to enjoy a good moment, whether huge stuff like you're talking about, or maybe just a damn fine evening with a couple of buds over. Call it a "vice" if you want, but so's ice cream. And you know, life's too short not to allow yourself any indulgence.

It's true, life is short, too short, and can end at any moment, I've seen death too many times not to try to enjoy living.

I've had the heel of one of my shoes scuffed by the tire of a speeding SUV, I've nearly bled to death from cuts and or burst tissue from impact of crashes, and I've faced times when I have had to live on nothing but water and determination for long stretches... When I have the luxury available to me to celebrate, I tend not to hesitate too much, doesn't matter the cost, it's all meaningless if you're dead.

 

[wulf3n]

And doesn't like public smokers, check!

I'm a public smoker, and I like myself.

Well yes, if you stink I don't want you coming near me, now if I come near you I've got nothing to complain about.

Feels he has the right to be offended. Not the other way around. Check!

I think you should re-read what I wrote, because that's not what I said.

Really? putting up with bad smells is the definition of interaction...hmmm I must be doing it wrong, I've been, you know talking and doing stuff with people.

So what is the problem?

That was a joke.

I'm talking about a radius of several feet.

So was I.

Then what are we arguing about?

Now that I have done my bickering. I fully understand why some people dislike standing next to someone who smokes and gets it up in their faces. But to many take it to far. In my country the debate after the ban on smoke in all public places was effective, has changed from support to a mixture of wonder and skepticism. A lot of non smokers feel this has turned in to a witch hunt caused by a lot of clueless people who only sees a opportunity to take a stab at a group that already have been chased out in to the cold.

I once lost it and told a family to get the fuck out the park because the good father got up and went all the 10 meters over to a man in his 80'ts enjoying a pipe, telling him to stop smoking. This is what I am talking about. Not if a asshole are blowing the smoke in your face. Then you have all the right to tell him to fuck off.

I don't disagree, which is why I prefaced my first post with depends on your definition of "nearby" as 10 meters is not nearby.

I've seen the issues raised on both sides. I've been smoking peacefully in the middle of nowhere and have people stand right next to me and ask me to stop, to which I respectfully tell them where they can stick it, and I've also seen people start walking in a massive confined group, light one up, then go mental when someone has the audacity to cough.