Smoking in Moderation

[dragonslayer32]

I smoke on the odd occasion, usually on nights out drinking with friends. I also have the odd cigar at Christmas and special occasions. I am in no way addicted and take it or leave it, it's nothing special.

 

[Catie Caraco]

but surely its all about willpower, if I dont let myself have more than one a day max, and stop myself from having any more than that, i'll never develop any dependancy on them.

I'm sorry, but that just made me laugh. You're playing with an addictive substance, willpower has nothing to do with it. If you have any history of addiction in your family, your best bet is to quit now.

For you to understand where I'm coming from, I'll be honest. There is a history of addiction in my family. My mother is addicted to both alcohol and cigarettes, and this is after having quit smoking for over 24 years. One day she just picked it back up and now, four years later, smokes several cigarettes a day. Both of her sisters became pack a day smokers and both also drink heavily. This is after their father died of lung cancer, entirely induced by smoking, when they were all young girls. So they had every reason not to start and started anyway.

Basically, you are playing with a substance that will alter your brain chemistry. Whether you only smoke one a day or not, your brain will start to become dependent on those drugs to give that 'high' feeling you described, and after enough time has passed, they'll require it simply to feel normal.

With all the knowledge out there, I can't think of any good reason to pick up smoking or to defend it. It's your life, so of course the ultimate decision lies with you, but you should take a good hard look at this habit and decide if the benefits outweigh the risks.

 

[JezebelinHell]

Smoking in moderation still makes you stink when you do it. I spent way too many years stinking of cigarette smoke.

Before I quit completely I spent at least 3 months smoking only 3 cigarettes a day. After finally just quitting I could feel a difference in my lung capacity in a month maybe 2. You couldn't pay me to smoke in any form of moderation. I know that even light smoking makes a noticeable difference in how I feel.

Since I was a smoker, I am also aware of the social smokers I came in contact with and they tend to bum off of smokers. If you are getting your "social fix" that way I am thinking your smoking friends would prefer you just skip it. I knew a few that would buy a pack and hang onto them but usually they would just smoke more if they had them so that didn't really work out well.

If you are looking for someone for a relationship there are probably more that would be turned off to see you smoking in any situation than would look at it as a plus for a relationship. It isn't like you have a post-it on your forehead stating you are not really a smoker. I am hoping at this point the whole "looking cool" factor has passed but I have also been hoping the pants hanging off your ass craze would pass as well and that isn't going so well either. (Oh boy, ill fitting prison clothes make a great fashion statement. Let's pay lots of money to look like them!)

Why would you even tempt the addiction? There are hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of people wanting/trying to quit. They want to or have to quit for very valid reasons and it is very hard to do. I actually have no idea why anyone at this point in time would even start. Between the health issues, smell and the cost... WTF?

Basically, with the obvious drawbacks, even without considering how it will effect your health, why would you bother continuing?

 

[WhiteandNeardy99]

My father is what I think you would describe as a recreational smoker. He does business in China and the sort of business environments he'd find himself in almost requires him to smoke, its a sort of social thing. However whenever he comes over to New Zealand for vacations, he stops altogether for months at a time.

Smoking, as bad as it may be, really is a personal choice. As long as you're not disturbing other people with second hand smoke or in an environment where it's inappropriate to smoke, then I think as long as you are aware of the consequences you should be able to do what you want.

Most of the long term effects of smoking are related to tar build up in your lungs, which occurs over a long time and leads to that well known lung cancer. AFAIK, there ARE some dangerous effects of short term smoking. The main one is being dilation of blood vessels, which can cause hypertension, increased heart rate and high blood pressure. These effects kick in with just one cigarette increase your chance of a heart attack.

Obviously, you're less likely to have a heart attack if you're physically healthy in every other way, but if you're unfit or a little bit overweight, diabetic or suffer from naturally high blood pressure, then you might want to seriously consider quitting altogether. Also, I remember reading somewhere that it's not a good idea to smoke to relieve stress.

Bloody hell I smoke about 7 packs (of 20) a week depending on who I'm with, how I'm feeling etc.

OP. The amount of people I know started off as 'social' smokers, I very much doubt, or hope anyway, that any smoker sets out to get addicted but it creeps up on you, a friend of mine never ever used to smoke cigarettes but he smoked a lot of weed and now 3 years later he's totally hooked on them from the little bit of tobacco he was putting in his joints.

I would never recommend smoking to anyone from personal experience but hey your an adult and if you enjoy it it is completely your choice, you're not harming anyone else (I will never smoke around children or non-smoker's, however if a non-smoker chooses to stand around me when I'm smoking I'm not going to put it out, that's their choice.)

 

[Nocola]

I smoke like once every few weeks, it's usually when I'm at the clubs or bars having fun, drinking, dancing, and my friends are doing it. Like someone else said it makes everyone more amiable. A few smokes a month hardly seems like an issue to me but then again that's probably my own reassurance/denial talking. My girlfriend is in a local indie hipster band, so they all smoke, and if I'm at one of their shows I'll hang out with them and smoke just to not be a prude, I suppose.

Just sayin'. It probably won't kill me, I'm in the army and lifeguard in training so I think I might be alright.

 

[Bloedhoest]

Used to smoke, 6 years in total. Nowadays I only smoke a cigar once in a while.
I used to smoke 50-60 cigarettes a week.

 

[runnernda]

I honestly don't see the point of smoking at all. I don't think any benefits (it helps with stress, I hear?) could possibly outweigh the negatives, even if you do only smoke one or two a day. They're addicting, they're expensive and they kill you. There are better ways to deal with stress, as well.

I mean, if you want to, go for it. And if you can keep from getting addicted, you're better than most or just plain lucky. I just don't see the point of starting at all.

 

[6037084]

I can smoke 1 a day, 10 a day or anywhere in between and then just quit and not smoke anything for months because I'm that badass

 

[Jodah]

As long as you have rules that you never break about it, it is possible to be a social smoker. For me its that the only time I ever smoke is at parties. I don't smoke alone either. If nobody else is smoking, I won't. I also don't allow smoking in the house or vehicle.

The problem is most people cannot stick to their own rules. Also my general rule of thumb for anyone is if you can quit for a week cold turkey you can quit forever, when you want. I had a buddy that chewed a lot but he would quit for a week or two whenever he wanted or when money was tight. I knew he could quit when he wanted to, which he did when he got married.

 

[Sariteiya]

My parents pretty much smoked away our college funds, sooo maybe I have a chip on my shoulder about this, but honestly, a drug is a drug is a drug. They're addictive, and no one has magical cigarette immunity. No, if you have one cigarette it probably won't get you addicted immediately, but if you already associate cigarettes with relaxation and dealing with stress, I'd say you might be in deeper than you thought. My parents are to the point that they can't be relaxed without a cigarette, and it really saddens me to see that.

Cigarettes aren't the absolute worst thing you can do to yourself, but there's really no upsides to cigarettes at all.

 

[HardkorSB]

I keep being told that I should quit, but why? Assuming I continue doing this, I will probably smoke about as much im my lifetime that the average smoker would have in a year or two (or less). How is this dangerous to my health? In moderation there are much worse things that can be much more damaging. Why should I be scolded for having a smoke every other day, when there are people who shove Big Macs down their throat every other day and will die at 50 from a heart attack caused by obesity?

How is inhaling a substance that causes cancer dangerous to your health? Beats me.
Sure, there are things that are much more damaging but that's like saying:
"I'm a masochist in moderation because I only hit my head against the wall once a day, I'm not one of those crazy people who cut themselves".
Another thing is pointing at obese people:
"I'm destroying my health but look at them, they're doing the same thing... and they're fat. Hate them, not me!" - that's what comes to my mind when I hear that argument.

Point is, causing harm to yourself "in moderation" is still pretty dumb.

 

[DonMartin]

I agree with you, I do the same thing but not nearly as many. I'm not addicted at all. Addiction would ruin the fun

This, pretty much. I smoke whenever a friend offers me a cigarette, but I would never buy cigarettes of my own. Dont really feel the need to, I guess Im not addicted.

Then again, I mainly smoke a pipe. Which means I only smoke now and then, when the mood strikes me, or the circumstances are just right for a pipe.


Also, babe? Cuba's not the plan anymore.

 

[LaughingJester]

I think there is little difference between having a big mac and smoking. They both serve the same addictive purpose (anyone who disagrees that mcdonalds is addictive see the below link.
Right now it is not acceptable to publicly ridicule fat people, but as the public discovers how much of a burden they are on the health system. The paradigm with shift.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2707143.stm
The article states that maccas is '...addictive as heroin'

 

[LuckyClover95]

I agree with you, I do the same thing but not nearly as many. I'm not addicted at all. Addiction would ruin the fun

This, pretty much. I smoke whenever a friend offers me a cigarette, but I would never buy cigarettes of my own. Dont really feel the need to, I guess Im not addicted.

Then again, I mainly smoke a pipe. Which means I only smoke now and then, when the mood strikes me, or the circumstances are just right for a pipe.


Also, babe? Cuba's not the plan anymore.

I'm sorry honey, I just couldn't do it :'(

 

[DonMartin]

I agree with you, I do the same thing but not nearly as many. I'm not addicted at all. Addiction would ruin the fun

This, pretty much. I smoke whenever a friend offers me a cigarette, but I would never buy cigarettes of my own. Dont really feel the need to, I guess Im not addicted.

Then again, I mainly smoke a pipe. Which means I only smoke now and then, when the mood strikes me, or the circumstances are just right for a pipe.


Also, babe? Cuba's not the plan anymore.

I'm sorry honey, I just couldn't do it :'(

You knew what you were getting into, damn it!

 

[Jeran Korak]

Forgive me if this was brought up before, but most people don?t seem to realise exactly how bad cigarettes are for you. Tobacco in itself isn?t very high on the toxicity scale. However it contains nicotine, which in concentrated form is lethal to any organic life within less than a minute. The trouble is that while raw tobacco, like ancient pipe tobacco, wasn?t very addictive on a chemical level, today?s cigarettes are intentionally designed to be extremely addictive. This is because of the additions to the chemical formula included in rolled cigarettes, which in most cases is a concoction of around four thousand different chemicals, every single one of which is toxic to a greater or lesser degree. You might look at it as a marketing ploy, suppliers and manufacturers have an incentive to make their product as compelling to use as possible. Unfortunately, the end result is one of the most deadly combinations of substances on earth. It might not kill you very fast, but every single time you take a drag on a cigarette, you subject your body to a major overdose of several thousand toxic compounds. There is no way to ?safely? smoke.

I?ve met more than one person who swears that marijuana is harmless if taken in moderation. They will frequently cite several medical journals and the opinions of certain scientist groups as evidence. What they don?t want to know is that recreational marijuana usage is still abuse, since the lowest possible dose to achieve a high is more than eight times the maximum daily allowance for medical marijuana use. Alcohol is another example still. Roughly one glass of wine a week is provably beneficial, any more than that and your body starts to strain instead of relax.

I?d just like to point out that the only way to smoke in moderation is not to smoke at all. It doesn?t matter if it is one cigarette or a dozen; it is still an overdose of multiple harmful chemicals that can continue to damage the body for days or even weeks after the cigarette has been finished. My own father had a brief habit for about four years before quitting. He would say he smoked in moderation, but five years later he developed an intense wracking cough that has plagued him for over fifteen years. All because of lung damage from his brief, ?light? smoking habit.

 

[RobCoxxy]

I enjoy the occassional cigar. All is well.