So... why start smoking?

[velcrokidneyz]

for me personally i have an oral fixation of always wanting to have something in or near my mouth ie. pencils suckers biting nails toothpick and the like. and it does relieve stress, especially when im studying or for exams. i started with cigars cuz tehy taste good adn transitioned to cigarettes. i dont smoke that much, just about a pack a month or so. but i smoke socially and like the way it calms me. i knwo the risks, i just dont really care.

 

[Blank Kold]

Cigarettes are great for stress; smoke a boge (which is still a stupid fucking word, if that's how it's spelled) and then put that shit out on your arm. All of your anxiety has now disappeared.

 

[Leadfinger]

Death wish, I guess.

 

[Guitar Gamer]

Perhaps this is horrible of me (if this is just wrong inform me) but I kinda see it the same way people now start doing heroine.
No one truly believes it is harmless (unless they are uneducated) or "cool" (unless they are a P.I and/or Rorschach) it is just something you may get into if you are not thinking about it, or perhaps you have gotten tinto a mindstate where you don't care anymore, an apathy inspired crutch if you would.
granted this is somply speculation. If this is bigoted let me know, the smokers I know are form the generation that knew cigarettes as "harmless life savers that are like sunshien wrapped up in paper"

I'm sorry, but heroine:

Spoiler

and heroin:

Spoiler

OT: I see a lot of people saying smoking relaxes them, but I'm not sure I've ever met someone whose first experience with cigarettes didn't involve them choking and gagging, so I wonder how that translates to "relaxing".

My mistake, that "E" always sneaks its way in.
I might also add (on topic) that I haven't met a smoker over the age of 25 who doesn't condemn the act of starting to smoke.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

I always wondered this, though never actually asked a smoker this, but why do they (when they buy packs of cigarettes) smack the bottom of the pack a couple of times? I always see this, but never knew. I remember someone told me at one point, but I've long forgotten now. :<

 

[Extravagance]

I work as a chef/bar guy, and my gods are they stressful jobs. Having a smoke break every couple of hours really helps.

That and I'm a philosophy student. Smoking a pipe really goes with the long beard and leather elbow patches.

 

[AgentNein]

I can't speak for everyone, but I started after a bad breakup to piss off the fresh ex. It sorta worked, she mostly just worried about me.

Never could develop a habit though, I'm mostly a social smoker (parties, shows). I'm going to die sooner or later, I've made peace with that.

 

[AgentNein]

I always wondered this, though never actually asked a smoker this, but why do they (when they buy packs of cigarettes) smack the bottom of the pack a couple of times? I always see this, but never knew. I remember someone told me at one point, but I've long forgotten now. :<

Keeps the tobacco packed tightly in the cigarette.

 

[Baneat]

See, if a person started smoking any time in the last 20 years they likely would have known exactly what they were getting into. So long as they were over the age of twelve, they would have known that smoking is addictive. They would have known that cigarettes are expensive. They would have known that they are harmful.

It takes longer than twelve years to fully develop a rationality, you can tell an eight year old drugs are bad (mkay?), and they'll parrot it back to you. It's been proven to not actually count for much in the end. By the time you're 17 or 18 you should have working rationalities, hence why most societal blocks are removed from then on out.

 

[gphjr14]

I had asthma during early puberty and never got into smoking. I do it casually while drinking and while camping to ward off mosquitoes. I work in a hospital and its just not worth it. Took a guy down for an MRI lost his ability to speak to throat cancer. Moderation is the key to most things and as you get older 40+ you should taper off. Though I've seen patients in their 90s who require nicotine patches and at that point I say screw it let em smoke.

Commercials in America do over exaggerate the effects of smoking and weed but the mental satisfaction isn't really worth the physical damage/criminal record.

 

[ParadiseOnceLost]

Well the first time I smoked I was piss drunk. It was the third time I ever drank (I think), and I didn't have much of a tolerance for alcohol, so I was completely out of it.(surprisingly even though I was the last person to start drinking in my group of friends (didn't start till I was 18) I now have one of the highest alcohol tolerances). Anyway One of my friends started smoking and I asked what it was like. They gave me a cig and I was so drunk that it felt really good (whole mixing of stimulant and depressant thing that is why a lot of people smoke and drink at the same time) Me being drunk also meant that I didn't feel the usual abrasiveness of smoke on my throat. From there I began to smoke while drunk. Smoking while drunk turned into smoking on the weekend. Smoking on the weekend turned to social smoking with friends and so on. I stopped smoking now expect on rare occasions (my last cig was on New Years).

 

[Chewster]

Most start as teenagers, who aren't exactly know for their good reasoning abilities or for having a lot of forethought. I say this as a person who used to be one, so don't get upset.

I started very casually in university, and kept it down to a part-time, once in a while type of affair (usually when drunk). It seems to be working out alright so far.

I am sometimes amazed by the amount of bullshit that proper smokers have to endure sometimes, what with all the limitations (what is it now, you can only smoke in one room in your house, with the lights off and a blanket over you? Something to that degree?) and stigmas that are attached to it. I also wonder when this sort of health shaming nonsense will get extended to fatties.

That and I'm a philosophy student. Smoking a pipe really goes with the long beard and leather elbow patches.

Sing it, brother. I got a pipe for being in a buddy's wedding part a few back and haven't gone back to cheap cigars since.

As an added bonus, girls seem to love it. I call my main pipe my "silent wingman".

 

[Moonpig123]

I used to smoke. It's simple. Everybody who ever started did it because they thought it looked cool.

 

[Karyyk]

I'm an odd one. I didn't start smoking until I was 27, started with cigars (ordered in the mail), went to pipes (Dr. Grabows picked up at a drugstore) and ended up with cigarettes (menthols and kreteks, or clove cigarettes, to be exact). I never really became fond of the cigars, despite being Cuban on my mother's side (a terrible shame, I'm sure), but I still smoke cigarettes and am particular fond of the pipe, particularly with a Samuel Smith Oatmeal stout. I can't remember there ever being any peer pressure involved (never have played that game too much) and I was well past the phase when "looking cool" was anything I was going for. Honestly, I just like it. I knew the risks involved, decided to try it and liked enough that I continue to do it. End of story. I smoke a pipe maybe three times a week and 3 or 4 cigarettes per day. Not too much, but enough that I'd definitely consider myself a regular smoker. If this makes me an idiot in the eyes of others, so be it. The only one I really give much credence to is my own, which isn't too differently than anyone who's given their honest opinion in this thread.

 

[unoleian]

I can't even remember when or why I had started smoking, but one thing I know 100% is that quitting is the smartest thing I've ever done. The only thing smarter would have been to never do it in the first place.

 

[Kortney]

I used to smoke. It's simple. Everybody who ever started did it because they thought it looked cool.

Now that's an incorrect bold statement if I have ever seen one!

 

[Yokai]

The concept of "social smoking" people keep bringing up is a mystery to me. Do you just stand around and light one up? Can't you, I don't know, play cards or something instead?

I fully understand the concept of chilling with friends and a relaxing substance, but I'd just have a couple beers or something. Alcohol's a lot less addicting than cigarettes, and less harmful in the long run, provided you're not an idiot about it. Also, I have a feeling beer is a hell of a lot tastier than tobacco.

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

I know a lot of people who smoke - tobacco, weed, whatever. One person in particular is addicted to cigarettes, smokes a fair amount, not masses though. Another person smokes quite a bit, just socially, but still a lot, and is not addicted whatsoever.

I've tried smoking tobacco, and it's kinda fun. I don't want to get hooked or addicted, but it's still kinda fun to do, and oddly satisfying. And it's a good social thing as well, as it gives a much more chilled and relaxed atmosphere, for some strange reason. I smoked weed before cigarettes, and the former is definitely better in every way (plus not addictive), but smoking in general is quite relaxing and satisfying, for some reason, i don't know why, but it is. And it's fun.

 

[Blondi3]

1. It's very calming.
2. Stimulant.
3. "looks cool"

 

[SergeantAnt]

well i took it up because i was a freshman and i thought it was "cool". so when drew offered me one i went for it.
i certainly didnt throw up and i liked it.

lucky for me i dont have an addictive personality. i have smoked a pack in a day, then didn't smoke for a month without even craving. yet i still do just cuz it's relaxing and i like just sitting with friends smoking and talking