Maybe lots and lots of people disagree, and that's why this is in issues. So lots of you anti cigarette kids can post and tell me that it polutes the lungs and makes you dumb or lowers your sperm count and this and that.

Anyway. Having 12 of 'em in a row after this week was really. really. really nice.

So go ahead! Debate about the evils/BLESSINGS of cigarettes. They're nice de-stressors.

i'm trying to quit. I ended up spending way to much money on them n they make my clothes all icky smelling. Plus, after awhile it's like no longer depressing, instead i get way over stressed when I don;t have one. yeah... i would have so much more if all the money i spent on cigarettes magically came back to me. there was a point where I would smoke a pack a day. uck.

See, I haven't been unfortunate enough to have to pay for mine.

This sound awful, but my mom buys them by the carton and doesn't seem to notice when a pack a month goes missing. I space mine out for nights where I feel particularly artsy.

yeah, if i didnt have to pay for mine and didnt smoke them so regularly i would probably be fine with it. It got to a point, however, where if I went one day without a cigarette I would be horridly bitchey and anti-social... bad juju. I miss the times when I wasn't horridly addicted and it was just liek yeah.

I've been smoking since I was about 12. Smoking full time since 16. I don't know what I'd do without my smokies. I mean...breaks at work would be so BORING and besides...the smokers are almost ALWAYS better people to talk to on breaks then the non smokers, because they complain more and its funny. Yeah I'm strange like that.

Smoking is my de-stresser-outter. It's also sometimes kind of sexy. But then there are the times that I hate smoking...out of breathness, wheezing, etc etc.

Also, it kinda, oh say, turns your lungs to mush. I could do better without my heart.

But it sure does take its time turning your lungs to mush.

In fact, some people can go through life smoking and not get too sick aside from wheezing and whathave you.

yeah, well, they're wheezing because their lungs are mush.

Mush, or slightly stunted? I'd say mush would get you a relatively more severe reaction than wheezing. And although cigarette smoking isn't healthy in the least (Quite the opposite as everyone knows), it does take a bit to really kick at your health.

I smoke. I'll quit when I want. I don't want to, just yet. Been going for about two years steadily. I need to cut down at least, these buggers are expensive.

I smoke Marlboro Lights 100s, just for informational purposes.

i started smoking after a particularly stressful event...ahem, and i can stop when i want to! i only smoke about three a day, if that sometimes... i know people would say 'if you only smoke that amount, why bother?' i unno why, they calm me down, make me feel less grrr-argh! meh, if my lungs mushify, they mushify! i will continue with the smokey goodness until i am no longer stressible.... rawr!

nicotine laced scarves to you all!

Fal xXx

did smoke did quit happier for it

i don't smoke, but i've got no problem with anyone else smoking. i mean, it's your lives, right? and it's not like you'll die instantly or anything. to me, smoking is a gamble of when and how you'll get the side-effects. and i am TERRIBLE at gambling. so i don't smoke. that and EVERYONE who smokes can't get as much air as 'their non-smoker equivalent'. and i already get tired like f*ck when i run the resivoir, i'd rather not colapse and die (exaggeration, obviously). and it's basically impossible to be a smoker and a fencer. that just doesn't work. as for anti-stressors, i've got my own; slowly grinding calk into powder and throwing it out my window or sometimes buying a stress ball and ripping it open (hey, it works, don't knock it till you've tried it. it costs less than cigarettes too). and, logically, i just don't get why you'd want to INHALE smoke. i mean, the news reports about fires have always talked about death through smoke inhallation. i mean, the basement of my building caught on fire once, and i thought the fire was in the stairwell so i ended up staying in my building (yes, i KNOW it was stupid, don't remind me....). the smoke i inhalled from that and the smell of everything afterwards reminded me of second-hand (i've never smoked so i assume it smells the same) cigarette smoke. that's put me off of smoking for... well i'm pretty sure it'll be my entire life after that.

of course, major cigarette companies 'recently' (as in about a year ago, maybe a little less) increased (i think it's doubled, but i'm not sure) the level of nicotene in their cigs.

They make ya smell, they cost ya loads o money, they slowly kill ya, people alienate ya for havin them around, they make yer mind slow, yer lungs ache an yer virility lower.

Some friends!

erm... yeah, so after 8 or 9 years of smokage, I gave up fer 4 years, an now I'm back on 'em again... But me an the girlfriend are movin in together an we're gonna stop - if we do then we save more than enough money to pay the council tax!

Most drugs > cigarettes in my opinion. But whatever floats your boat.

Am I strange for liking that smell? It's not nice when someone's smoking right next to you or something but if it's kind of faint then I find it really relaxing. I don't smoke btw.

It's funny my sister in law said the same thing when getting in my stinky car.

I think I've gone over my views on smoking before. I just wish that patches, gum, or those new losenges (sp?) were less expensive so I could afford to use them to quit.

i don't smoke cigarettes....but there is tobacco in somethings i smoke...which is occasionally....my housemates...well one of them doesn't want it in the house....and its cold outside...so i wait to go to my mates house

i started smoking when i was 11-12ish, because it was (ashamed to admit this) the "cool" thing to do. i quitted when i was 13, started a few times after that and stoppped fot 3 years til i was 18. even then i i didn't smoke so much. i guess i didn't start up again til i started hanging sround smokers, its hard to not fulfill a desire when everone is blowing it in your face. but i have cut back alot. i only really smoke in between classes and at work.

ooo i have ask if anyone smokes marlboros on here... i got this really great "there is no such thing as a safe cigarette" in my pack!! i was excited, in fact i'm framing it someday it tickled me so.

Smoking is useful, as it's essentially a mild legal sedative that fits in your pocket.

Although when people I know chide me for it and then go on about how stoned they got last weekend, THAT annoys me.

You aren't getting de-stressed, you're just momentarily countering the stress caused by nicotine addiction. And then adding to the stress some more. But it makes you look artsy and cool, and it only kills you ten years early so it must be alright.

Cigarettes = Cheapest, Lamest High Ever.

If you're going to "destress" or whatever, at least do it with a proper high.

Yes, but a high that you can have wandering into college without being arrested.

Oh lord....forgive me for what I am about to post...

If you lot want to go out there and slowly kill yourself, thats your bag.
I'm a none smoker working in a smoking office. I come home at night stinking like an ashtray and there are times when I feel physically ill with nausia, headaches, sore throat and tight chest. Now you see, I'm a stupid fool as I haven't really complained abaout it. I've mentioned it to one of my bosses before but there are so many people in this company that smokes (bar two other people) so it all seems a bit futile, especialy seeing as people are in and out of my office all day and the bloke I share my office with also smokes.

There was a time when I would have said...'meh, I'm pretty indifferent'...but now I work in the midst of smokers, it makes me sick to see people smoke. Now I know what you're all going to come back at me with..."people who drink and take drugs are killing themselves too" whilst this may be true, at least they aren't harming/pissing me off whislt doing it.

I just feel sorry for smokers, puffing away on a complete waste of money and shortening your lives. I still believe that if thats what you want to do, fair enough. Just stay the f-k away from me.

</rant>

So is banging your head against a wall for 3 hours,and it's equally as healthy as smoking 10 ciggies,but cheaper!

i can't sit here and preach and be all anti-tobacco,because like most people,i use baccy when i roll a joint.it's very rare that i skin up though,i'm what they call a "social junkie"-i smoke when others smoke.i've never been stupid to roll without baccy because apparently it can kill u,and i've never smoked cigarettes so ..........what have we learnt...........DUMB IDEA!

i figure that we're all gonna die anyways and while it would suck to get lung cancer, a hairy tongue, etc, it's not the end of the world...if you choose to face those consequences then have fun and just you're speeding things up a bit.

the only thing i don't like about cigarettes is addiction. i think being addicted to anything sucks. it's just...not cool. when friends(or anyone for that matter) have to interrupt conversations and fun times to go outside and have a cigarette, it just makes me wanna cry.

and while i do enjoy a cigarette once in a great while, there are other ways to de-stress

good luck to those who've mentioned trying to quit/cut back

Out of my group of bout 10 friends,there's only 3 of us that don't smoke.and when the others all come back after their cancer intake,they stink.It's disgusting.and when they make us go with them,well i think that's just unfair.we don't want poisoned lungs,we're f****d enough as it is!it really p****s me off when people say "i can quit when i want" because more often than not,u challenge them to actually go thru with their threat and they refuse to do it!

spastic---this'll probably sound bitchy but yeah, it's not so much--if they don't go through with quitting, maybe you shouldn't pester them about it. if they don't want to quit then they won't and there's very very little you can do about it. it's all a personal choice

besides, you're 16(ish)...by the time your friends will have been smoking long enough to develop any kind of disease, one of 3 things will've most likely happened-

a- humans will have died off because we're stupid like that and will get ourselves into some huge mess(like we already haven't..*eye roll*)

b- aforementioned friends will have died of something else already, again, cuz humans are stupid like that

c- at least one miracle drug will've been invented and they'll get to be lab rats for it...and who doesn't wanna be a lab rat. in this scenario, they win

i smoked for about a year, a long while ago, then (typically) i became more broke than usual.... sinking to a new level of broke-ness.... so i stopped cold turkey.

i was actually worried by how little it affected me, but on reflection and talking to some really dedicated smokers, i dont think i was terribley addicted in the first place.

mind you, my last girlfriend emily was a chimney. a good looking and funny chimney, but a chimney nontheless...

and on this topic, doesnt kissing someone who smokes really errrrrr suck? not too attractive at all, unless you smoke. in which case you probably dont taste it.

Big cubans are fun every now and then (and i mean every now or then... like 6 months) but regular smoking is just... ick.

true, i had forgotten about the joys of giant victory cigars

pipes are wrong though, for old men (mostly). they are the london gin of the smoking world.

Uhhhhhh.... what????? rolling a joint using tobacco or it will kill you??? What the?
I'm not sure who told you that.. but feel free to leave out the tobacco... you will NOT die... if so I would have died a LONG, LONG time ago. You are in fact doing more damage by adding tobacco.

Anyway... Smoking.. love it.. need to quit.. but I would have to change to much of my life style.. certain social functions.. parties etc.. just seem that smoking has become second nature to me now.. It would be hard for me to go to a bar and not have a cig with my beer.. and it is a de-stressor... but so is massage.. but I like smoking and I like the taste... so when I am ready to quit, I will.

Just a quick thing for the whole smoking-around-non-smokers thing - most of the time, I smoke in COMPLETE ISOLATION, and when around non-smokers, I always ask them if I'm alright to light up first. I don't want to necessarily take others down with me, but if they're alright with it...

I don't like smoking. I know people who do it, but I won't. Smoking isn't cool for me, plus it's never good to be addicted to something, I figure. I already have a mild asthma and I'd be wheezing a lot more than I already do. The way I see it, Smoking isn't right for me but I'm not going to start lecturing the people who do it. Yes, I'll admit to hiding my mother's cigarettes on ocassion due to my fear that she will die, but otherwise, it's others decision not mine. I learned long ago that I can't control others actions, and if it helps with stress, I don't blame you. I , at my age of twelve have tons of stress, but no ciggies for me thanx.

Smoking has always been out of the question for me.

1) I have asthma, so health risks are much greater.
2) I'm a singer, and I need to be able to breathe really well for that, especially since I'm going into musical theatre, where I need to be able to sing and dance, which needs even more.
3) My uncle died of lung cancer due to smoking. I wasn't that close to him, but still...

If you smoke, that's your choice. I do hope that you are doing it in regard to common sense with your lifestyle (if you're a serious sports person, smoking is not that smart if you want to continue to do your best). And be considerate of non-smokers... common courtesy, like Debaser was saying how he doesn't smoke around people that don't want to be subject to second hand smoke.

yeah, have a White Lightning!

SHOCKWAVE WOOOOOO.

Lightning is fun.......

Some none smokers (like in my case...weak willed) will say 'yeah, sure...I don't mind' ...They're lying. They actually think just as worse of you for lighting up, Asking or no asking.

in my opinion, if they don't say anything about it, then at that point it's really their problem. i mean, they have the oppertunity to tell the person not to smoke right next to them, but they didn't take it. at my school there are god knows how many people that smoke, and i find cig smoke blowing into my face a lot. the solution is really pretty simple, turn your face away and hold your breath. so, even for people that WON'T ask someone to smoke away from them, they've still got plenty of other options that don't end up in them inhaling second-hand smoke.

You don't get what I'm trying to say. There are some people who would be too polite/shy/weak willed or whatever to say 'No,I don't want you to smoke near or around me'
Yeah, it may be their problem, but in a situation like mine, you can't stand there and demand people don't smoke in the same room as you when there are so many people.
I know I should say something, but as I've stated before, there are times when it feels pretty futile consindering how many people smoke here. Plus, I've only been here a month. Its not look I can go shooting my mouth off at people, hop on my soap box and start preaching about the dangers os smoking. Saying that, its not the effect on other people's health I'm concerned about. If they want to smoke, sure, go ahead. Its my health I'm worried about.

like i said weej, hold your breath and turn away if the smoke's coming at you. or, if you don't want it to be so noticable, close your mouth and breathe out through your nose until it goes away.

I've cooked up a better plan than that Gerb. I find if I lie face down on the floor, the smoke passes right over me

Okay, first off we're all going to die one day, so do whatever floats your boat. But there's so many conspiracies within the cigarette industry that its not funny. Cigarettes cost you an arm and a leg, why pay for that when you could go to the movies? They make you stink, they turn your teeth, and walls (if you smoke inside) yellow.

Not to mention that they contain tar and methane, a deadly gas that comes from your car (infact its even worse than actually sticking your mouth on a tail pipe); but they also contain eurethra. That's in your urine - tastey huh?

I've known people who have contracted pneumonia, emphazima (sp?), lung and throat cancer from these beloved stress relievers.

Cigarettes make you smell, they make you taste bad (for your significant other ), and its extremely rude to smoke around other people if youre a public smoker since many people are allergic to cigarette smoke. And second hand smoke is proven twice as deadly than first hand smoke due to the fact that there's no filter for the people to breath through.

I recently got my aunt to quit for her 40th birthday after incessent nagging. She's saving over 100 dollars a month. Now come on - do you really want to donate money to cigarette tycoons - making them ritcher so you can just hurt your body?


I agree with syuu - they ARE nice destressos, but so is banging your head against the wall, or even better yet a coffin. No one will bother ya while youre dead

did i metion that cigarrette smoke has been a leading cause among infant deaths across the world?....what did they do to deserve that?

-- this is just my opinion and facts ive learned, don't shoot me for saying them lol ---

I know cigarettes are nasty things, and they will have a damn good try at killing you, but I feel the need to make a couple of points regarding the last post.

One is about the presence of urea in cigarette smoke. Urea is actually a fairly commonly used chemical. It's generally the active ingredient in dental health (good for the teeth, but gum is very bad indeed for the stomach) gum.

The other is the claim that passive smoking is proven to be twice as bad as smoking. That's clearly bollocks! If it were the case then logically we would all be getting told to smoke as much as we wanted, because it's better than standing next to a smoker. There was a recent study that suggests that passive smoking isn't as bad as it's been made out to be. Most likely this is bollocks too, smoke just plain isn't good for you. As for filters, they were introduced as a marketing excercise, claiming that they improved flavour and reduced harshness. The reality of it is that filters make the draw harder and, consequentially, cause smoke to be drawn further into the lungs, thereby exposing more to contamination than would otherwise be the case.

Au contraire, Jen... Yer at work, in an office, yeah? Well, the HASAW regulations state that non-smokers have priority when it comes to workin in an office wi smokers. Ya could be the only non-smoker in an office with 12 smokers, an by the regs ya can tell them ya object to it and they HAVE to stop!

Take it up with yer HR Department. It matters not that ya changed yer mind, cos ya obviously hadn't realised at the time how bad it was gonna be. They can either move ya or make 'em stop. Might make 'em all a touch miffed at ya, mind, but then yer not expected to work in unsavoury conditions in this country, an every company should see to it that it's adhered to.

As much as I'd love to Leo...I'd be rather unpopular if I was to do that.
Besides, its not going to a problem for much longer. The offices are all switching round and I'm going to be i na room of my own. It will be a no smoking office then.

Had to give up in October when I found out I was up the duff. As a heavy smoker I seriously miss it but I am trying to be a sensible parent and think of the good of my sprog.

If I was not pregnant I would not beable to give it up cus basically I ENJOY smoking!

The only times I get really bad cravings now is when I have alcohol. The one without the other is like toast with no butter.

After 11 years smoking do I feel any healthier for giving up.......?
NO.

Sure, Gerb, I'll just stop breathing whilst you exhale noxious gases in my direction. It's my fault if I'm too timid to complain, after all.

Hear hear...I think.

Fair enough, which is why I only smoke outside...