My best wishes for a full recovery, Elmer.

I smoked Camels, then Camel Filters up until 1987 when I quit cold turkey. I was smoking 4 packs a day, although a lot just burned out in an ashtray. I wanted to buy a new boat and it was one way to cover some of the expense, at least that's what I told my wife. About 1995 I started to smoke a few cigars. today I average 5-6 a week. I only smoke outdoors, usually while reading a book.

I grew up in a family of heavy smokers. My mom, grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins. They each averaged about 2 packs a day. probably closer to 3 packs. Back then they could smoke everywhere, there was even a student smoking lounge in my high school.

I always hated it. I thinks that why I never started, I was never even tempted to try it.

Both of my parents smoked when I was a kid. The neighborhood bar up on the corner was the closest place to buy cigarettes from our house, I remember being sent there to buy a pack from the vending machine in the front vestibule and allowed to keep the change which was taped to the side of the pack.

I started smoking when I was 12 years old, not heavy mind you, I was stealing them from my mom, and didn't want to get caught! From about 16 on I was a pack-two pack a day smoker. I have quit so many times that I have become "expert" at quitting. I am 68 now, have COPD, and haven't had a cigarette in 7 1/2 months. The bad thing is that I have enjoyed smoking my whole life.

Never smoked. Was raised in a family of non smokers. By the time I was old enough to be influenced by smokers, I was so into sports that it never made sense to start. Same with alcohol and drugs. Just wasn’t my thing. Oddly, though I’ve never knowingly consumed alcohol, I think I’m an alcoholic. Something I feel in my core that if I started, I’d lose control. Can’t really explain it.

No.

Like many here, my sister and I grew up with parents that smoked. We hated the smell. The worst was being stuck in an air conditioned car, traveling across the desert in July, with them puffing away. I had a Wham-O air blaster for a time and would snuff out Mom's match when she would light up sometimes (it pissed her off). My Dad quit cold turkey while we were on a week-long Scout trip in the Sierra Nevadas. He packed a carton in the bottom of his backpack, forgot about them all week and only rediscovered them when he repacked his backpack prior to us hiking out. That turned into another week, month, year and done. Mom finally quit years later when the doctor told her quit or die.

Just a cigar now and then mostly on special occasions.
I consider myself a non-smoker but technically it is not true.

quote:

Originally posted by smithbc:
there was even a student smoking lounge in my high school.

We didn't have one inside, but right outside was a small area we called "Marlboro Country" where students were allowed to smoke.

Kind of funny to think about now.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
but right outside was a small area we called "Marlboro Country" where students were allowed to smoke.

Kind of funny to think about now.

Kids in high school just strolled across the street to a public park and smoked between classes and lunch time. Our RO ("resource officer") would be there all of time smoking also.

Like most of the kids I went to school with, I smoked a bit in High School. I can't recall more than a couple who didn't. I didn't like it, just wanted to be as cool as the others so I did some, though not much.

In the Army (1965-1968), I smoked some, too. Still didn't like it but absolutely all the others in my various units smoked. Can't recall anyone who did not.

Joined the Police Department in December, 1968 and smoked a very little, then simply stopped. I don't think I was hooked, I really didn't like it.

The VA classifies me as a "never smoked" (I think I have their language right).

I confess I discovered various "chews" and did love them, but that's a different story.

I lost both my grandfather and my mother to emphysema, and my brother-in-law just died of smoking related stuff. All really bad ways to go.

I don't use any form of tobacco and can't understand why anyone would.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
Oddly, though I’ve never knowingly consumed alcohol, I think I’m an alcoholic. Something I feel in my core that if I started, I’d lose control. Can’t really explain it.

Many of us born alcoholics, and unless you add alcohol, the question is academic. There are, however, lots of other things that go along with it as how we think and relate to the rest of the world and all the people in it. If you want to read more about the mindset that accompanies the physical addiction, there are many stories here for free. Click on the Personal Stories drop box and pick whichever chapter seems interesting. Most of their stories start before they began drinking, and how it went from there.

quote:

Originally posted by straightshooter1:
Joined the Police Department in December, 1968 and smoked a very little, then simply stopped. I don't think I was hooked, I really didn't like it.

I know what you mean. Early on, I really didn't enjoy it. I'm not sure why I did it, it made me feel ill. I do know exactly when I crossed over to addiction, though. I went through a pretty horrific breakup with an ex and that did it. Instant chain smoker.

I have never smoked. My dad told me when I was 14 that if I wanted to smoke I could, but would have to buy my own. That was some 70 years ago.

I had received a single shot .22 Winchester for Christmas that year and figured I would rather shoot than smoke. So I never started. Put a lot of meat on our table and in our freezer with that rifle.

I went through a cigarette smoking "phase" in my late teens (1970s), but sort of, for lack of better words, lost interest. I never felt truly addicted, i.e., a true habit. Even then, when you could buy cigs out of vending machines for 50 or 75¢ a pack and a carton was less than $20, the cost was substantial for a guy making $3 an hour (and that was after a raise; minimum wage at that time was $2.50). The ashes and butts stank up my car (and in the present day, those of customers). I also tried out the stringy chewy tobacco, but disliked it and threw out the rest of the bag. Because I once did it myself, I try not to be overly judgmental or critical of smokers, which would be somewhat hypocritical, but nobody smokes in my home or car, don't throw your ashes and butts everywhere willy-nilly, and most especially don't complain about not being able to make ends meet when you spend $200 or more a month on your stupid addiction.

I will light a cigar now and again for memorable events (like Inauguration Day 2017) and keep a couple of packs of Lucky Strikes in the house. At most I may smoke a pack of cigs a year, cigar every two years. Smoked a couple of packs ages ago at NCSU to look cool, got sick. Never became a habit. Take a few puffs, let them burn down to the butts now.

I started cigarettes as a young teen. By the time I was 16 I was smoking regularly. In my early 20's I re-discovered bicycling and quit for about 5 years. That was the story of my smoking life, smoke a few years then quit for a while. In August of 2000 I decided to quit for good. It was a tough few weeks followed by months of diminishing craving. I have been smoke free for over 22 years and plan to stay that way. Quitting was the best thing I ever did for myself.

My brand of choice for my last ten yrs . Non filtered of course. Three packs a day
The last five yrs. Last time I quit was Dec 4th 1988 . Finally got tired of the constant
Cough and gurgling of tar in my lungs.tried for years to quit with everything mentioned and more
The wife quickly tired of exchanging a sex addiction for a craving for a cig(-; Like a drunk stops drinking . The only thing that worked for me was cold turkey with the caveat that like the alcoholic I can never have another one for the cure to work. Not one puff period. And it works!

Side note about Chesterfields: We stocked one carton of them at the convenience store I worked at for a bit about five years ago. I asked why just one, and was pulled aside and had it whispered in my ear that the brand is dying off because the customers for that brand have been dying off for decades, and there was just one customer who asked for them - an elderly gentleman.

For whatever reason, Pall Mall was incredibly popular there. I have no idea why.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
Side note about Chesterfields: We stocked one carton of them at the convenience store I worked at for a bit about five years ago. I asked why just one, and was pulled aside and had it whispered in my ear that the brand is dying off because the customers for that brand have been dying off for decades, and there was just one customer who asked for them - an elderly gentleman.

For whatever reason, Pall Mall was incredibly popular there. I have no idea why.

I smoked Pall Mall for around 10 years, then my lazy brother in law got a job working outside sales for R.J. Reynolds tobacco company. He was given around 5 cases of MORE cigarettes (long, slim and brown) to distribute among his customers on his route. He was too lazy to do so, so he gave the cigarettes to me as he hated them and smoked Kent as I recall.

Anyway, I smoked up all 5 cases of them over the years and was still smoking them when I finally quit. He, on the other hand, was fired from this job for not doing the job and couldn't get another job doing anything because this was his third firing for laziness in a 3 year period.

He ended up being accepted as a legacy and went to work for the Fire Department, where he stayed until retirement.

I'll smoke a cigar a few times a year when I'm in the mood. Typically, when drinking bourbon with friends and family. Its also a lot of fun while sitting by the fire.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
but right outside was a small area we called "Marlboro Country" where students were allowed to smoke.

Kind of funny to think about now.

Kids in high school just strolled across the street to a public park and smoked between classes and lunch time. Our RO ("resource officer") would be there all of time smoking also.

There was an outside covered walkway at the first HS I attended where you could smoke.