Former Smokers: We Never Really Stopped Wanting One

[Agent Provocateur]

I'm glad I never started with them. I don't like their smell and like many others, I have/had family members that smoked around me. My late grandfather used to easily smoke a pack a day. He tried to get me on cigs when I was around 15...I turned them down.

Good on you! I absolutely hate being a smoker. I wish I could go back to 19-year-old me and slap him across the face when he went to buy his first pack.

 

[Alnitak]

A friend and his mom were ordering cig's through the internet from a cheaper state, and got busted because they weren't paying the state taxes on said cig's. They live in Washington - Don't remember where they were buying the Cig's from... Montana?

The benefit to living in a small state is that you can cross borders very easily and do in another state what is illegal in yours.

 

[peeonme]

The average pack of cigarettes in Canada is $9, and that's for mid-level quality. Expensive ones can cost up to $12 a pack. All you Americans have nothing to complain about.

I believe that when I was 15 I bought them for .35 cent a pack, when I quit smoking they ran me about 1.25 per pack a few years ago,
I had bought a machine and could make 2 packs in about a half an hour, with filters.
Why or how any one can afford the store bought cigs. is beyond me.

 

[Alnitak]

Maryland colony got its start on tobacco, as did Virginia. Without the deadly little plant, I don't know that there would be such a developed economy here today.

 

[Agent Provocateur]

I believe that when I was 15 I bought them for .35 cent a pack, when I quit smoking they ran me about 1.25 per pack a few years ago,
I had bought a machine and could make 2 packs in about a half an hour, with filters.
Why or how any one can afford the store bought cigs. is beyond me.

I roll my own too. I can't afford to smoke machine-made cigarettes. I spend way too much money on clothes.

 

[Kyanimal]

My first cigarette was probably around when I was 12, or so. A friend had "snuck" one, from his Mom, an unfiltered Pall Mall, that, as the ads said, "You could light from either end." We lit it up in a corn field, and passed it around among, about, 4 of us. I had, maybe, 2 puffs.

I immediately choked on it's harshness, got sick to my stomach, probably turned green, and swore I would NEVER do that again!

"Never" lasted about 6 yr.

The summer after graduating from High School, I was a Camp Counselor at an "Inner City" Camp. One weekend, my buds visited, and one of them had a pack of (filtered) Marlboros. For "whatever" reason, probably because it was "kewl", I joined in and smoked one.

Got buzzed. Didn't get queasy. And thought, "O.K.!"

Didn't have another until I went off to College, the following Fall.

In College, there were cig vending machines ALL over the place! And, most of them had 4 columns of Marlboros, at 25 cents a pack! Since there was still a "kewl" factor to smoking, I was up to about 2 packs a day in no time! It was simply the "Thing" to do! And, I've been smoking ever since!

However, even in the late 60s, the IQ (I Quit) campaign was going on. And, I did try to quit several times. Even did a paper on it. Butt, as has often happened, my "success" at quitting didn't last all that long.

And, I've tried quitting, through various methods, ever since. I think the longest I've gone without smoking has been at least 6 mo. +. Butt ... I always managed to "fall back"!

I'm still smoking a pack, plus, to this day!

I've gotten to the point that it's a (minor) struggle to simply Breath! And, though I KNOW better, has that deterred Me? Um ... not Yet!

As much as I HATE ever having to started smoking, and would do almost Anything to be able to "Take It Back", I find myself still "Under The Thumb" of Tobacco!

In spite of what I know about it's addictiveness, and damage, which is a LOT, mentally/consciously, I find myself still doing it!

I have NO doubts that it's already shortened my Life Span. And, if I keep it up, it will shorten that even more.

Has that stopped me? No!

What I need to do is "Find" the point of WANTING to Quit!

Unfortunately, I've not, yet, reached that point.

 

[peeonme]

My first cigarette was probably around when I was 12, or so. A friend had "snuck" one, from his Mom, an unfiltered Pall Mall, that, as the ads said, "You could light from either end." We lit it up in a corn field, and passed it around among, about, 4 of us. I had, maybe, 2 puffs.

I immediately choked on it's harshness, got sick to my stomach, probably turned green, and swore I would NEVER do that again!

"Never" lasted about 6 yr.

The summer after graduating from High School, I was a Camp Counselor at an "Inner City" Camp. One weekend, my buds visited, and one of them had a pack of (filtered) Marlboros. For "whatever" reason, probably because it was "kewl", I joined in and smoked one.

Got buzzed. Didn't get queasy. And thought, "O.K.!"

Didn't have another until I went off to College, the following Fall.

In College, there were cig vending machines ALL over the place! And, most of them had 4 columns of Marlboros, at 25 cents a pack! Since there was still a "kewl" factor to smoking, I was up to about 2 packs a day in no time! It was simply the "Thing" to do! And, I've been smoking ever since!

However, even in the late 60s, the IQ (I Quit) campaign was going on. And, I did try to quit several times. Even did a paper on it. Butt, as has often happened, my "success" at quitting didn't last all that long.

And, I've tried quitting, through various methods, ever since. I think the longest I've gone without smoking has been at least 6 mo. +. Butt ... I always managed to "fall back"!

I'm still smoking a pack, plus, to this day!

I've gotten to the point that it's a (minor) struggle to simply Breath! And, though I KNOW better, has that deterred Me? Um ... not Yet!

As much as I HATE ever having to started smoking, and would do almost Anything to be able to "Take It Back", I find myself still "Under The Thumb" of Tobacco!

In spite of what I know about it's addictiveness, and damage, which is a LOT, mentally/consciously, I find myself still doing it!

I have NO doubts that it's already shortened my Life Span. And, if I keep it up, it will shorten that even more.

Has that stopped me? No!

What I need to do is "Find" the point of WANTING to Quit!

Unfortunately, I've not, yet, reached that point.

My motivating factor in quitting were not just the health issues, for some of us this just doesn't do it. For me time is valuable, when I thought of how much time I wasted making cigs., finding a user friendly place to smoke them, even the time I spent at the tobacco shop... I hated it, I realized how much CONTROL it had over me, I was a slave.

Health factors count, but as humans we over eat, smoke, drink to excess and even have unprotected sex. We can be quite self destructive. Perhaps it's because we live with the reality that we will one day breath our last.

Try using other factors as a motivation to quit, the time, the smell, the social stigma etc.
I wish you luck, and as one always reminds me to do... keep smiling.

 

[Alnitak]

I find that smokers, being a former smoker, aren't really all that motivated by health concerns no matter how explicit those pictures get. We know, we've seen Terrie Hall and her stoma, but for some reason it just doesn't impress a lot of people to stop. I guess we think it just won't happen to us.

What stopped me was the same thing that got me started - the people around me. Cost is another effective factor, however there is a maximum value that taxes have on stopping smokers because of smugglers making an end run around them. In the US it seems that once cigarettes get to $9 a pack that does the most effective job it can, and over is just going to invite a whole lot of criminal activity and smokers getting cigarettes from their friends who drive south for vacation and whatnot.

 

[dpnice]

.........................Health factors count, ...........................Try using other factors as a motivation to quit, the time, the smell, the social stigma etc.
...............................;.

Of course, when finally your doctor tells you that you have destroyed over 50% of your lungs and possibly have lung cancer then the health factor does kick in and the motivation becomes genuine.

I can recommend electronic cigarettes as an alternative. The damage they do is nothing like that of cigarettes and they really do replace all that need of a cigarette; you don't need to change any of your daily habits and they provide nothing but advantages. No more smell, no more ash trays, no more running out of cigarettes and having to drive somewhere to buy some and really considerably much cheaper.

If I am proved to have lung cancer all I can hope is to persuade all you smokers to at least try electronic cigarettes to see if they can replace your habit; they may well save your life and provide you with many more years of healthy living.

 

[dereperez]

Good on you! I absolutely hate being a smoker. I wish I could go back to 19-year-old me and slap him across the face when he went to buy his first pack.

I feel like I should have slapped my grandfather for trying to get me hooked on cigs.

 

[eastofeden]

Of course, when finally your doctor tells you that you have destroyed over 50% of your lungs and possibly have lung cancer then the health factor does kick in and the motivation becomes genuine.

I can recommend electronic cigarettes as an alternative. The damage they do is nothing like that of cigarettes and they really do replace all that need of a cigarette; you don't need to change any of your daily habits and they provide nothing but advantages. No more smell, no more ash trays, no more running out of cigarettes and having to drive somewhere to buy some and really considerably much cheaper.

If I am proved to have lung cancer all I can hope is to persuade all you smokers to at least try electronic cigarettes to see if they can replace your habit; they may well save your life and provide you with many more years of healthy living.

Lung cancer is certainly a possibility but you are just as likely to have a heart attack if you smoke. I know...I had one. Three stents later and no cigarettes.

A trip to the doctor and an EKG or stress test might do the trick. Heart attacks give you all kinds of warnings usually but they are often ignored because they are confused as something else...that is why the tests are a good idea.

 

[lambdaboy]

My partner and I smoked for years and gave up 7 years ago. Once a month we both smoke a Cuban Cigar. That's all we look forward too, and glad we live in Europe where you can buy Cuban.