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The king of smokers

thomas-morris.uk

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Re: The king of smokers

#81

Post by sorokod »

taurath wrote: post #76

One thing to note is that the purported health effects of smoking are almost all mental or neurological in function rather than physical. I imagine that before the modern era, where one could argue that mental disorder was far more uncommon, having tobacco to "modulate" mood and nerves would be seen as a legitimate boon to the user and society in general - especially when a person is liable to die from other physical…

> One thing to note is that the purported health effects of smoking are almost all mental or neurological in function rather than physical

How is "mental or neurological" not physical?

Re: The king of smokers

#82

Post by cwkoss »

susan_hall wrote: post #68

A dear friend of mine quit smoking, cold-turkey, and she went completely berserk for 3 months, with dangerous mood swings and outbursts of violence. She had previously suffered a mild depression, which now emerged as some kind of dark nightmare of rage and guilt and hatred and also self-hatred. This is what struck me: of all the SSRIs she'd had ever tried, none had ever worked as well as tobacco. Tobacco moderated he…

Tobacco contains MAOIs. This is why many smokers don't find vaping to give the same buzz. Also MAOIs are prescribed as anti-depressants.

Re: The king of smokers

#83

Post by eatbitseveryday »

taurath wrote: post #76

One thing to note is that the purported health effects of smoking are almost all mental or neurological in function rather than physical. I imagine that before the modern era, where one could argue that mental disorder was far more uncommon, having tobacco to "modulate" mood and nerves would be seen as a legitimate boon to the user and society in general - especially when a person is liable to die from other physical…

> the purported health effects of smoking are almost all mental or neurological in function rather than physical

Don't you mean 'purported beneficial effects'? Damage to the lungs is most certainly an 'effect', albeit a negative one. The way you wrote it, it reads as if something like lung damage is all in one's head, imagined (and I'm sure that's not what you meant?).

While I don't condone smoking, Wikipedia[1] summarized certain physical benefits of nicotine from specific sources (and I cannot comment on the reputation of the sources themselves):

>Nicotine is frequently used for its performance-enhancing effects on cognition, alertness, and focus.[40] A meta-analysis of 41 double-blind, placebo-controlled studies concluded that nicotine or smoking had significant positive effects on aspects of fine motor abilities, alerting and orienting attention, and episodic and working memory.[41]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine#Enhancing_performance

Re: The king of smokers

#84

Post by eatbitseveryday »

defen wrote: post #33

Does smoking (or smelling like smoke) keep mosquitoes away? I'm wondering if some second-order effect, like malaria prevention, led doctors back then to think that smoking was healthy.

Mosquitos are attracted to carbon dioxide[1] which we exhale, and heat sources (our body). Tobacco smoking produces a lot of this gas[2]. My conclusion (an educated guess) would be "no".

[1] http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/mosquitoes-find-yo...

[2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20387988

Re: The king of smokers

#85

Post by susan_hall »

cwkoss wrote: post #82
susan_hall wrote: post #68

A dear friend of mine quit smoking, cold-turkey, and she went completely berserk for 3 months, with dangerous mood swings and outbursts of violence. She had previously suffered a mild depression, which now emerged as some kind of dark nightmare of rage and guilt and hatred and also self-hatred. This is what struck me: of all the SSRIs she'd had ever tried, none had ever worked as well as tobacco. Tobacco moderated he…

Tobacco contains MAOIs. This is why many smokers don't find vaping to give the same buzz. Also MAOIs are prescribed as anti-depressants.

Thank you for explaining why tobacco has such a powerful effect.

Re: The king of smokers

#86

Post by paavokoya »

tree_of_item wrote: post #78

> To quiet nervous rest; to soothe a ruffled temper; to favour calm and partial thought; to steady and clear (not to cloud) a confused, overworked brain; to counteract the effects of physical exhaustion—these are just the things which tobacco does Sure, tobacco is pretty bad for you in general, but all of these things are pretty much true. Do people not believe that tobacco has positive psychoactive effects or someth…

Given that it's becoming almost illegal in most public space, I wouldn't be surprised if people were misinformed about the benefits (I'm not condoning smoking). Simply pointing out the fact that the more a substance is pushed into the fringes, the more misinformation is spread. Think marijuana prohibition.

Re: The king of smokers

#87

Post by taurath »

sorokod wrote: post #81
taurath wrote: post #76

One thing to note is that the purported health effects of smoking are almost all mental or neurological in function rather than physical. I imagine that before the modern era, where one could argue that mental disorder was far more uncommon, having tobacco to "modulate" mood and nerves would be seen as a legitimate boon to the user and society in general - especially when a person is liable to die from other physical…

> One thing to note is that the purported health effects of smoking are almost all mental or neurological in function rather than physical How is "mental or neurological" not physical?

I meant to infer that it was a primarily psychological benefit.

Re: The king of smokers

#88

Post by mercer »

goldfeld wrote: post #22
mercer wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure that's at least a partial explanation. I've met quite a few people who struck me as stoners who only 'picked up the habit' later on. I've also met regular smokers who don't conform to the stereotypes. That said, I personally don't feel comfortable indulging in something chronically that has such pronounced effect on my mental abilities. Even if it has no long-term physical consequences, the habit (and what c…

That may explain part of your negative bias. I barely eat during or after (munchies are emotional in nature), don't have TV, dropped net/phone addiction (far more insidious an evil in this age), and usually get high to sing, compose on the guitar, dance, stretch, sometimes some light programming.. I do it every day. It's about what you do with it, isn't it? Get high every day to be a vegetable: train to become better…

I'm happy it works for you, but for me that never really panned out.

Perhaps it would work if I didn't have access to the internet and/or lived in a more nature-like area. Or perhaps it would work if my lifestyle was already different. I don't know. But as it is, if I smoke I become either couch-locked or jittery and paranoid.

I think individual differences matter a great deal, and you're right in pointing that out.

That said, the vast majority of regular pot smokers I know are more similar to me than they are to you, so based on that I think the negative bias is at least somewhat justified. I'd never tell someone not to smoke, I wouldn't judge chronic smokers no matter their lifestyle. But I've warned every one of my siblings and those curious about it to keep an eye out for how they respond to the stuff. It's nowhere near as potentially dangerous as alcohol, I think, but it's also not quite like picking up a coffee habit.

(I do have to confirm that I would occasionally get a burst of 'creativity' in particular when coding on purely-fun side-projects! Doing so was enjoyable and funny albeit not always very productive. I miss that sometimes.)

Re: The king of smokers

#89

Post by bigpeopleareold »

tree_of_item wrote: post #78

> To quiet nervous rest; to soothe a ruffled temper; to favour calm and partial thought; to steady and clear (not to cloud) a confused, overworked brain; to counteract the effects of physical exhaustion—these are just the things which tobacco does Sure, tobacco is pretty bad for you in general, but all of these things are pretty much true. Do people not believe that tobacco has positive psychoactive effects or someth…

What they said in that day is true today. But, it is not tobacco per-se that provides the benefit. It is easy to get carried away with tobacco (with pipes, tongue bite, with cigs...addition), so it is important to respect yourself and what the substance is to gain its benefits (taste mostly for me.)

Pipe smoking should be done slowly, methodically and with full consideration of what tobacco is. The last thing I need is turning something pleasurable and calming into an addition.

In the end, tobacco is probably bad, but so is the air in most major cities in the world. :P

Re: The king of smokers

#90

Post by brianwawok »

bigpeopleareold wrote: post #89
tree_of_item wrote: post #78

> To quiet nervous rest; to soothe a ruffled temper; to favour calm and partial thought; to steady and clear (not to cloud) a confused, overworked brain; to counteract the effects of physical exhaustion—these are just the things which tobacco does Sure, tobacco is pretty bad for you in general, but all of these things are pretty much true. Do people not believe that tobacco has positive psychoactive effects or someth…

What they said in that day is true today. But, it is not tobacco per-se that provides the benefit. It is easy to get carried away with tobacco (with pipes, tongue bite, with cigs...addition), so it is important to respect yourself and what the substance is to gain its benefits (taste mostly for me.) Pipe smoking should be done slowly, methodically and with full consideration of what tobacco is. The last thing I need…

But the air in cities you need to breath. You don't need to breath the pipe. Minimizing risks and all...
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