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On Smoking

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Re: On Smoking

#321

Post by taneq »

lultimouomo wrote: post #274
DowsingSpoon wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to smoke. I started smoking while drinking and the reason is that it feels fucking amazing. People don't smoke for no reason. They smoke because it feels good. Really good. The long-term health consequences don't feel real when you're young. It's easy to dismiss, even if you logically understand the risks. The expense is not a problem. Utterly unimportant. The addictive aspect is a subtle beast. It creeps up o…

> I started smoking while drinking and the reason is that it feels fucking amazing I have smoked about 5 cigarettes in my life, also when drinking as a young adult. It was honestly unpleasant for me; the feeling of hot smoke in my lungs was definitely not a natural taste to me. I have always thought that people powered through the initial distaste for smoke to fit in, and then they acquired a taste for it (or became…

You don’t inhale solely through the cigarette until you’re a seasoned smoker. You suck a bit of smoke in as you breathe in, gradually more as you get used to it.

Smoking never made sense to me until I spent some time in an English winter. It warms the air up when it’s so cold it hurts to breathe. The nicotine feels nice as well.

I only ever smoked a few times though. It started to feel normal and I took this warning sign to heart and stopped forever.

Re: On Smoking

#322

Post by taneq »

rapind wrote: post #196
nyolfen wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's a pleasant social activity when you're young; you have a ritual you perform together and share informal bonding time. smoking also gives a physical sense of relief once you're addicted to it and it gives you something to punctuate your day with, little benchmarks -- i will finish writing these emails so i can have a cigarette, etc. i smoked for 8 years then switched to vaping. i don't want to vape for the rest o…

I quit smoking ten years ago (smoked for about 15y before that) and the only thing I miss is the enforced ritual to go stand outside for 5-10 minutes. I’d pay for an addictive product that gave me that back without killing me!

Get a job somewhere with poor mobile reception where you have to stand in just the right spot to check Facebook. :P

Re: On Smoking

#323

Post by telesilla »

reissbaker wrote: post #234
unixhero wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quit smoking, and it was very very hard. I don't agree with you that the addiction, need and nicotine + other triggers will remain with me until the end of time. Deprogramming is part of the process of quitting to smoke. I do now never want to smoke. It is not attractive to me as a way to relax or focus. I can stand in a tobacco section of an airport taxfree shop holding a 5 cartons in my hands with absolutely no d…

+1. I quit smoking a little over a decade ago, gradually, by winnowing myself down cigarette-by-cigarette. If I smoked six cigarettes a day, for the next two weeks I'd smoke five; by the end of two weeks I'd stop feeling the urge for a sixth. Then I'd move down to four, etc etc, until finally I was down to two and just stopped entirely. For the first year after stopping regularly smoking, I still felt the urge when d…

Equally. I haven't wanted a cigarette for a few years now, the first 2 or 3 months were very challenging-what worked for me in the end was cold turkey and a strong will to quit and someone who believed in me to help me through it. If you don't want to quit, you won't. Try next time until it works. The first 2 or 3 years, I kept finding myself reminding my brain that I don't smoke, I missed my smoking-buddy (myself-it's a different kind of lonely when you are with a cigarette, it's a kind of comfort). Some years later I forgot I even used to smoke. Deprogramming, exactly as you say. The addict just stops visiting and you forget about her.

Re: On Smoking

#324

Post by toyg »

murat131 wrote: post #3

The thing about smoking is that when you quit smoking you quit it every day. Imagine a light switch on the wall. You turn it off by quitting smoking and you can always go back at a desperate time for instance and turn it on. And some time later off again. Smoking your first cigarette implants that light switch on your mind and you can't make it go away. Since you know how it makes you feel good when the switch is on,…

> The thing about smoking is that when you quit smoking you quit it every day. [...] So do yourself a favor and avoid any substance that creates such light switches in your mind

Unfortunately there are switches that one cannot just avoid - like food.

I was watching a West Wing episode last week, where a character says "An alcoholic cannot have 'just a drink'." It's the same for a food addict, except s/he must have 'just a portion'. I have a decent record with shaking off addictions, but with food I just can't go cold-turkey and it kills me.

Re: On Smoking

#325

Post by rbg246 »

rytis wrote: post #278
mlang23 wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find people that envy smokers for their breaks pretty pathetic. All it really implies is that these envious people dont know how to manage their own time. If I want a break, I take a break. If I dont need a break, I go on. But that doesnt have anything to do with my coworkers. As long as I am not the boss, its not my bussiness to do time management for others.

Annoyingly there can be slight imbalance. If a smoker takes 10 min break every hour, it's seen as "ok, he's just having a smoke". If a nonsmoker takes the same 10 mins break to check on their phone, or just chill outside, it's "oh, I've noticed you're away from your desk quite often". It's not a rule, but I've seen this happen more often that not.

When I was a smoker, my smoke breaks were the thing that was noticed, I used to have one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Was incredibly awkward (due to the addiction) and in hindsight incredibly shortsighted on behalf of the company due to how productivity works.

Now most of my inspiration comes from taking breaks.

Re: On Smoking

#326

Post by onion2k »

deesep wrote: post #86

I started smoking when i went to study in China. Someone gifted me an expensive brand of cigarette, and I kept it hidden in a drawer for two weeks as I didn't smoke. One very cold day with no where to go and nothing to do, I took the pack out and lit one stick. My did it have a lovely scent. The heat it created inside me was also soothing. It took me about a week and half to finish the pack of 21 cigs. I couldn't aff…

Within 1 year I was smoking 2 packs a day.

If you have a child who you punish for smoking they'll accuse you of being a hypocrite using this fact, especially when they're fighting for the right to party. :)

Re: On Smoking

#327

Post by wraptile »

timonoko wrote: post #319

Nicotine was natural cure for ADHD at the time when there was no such diagnosis. I am not kidding: my IQ raised at least 20 points when I started smoking at 16. I was suddenly the very best in mathematics (from barely acceptable level) and was able to concentrate in other studies too. Unfortunately there was only two years left in school, so I was not able to fill the gaps to gain top marks at everything. Should have…

Turns out nicotine is a really good drug! The problem is that cigarettes are a terrible delivery method.

I've started vaping on ocassion almost purely for work reasons: I vape nicotine to focus and CBD to relieve some stress. It's tasty, fun and AFAIK there really isn't enough research against vaping for me to turn away these benefits. As for cigarattes the negatives would definitely outweigh the positivies for me so I'd refrain from smoking but I can emphasize with someone who would think otherwise.

Another benefit is socializing! I'd often work in coworking spaces where cafe and smoke spot is where people socialize - both are basically drug consumption spaces.

Finally I don't feel any addiction to these particular drugs other than it's fun and tasty - I can go days or weeks without it without any problems. I know there's strong research that nicotine withdrawals can affect mood but I've never experienced any myself though seen it in others. Vaping is easy to dose though you can easily avoid withdrawals with a bit of math!

Re: On Smoking

#328

Post by bambax »

> The Buddhists think you don’t quit addictions, you become a new person who isn’t an addict.

I don't think that's true, unfortunately. You can quit smoking and stay addicted to other things.

You can even quit smoking and stay addicted to smoking, being on the verge of falling for it again. That was not the case for me, but it happens often.

Re: On Smoking

#329

Post by gugagore »

toyg wrote: post #324
murat131 wrote: post #3

The thing about smoking is that when you quit smoking you quit it every day. Imagine a light switch on the wall. You turn it off by quitting smoking and you can always go back at a desperate time for instance and turn it on. And some time later off again. Smoking your first cigarette implants that light switch on your mind and you can't make it go away. Since you know how it makes you feel good when the switch is on,…

> The thing about smoking is that when you quit smoking you quit it every day. [...] So do yourself a favor and avoid any substance that creates such light switches in your mind Unfortunately there are switches that one cannot just avoid - like food. I was watching a West Wing episode last week, where a character says "An alcoholic cannot have 'just a drink'." It's the same for a food addict, except s/he must have 'j…

I have always considered that a very important difference, too.

But I also know people do overcome food addiction, so it makes me wonder, isn't it possible to "quit" smoking in the sense that you set some limits for yourself that you're honestly happy with, and then you aim for staying within the limit, like you would do with food and/or body weight. Does the limit have to be "none"?

Re: On Smoking

#330

Post by nowahe »

werber wrote: post #31

I quit smoking when I got COVID because it was the first time I was too sick to smoke. I’ve tried to smoke since and it just tastes awful. I know this might be crude to say but I’m thankful for having had the virus

Kinda unrelated, but for me the best and first indicator that I'm starting to get sick is cigarettes tasting different.
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