a question for smokers...

[velnalops]

I aspire to be Dylan Moran.

 

[elvor0]

People have all kinds of reasons to justify an addiction. Sometimes those reasons are even valid ones, never remotely good enough to cover up the downsides in my opinion, but still. I for one have mostly given up on understanding it and just avoid being around people who are smoking when I can.

What really mystifies me these days on this subject is the extreme lack of popularity of E-cigs. An alternative to traditional cigarettes that are much safer, healthier, and cheaper, can be tailored to the exact nicotine content and flavor the user wants, and yet I have seen exactly two in use since they came out.

I tried them for a while and it's just not the same. There's more to smoking than just the nicotine. It's the smell, the ritual of rolling one up, the harshness of the smoke, the taste, the fag itself burning, inhaling and exhaling the smoke and watching it swirl around... There's also something I find not exactly romantic, but pleasing; having a smoke with a girl and watching the smoke from both your fags mingle and intertwine at sunset, it's somewhat beautiful.

 

[OneCatch]

Seriously, nearly everything will give you cancer if the papers are to believed. And smoking, unlike smack, won't make me go on a mugging rampage or rob a house to afford more. This whole "Tobaco is as bad as other drugs" thing needs to stop, it trivialises just how horrifying Class A drugs are.

I don't think there are many reputable medical organisations that would agree with the Daily Mail list of things that cause cancer [http://lazerhorse.org/2013/06/15/list-daily-mail-give-cancer/], whereas the overwhelming majority will agree that tobacco is a huge causal factor in cancer. If tobacco were discovered today it would almost certainly be either Class A or B because of the health risks (probably A).

That said, since the classification of drugs is hugely politicised, there are huge inconsistencies within the classification system. Although the worst of the Class A's (heroin, crack, meth) are certainly worse than tobacco, there are a surprising number that are relatively benign. Certainly a compelling argument could be made for saying that things like LSD, mushrooms, and ecstasy are overall less dangerous than tobacco.

And the whole 'house robbing' thing is a bit of a diversion. Supposedly benign or controllable drugs can have surprising effects. Alcoholics will sometimes steal in order to fund their habit, and just look at what Prohibition did in the US in the interwar years[footnote]Admittedly there were also massive social factors at play as well, but the point stands[/footnote]. And alcohol is usually considered to be less addictive than nicotine.

 

[Carpenter]

Because I hate all of you so much, you make living on this planet feel joyless and painful.

I wish to slowly poison myself and everyone around me to a small degree. I want to inhale the most tumor causing, carcinogen filled, lung killing smoke there is and then exhale it right into your face.


But seriously, do you think you are going to live forever? Do you avoid unhealthy food and stuff like soda and video games which are also known to contribute to people destroying their bodies?
No? Then why ask such a silly question?

We are all going to die, having a smoke isn't going to cut your life down anymore than having a real job is, and nobody seems to try to convince people that those are a bad idea.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

I smoke a pack a day. I started because it is enjoyable, I continue because I am addicted and don't care much about living to be old.

But what about the money? I swear I could never smoke that much. My wallet would cry.

Cigarettes are my biggest expense other than necessities, but beyond tobacco and one other smoking hobby I don't care to do many things requiring money, so the cost doesn't bother me.

I would have about $40 extra a week without cigarettes, but I generally would rather have the 140 cigarettes.

But that's, like, a videogame a week! That's enough to be drunk the whole weekend, every weekend! That's enough to be significantly stoned every day!

Why would you pass up any of those things in favor of cigarettes?

I don't like video games much, I don't often drink, and I'm already significantly stoned every day. That habit is more than 40 a week.

 

[Alarien]

Because I enjoy smoking. Period.

That said, I quit over 7 years ago. I hate that I quit, but I did it for my wife and family.

I'd still smoke if I didn't have her and my daughter.

 

[keniakittykat]

I will go with the time honoured answer that non-smokers refuse to accept: I enjoy it.

What do you enjoy about it? The smell? The smoke going into your lungs? That feeling of suffocation that makes you lightheaded?

I enjoy smoking like other people enjoy coffee: it's smooth, tastes good, makes you feel good and is just relaxing. But should be consumed in moderate doses. I smoke about 7 sticks a day, and to me it seems to be doing less damage than 7 cups of coffee a day. I don't have health problems, and my doctor can't even detect any related damage yet. (Been smoking for almost 9 years now and take a physical every 6 months.)

Besides, I'd rather die earlier and did what I loved to do, than to be a 100 because I sheltered myself from anything that could be bad for me.

 

[Something Amyss]

Probably for the same reason people continue eating fattty foods and drinking soda: Because they're racist.

That'd be a lot more funny if not for the "Black guys like KFC " thing.
So yea, fail joke on your part....

And since KFC is the only fatty food out there (and the only fried chicken, at that), that's a valid point.

[
You could masturbate, just as addicting, but less damaging to your health, heck it might be beneficial to some people, because it decreases blood pressure and lowers the chance of having heart diseases.

My hairy palms and failing eyesight disagree.

 

[Hazy]

Probably for the same reason people continue eating fattty foods and drinking soda: Because they're racist.

That'd be a lot more funny if not for the "Black guys like KFC " thing.
So yea, fail joke on your part....

Take it away, Mr. Chappelle:

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Whenever you ask these questions to a smoker, a little thing called cognitive dissonance kicks in, described by psychology as "a discomfort experienced when simultaneously holding two or more conflicting cognitions: ideas, beliefs, values or emotional reactions".

The theory of cognitive dissonance in social psychology proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by altering existing cognitions, adding new ones to create a consistent belief system, or alternatively by reducing the importance of any one of the dissonant elements.

Basically, they keep smoking because cognitive dissonance: it's easier to dismiss the knowledge of death over the pleasure of nicotine.

 

[Hugga_Bear]

I enjoy it sometimes, so I smoke sometimes. I find straights unappealing and tasteless but rollies are quite nice on occasion, the mixture of sensory inputs amuse me and it gives me something to do. I actually dislike the effects of cigarettes, the nicotine is at best a distraction and at worst an unpleasant buzz getting in the way of my head.

That's not the only reason though, I smoke weed with semi regularity and smoking the occasional cigarette helped me cope with the negatives of the nicotine rush which I occasionally experienced while smoking weed (only more severely because of the high). So I smoked a little to get used to the feeling as well.

As for the negatives, I don't particularly care about the damage to my fitness, cancer of any variety isn't overly concerning to me and that doesn't leave much to worry about when you're smoking on occasion. Oh heart problems I guess but again I don't really care. I'm not hung up on living so much that I avoid things I enjoy I guess.

 

[A Raging Emo]

It's been said before, I'll say it again.

I like to smoke.

 

[Strazdas]

As a non smoker i can only guess that they do it to collectively kill me as fast as they can.

Because it's the only drug that's both easily accessible and doesn't alter my mental state that much.

So from what i udnerstand you consume drugs just to consume drugs and not because of its effects (does not alter your mental state) nor rebellion (you look for legal ones) or challenge (easily acceptable). why exactly do you smoke then?

Also your Fallacy of relative privation [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_relative_privation] at the end of the post is silly. And i could throw a false equlvalence there too.

I will go with the time honoured answer that non-smokers refuse to accept: I enjoy it.

Do that many people really refuse to accept that answer? I am a non-smoker, aside from the very rare cigar. And that answer seems perfectly valid to me. It's the same reason I drink pop, eat junk food etc.

Thats because its been kinda proven that almost any smoker does it out of habbit or addiction and not out of enjoymet. they enjoy it at first, then our body adjusts in such a way that such effect is no longer felt but addiction remains.

It's been said before, I'll say it again.

I like to smoke.

Thats kinda the question. why do you like to smoke.

 

[Vegosiux]

I've been an on/off smoker for a while, currently in an "off" phase I hope to continue indefinitely. Most of my smoking came from either "social smoking" or in times where the stress load was at the point where lighting one up would help me refocus and ease down, and do less harm to my health than continued exposure to those high stress levels.

 

[In Search of Username]

It is enjoyable, and no-one lives forever.

Really now, I don't even smoke but the reasons are fairly easy to understand unless you refuse to.