So... why start smoking?

[Shuswah_Noir]

Some do it because they think they'll fit in better. Some do it through peer pressure.

Personally, curiosity, and later on (now), it's a social habit I adopt, usually while drinking or sitting with friends in a park (they're circus freaks, not pain in the butt drunks). It keeps my hands occupied which helps me keep calm (anxiety problems).

 

[Guitar Gamer]

Perhaps this is horrible of me (if this is just wrong inform me) but I kinda see it the same way people now start doing heroine.
No one truly believes it is harmless (unless they are uneducated) or "cool" (unless they are a P.I and/or Rorschach) it is just something you may get into if you are not thinking about it, or perhaps you have gotten tinto a mindstate where you don't care anymore, an apathy inspired crutch if you would.
granted this is somply speculation. If this is bigoted let me know, the smokers I know are form the generation that knew cigarettes as "harmless life savers that are like sunshien wrapped up in paper"

 

[Aris Khandr]

But I can see how someone with more tolerance for pollutants entering their systems might have ended up hooked in such a situation.

Wow.

Haters really hating all over this thread.

Again. Smoking does not 'get you hooked'. It is not crack, it is not smack. It does not produce a dizzying high, nor protracted comedowns. People do it because they like it or because it has a benefit for them socially. End of.

Tobacco is not even close to as addictive as you think it is.

All I said is that you're willingly ingesting poison, nothing about addiction. And if you deny that, there's no reasoning with you.

 

[LostAlone]

smoking has a lot of benefits and does more than get you addicted to them

Out of sheer curiosity, what kind of benefits?

It helps you to focus particularly if you are tired. Mostly tho, it helps you relax, and in lots of different situations. It gives you something to do with your hands, so if you are nervous or anxious, it really helps to have something to fidget with. Smoking also gives you an excuse to be anywhere except where you are supposed to be, and when I was younger that meant being outside the caffeteria chatting up young ladies.

Its a really good social tool for those of us who enjoy it. It can get you a few minutes by yourself, alone with an admirer, give you and your friends a good reason to be away from other people to do whatever you wanna do.

When you start smoking, this kinda stuff just starts happening.

 

[Raineheart]

I was given my first cigarette by my best mate on my 18th birthday.
A fairly strong cigarette, the headspin I received was amazing, I loved it. So I started smoking because I enjoyed the headspin and the feeling of relaxation I received.

After a while, I no longer got the headspin, but I still enjoyed smoking.
I enjoy going outside and having a cigarette to cool off and think about stuff. (Hence I dislike smoking inside.)

Conversations between smokers has always been really interesting as well, if its between co-workers or theatre performances (the main leads all chain smoked.)

Only now I'm quitting slowly. I don't enjoy it anymore, and I feel that my lungs could do with a break. I'm not quitting because of pressure, but because I don't feel the need for it anymore.

 

[LostAlone]

But I can see how someone with more tolerance for pollutants entering their systems might have ended up hooked in such a situation.

Wow.

Haters really hating all over this thread.

Again. Smoking does not 'get you hooked'. It is not crack, it is not smack. It does not produce a dizzying high, nor protracted comedowns. People do it because they like it or because it has a benefit for them socially. End of.

Tobacco is not even close to as addictive as you think it is.

All I said is that you're willingly ingesting poison, nothing about addiction. And if you deny that, there's no reasoning with you.

Yes, its poisonous *shrug* your point ?

You said 'hooked into'. If that doesn't imply addiction nothing does. And no, tobacco can't hook you into anything. You smoke it if you want to.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Furthermore, people I know who smoke tell me that the first time they did it, it made them feel sick. Some of them said that they threw up afterwards.

Woah, seriously? It's not that bad. I actually like the smell and taste of certain cigarettes. They've definitely never made me feel sick.

I've been thinking about taking up smoking because, well, I want to die. But I don't currently smoke because I'm too young to buy them myself and I don't care enough to make someone else get them for me, so I only smoke when someone offers me one.

 

[moretimethansense]

I sister said it was "to relieve stress". I called foul. Smoking causes as much stress as it relieves.

You clearly don't smoke. Don't make pronouncements like that unless you do it.

Like lots of things in life, people start primarily because they are curious.

Then you keep going because you like it.

Strange at it may seem to all you crazy straight edge kids with your anti-smoking, people actually enjoy it. It feels good in your hand, it feels good to inhale, it feels good in general.

As someone with a genuine drug addiction, trust me, smoking is NOT addictive. Not in the way y'all think it is... You don't have four ciggies and start craving them. They don't get inside your brain and make you do bad things. Its real tough to quit, but thats not the same deal. You don't have a smoke because you are sweating and shivering and on the edge of throwing up with every fiber in your body SCREAMING at you to have one. That's the difference. You can function without them.

You keep going because its a habit. Its tough to quit because most people have done it for so long and so frequently that they have a hard time knowing what to do without it. Most importantly, they enjoyed doing it, and quitting something you enjoy is always hard, chemically addictive or not. Particularly, breaking any habit is stressful, but for most smokers, their first go-to for stress is smoking, so its kinda a viscous cycle of frustration.

You are so wrong there it's not even funny, smoking IS addictive, very in fact, you may not get cold turkey but you become extremely iritable, agressive, short tempered, sometimes violant.
Every fibre of a smokers body positivly screams for nicotine, I've seen smokers that have been sepeerated frm cigarettes for an hour fly in to rages.
Try watching someone trying to quit, they are constanty putting things in their mouths, holding things between their fingers, often they can't keep still or concentrate.

And by the way he's right about them causeing stress, because of the way nicotine addiction works, whenever the addicts system runs out they start to go through nicotine withdrawel, which in short makes you fucking stressed, smoking relieves the need for nicotine thus the body stops crying out for it.
They would've been more calm in the first place had they never started.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

To learn how to smoke so you can smoke weed.

wait am i allowed to say that on here without getting arrested?

Well, if you aren't, then I'm going to be in cuffs right along side of ya.

 

[KaiRai]

I did it to relieve stress. The first one is always when you're in a pretty bad place and the complete grossness of it kind of takes your mind off it. And it's something else to focus on.

Then you get addicted and it sucks. Basically, I was stressed, and made a poor choice in dealing with it. But hey, I can always quit. But for now I'm still stressed so when my bad patch blows over soon, I will quit.

 

[LostAlone]

I sister said it was "to relieve stress". I called foul. Smoking causes as much stress as it relieves.

You clearly don't smoke. Don't make pronouncements like that unless you do it.

Like lots of things in life, people start primarily because they are curious.

Then you keep going because you like it.

Strange at it may seem to all you crazy straight edge kids with your anti-smoking, people actually enjoy it. It feels good in your hand, it feels good to inhale, it feels good in general.

As someone with a genuine drug addiction, trust me, smoking is NOT addictive. Not in the way y'all think it is... You don't have four ciggies and start craving them. They don't get inside your brain and make you do bad things. Its real tough to quit, but thats not the same deal. You don't have a smoke because you are sweating and shivering and on the edge of throwing up with every fiber in your body SCREAMING at you to have one. That's the difference. You can function without them.

You keep going because its a habit. Its tough to quit because most people have done it for so long and so frequently that they have a hard time knowing what to do without it. Most importantly, they enjoyed doing it, and quitting something you enjoy is always hard, chemically addictive or not. Particularly, breaking any habit is stressful, but for most smokers, their first go-to for stress is smoking, so its kinda a viscous cycle of frustration.

You are so wrong there it's not even funny, smoking IS addictive, very in fact, you may not get cold turkey but you become extremely iritable, agressive, short tempered, sometimes violant.
Every fibre of a smokers body positivly screams for nicotine, I've seen smokers that have been sepeerated frm cigarettes for an hour fly in to rages.
Try watching someone trying to quit, they are constanty putting things in their mouths, holding things between their fingers, often they can't keep still or concentrate.

And by the way he's right about them causeing stress, because of the way nicotine addiction works, whenever the addicts system runs out they start to go through nicotine withdrawel, which in short makes you fucking stressed, smoking relieves the need for nicotine thus the body stops crying out for it.
They would've been more calm in the first place had they never started.

I am a smoker who has quit and restarted. I am also a morphine addict who has from time to time ended up in withdrawl.

Yes, smoking is addictive in that it is hard to quit. Yes you get irritable when you try to quit, and yes you'd probably rather not be quitting. That to do with your attitude to smoking. If you don't want to quit, then you shouldn't try.

But then contrast that to how utterly TOTALLY physically debilitating it is to be in true drug withdrawl... what with the hallucination and feeling like you have insects under your skin and throwing up constantly...

Yeah...

You don't know ANYTHING about addiction or withdrawl if you think smoking is addictive to the same degree.

 

[DJDarque]

I started as a way to deal with stress. It helped. I continued because it helped and because I enjoyed it. It felt good. I quit because of the pricetag. Two packs a week was too expensive for me at the time.

 

[mik1]

I suppose it's a reason to get out of the house and a 'social' thing to do. When else can you walk outside with a certain someone and talk?
Oh wait...

Granted, it's a dumb thing to do. But than again, what hobby isn't? (I see smoking as a hobby.) Just playing games strikes off time you could had used socializing and gained a better life all around.

The difference of having smoking as a hobby or something say knitting. e when you get done knitting theres a physical object of ones accomplishment.

While smoking will give lung caner.

 

[Stryphoon]

I see the connection you're making but cigs vs heroin is really apples and oranges. Maybe for the uneducated that you spoke of it's just something else, but heroin (or just hard narcotics in general) addiction is a completely different animal from what i've seen of local hard drug addicts (and there are many of them).

Never seen people passed out in the street or fighting in busy public areas, or heard of them breaking and entering to rob senior citizins or commiting armed roberies to feed a nicotine habit. But that said, not everyone on hard drugs winds up that way, it really depends on the person and if they have an addictive personality and self control.

 

[MorphingDragon]

It's extremely relaxing when done in moderation.

So is pumping the rod. I don't see why smokers should ever have to leave their bedroom.

 

[LostAlone]

I see the connection you're making but cigs vs heroin is really apples and oranges. Maybe for the uneducated that you spoke of it's just something else, but heroin (or just hard narcotics in general) addiction is a completely different animal from what i've seen of local hard drug addicts (and there are many of them).

Never seen people passed out in the street or fighting in busy public areas, or heard of them breaking and entering to rob senior citizins or commiting armed roberies to feed a nicotine habit. But that said, not everyone on hard drugs winds up that way, it really depends on the person and if they have an addictive personality and self control.

Thats exactly the point I'm making.

Doesn't matter what you do or how you try, you will one day pay the price for hard drug use. You can tease it down as low as you like, but it'll hurt you in ways you never thought possible when you try to go straight. And yes, you don't addicted unless you do it a fair amount. But, past a few doses, you don't have a whole lotta choice. You either keep going or get DTs.

Smoking is just not the same. In any way. It is hard to quit and it'll make you unhappy while you clean out. But its just so far distant from drug addiction that its not even worth comparing them.

People who have never smoked (or taken drugs for that matter) toss around words like addiction without understanding what it really means, and it irritates me.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

smoking has a lot of benefits and does more than get you addicted to them

Out of sheer curiosity, what kind of benefits?

It helps you to focus particularly if you are tired. Mostly tho, it helps you relax, and in lots of different situations. It gives you something to do with your hands, so if you are nervous or anxious, it really helps to have something to fidget with. Smoking also gives you an excuse to be anywhere except where you are supposed to be, and when I was younger that meant being outside the caffeteria chatting up young ladies.

Its a really good social tool for those of us who enjoy it. It can get you a few minutes by yourself, alone with an admirer, give you and your friends a good reason to be away from other people to do whatever you wanna do.

When you start smoking, this kinda stuff just starts happening.

In a way, it makes sense to me. I've always wondered since I'm a non-smoker myself, so legitimate responses are a nice change of pace. I can understand the social aspect of it, since it's a common ground between people that may or may not know one another, as well as a few minutes alone or with others "to clear your mind". Thanks for the input. ^_-

 

[LostAlone]

In a way, it makes sense to me. I've always wondered since I'm a non-smoker myself, so legitimate responses are a nice change of pace. I can understand the social aspect of it, since it's a common ground between people that may or may not know one another, as well as a few minutes alone or with others "to clear your mind". Thanks for the input. ^_-

Offering someone a smoke is a great way to start a conversation even if they say no. Or when you wanna go for one, ask if someone your interested in wants to join you, just to get outside and have a little privacy.

I met my fiancée by offering her a light

 

[Astoria]

Everyone I know started for one of these reasons.

1) They wanted to be cool.
2) It calmed them down.
3) Curiosity got the better of them.

My reason is number 3. I've given it up though. It just isn't worth it and my boyfriend really didn't like it.

 

[iLikeHippos]

I suppose it's a reason to get out of the house and a 'social' thing to do. When else can you walk outside with a certain someone and talk?
Oh wait...

Granted, it's a dumb thing to do. But than again, what hobby isn't? (I see smoking as a hobby.) Just playing games strikes off time you could had used socializing and gained a better life all around.

The difference of having smoking as a hobby or something say knitting. e when you get done knitting theres a physical object of ones accomplishment.

While smoking will give lung caner.

I don't know if knitting is a fair contender. I mean, knitting actually takes some skill and effort. : /