So... why start smoking?

[Chewster]

Most start as teenagers, who aren't exactly know for their good reasoning abilities or for having a lot of forethought. I say this as a person who used to be one, so don't get upset.

I started very casually in university, and kept it down to a part-time, once in a while type of affair (usually when drunk). It seems to be working out alright so far.

I am sometimes amazed by the amount of bullshit that proper smokers have to endure sometimes, what with all the limitations (what is it now, you can only smoke in one room in your house, with the lights off and a blanket over you? Something to that degree?) and stigmas that are attached to it. I also wonder when this sort of health shaming nonsense will get extended to fatties.

That and I'm a philosophy student. Smoking a pipe really goes with the long beard and leather elbow patches.

Sing it, brother. I got a pipe for being in a buddy's wedding part a few back and haven't gone back to cheap cigars since.

As an added bonus, girls seem to love it. I call my main pipe my "silent wingman".

 

[Moonpig123]

I used to smoke. It's simple. Everybody who ever started did it because they thought it looked cool.

 

[Karyyk]

I'm an odd one. I didn't start smoking until I was 27, started with cigars (ordered in the mail), went to pipes (Dr. Grabows picked up at a drugstore) and ended up with cigarettes (menthols and kreteks, or clove cigarettes, to be exact). I never really became fond of the cigars, despite being Cuban on my mother's side (a terrible shame, I'm sure), but I still smoke cigarettes and am particular fond of the pipe, particularly with a Samuel Smith Oatmeal stout. I can't remember there ever being any peer pressure involved (never have played that game too much) and I was well past the phase when "looking cool" was anything I was going for. Honestly, I just like it. I knew the risks involved, decided to try it and liked enough that I continue to do it. End of story. I smoke a pipe maybe three times a week and 3 or 4 cigarettes per day. Not too much, but enough that I'd definitely consider myself a regular smoker. If this makes me an idiot in the eyes of others, so be it. The only one I really give much credence to is my own, which isn't too differently than anyone who's given their honest opinion in this thread.

 

[unoleian]

I can't even remember when or why I had started smoking, but one thing I know 100% is that quitting is the smartest thing I've ever done. The only thing smarter would have been to never do it in the first place.

 

[Kortney]

I used to smoke. It's simple. Everybody who ever started did it because they thought it looked cool.

Now that's an incorrect bold statement if I have ever seen one!

 

[Yokai]

The concept of "social smoking" people keep bringing up is a mystery to me. Do you just stand around and light one up? Can't you, I don't know, play cards or something instead?

I fully understand the concept of chilling with friends and a relaxing substance, but I'd just have a couple beers or something. Alcohol's a lot less addicting than cigarettes, and less harmful in the long run, provided you're not an idiot about it. Also, I have a feeling beer is a hell of a lot tastier than tobacco.

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

I know a lot of people who smoke - tobacco, weed, whatever. One person in particular is addicted to cigarettes, smokes a fair amount, not masses though. Another person smokes quite a bit, just socially, but still a lot, and is not addicted whatsoever.

I've tried smoking tobacco, and it's kinda fun. I don't want to get hooked or addicted, but it's still kinda fun to do, and oddly satisfying. And it's a good social thing as well, as it gives a much more chilled and relaxed atmosphere, for some strange reason. I smoked weed before cigarettes, and the former is definitely better in every way (plus not addictive), but smoking in general is quite relaxing and satisfying, for some reason, i don't know why, but it is. And it's fun.

 

[Blondi3]

1. It's very calming.
2. Stimulant.
3. "looks cool"

 

[SergeantAnt]

well i took it up because i was a freshman and i thought it was "cool". so when drew offered me one i went for it.
i certainly didnt throw up and i liked it.

lucky for me i dont have an addictive personality. i have smoked a pack in a day, then didn't smoke for a month without even craving. yet i still do just cuz it's relaxing and i like just sitting with friends smoking and talking

 

[kinggamecat]

Wait. Wait! I'm not trying to hang shit on smokers here. I ask purely out of curiosity.

So... I understand why people continue to smoke once they have started. Granted, my understanding is only theoretical since I have never personally touched a cigarette, but I understand the basic mechanics of chemical addiction.

But what I do not understand is why someone who is not addicted would start in the first place.

I've asked several real life acquaintances, but they all just shrugged it off or said something like, "I was young and stupid." But those don't strike me as satisfactory answers.

See, if a person started smoking any time in the last 20 years they likely would have known exactly what they were getting into. So long as they were over the age of twelve, they would have known that smoking is addictive. They would have known that cigarettes are expensive. They would have known that they are harmful.

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. Now I would have thought that would be a pretty clear sign that something isn't doing you any good. If I ate some food that made me feel ill I sure as hell wouldn't go back for seconds.

And yet, people still take up smoking.

Why?

My friend, I've asked myself the same damn question countless times. Thanks for posting this forum ^^

 

[ScumbagEddie]

My mother died when I was 10. I started smoking the next day. I continue to smoke so that I'll die long before I get Parkinson's, which does run in my family and is definitely a worse way to go

 

[Moonpig123]

I used to smoke. It's simple. Everybody who ever started did it because they thought it looked cool.

Now that's an incorrect bold statement if I have ever seen one!

Well OK, yes, that was a bit of a blanket statement. But at the very least everyone I'VE ever met who smokes started it because they'd seen it on the movies or whatever and wanted to try it. Stressed? Jerk off. Don't start smoking.

For the record, I have nothing AGAINST smoking, so I was wasn't trying to ***** on any smokers here. As I said, I myself used to do it (as an impressionable teenager who was, again, under the naieve impression that it was what 'cool' people did).

And I still smoke cannabis from time to time, I won't lie. I don't think it's that big a deal, personally. But at least with that you get a good feeling off it; with cigarettes all I ever felt was a little calmer, and as I said before, if you're stressed out, smoking is not the cleverest thing to do to relieve it.

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

I used to smoke. It's simple. Everybody who ever started did it because they thought it looked cool.

Now that's an incorrect bold statement if I have ever seen one!

Well OK, yes, that was a bit of a blanket statement. But at the very least everyone I'VE ever met who smokes started it because they'd seen it on the movies or whatever and wanted to try it. Stressed? Jerk off. Don't start smoking.

For the record, I have nothing AGAINST smoking, so I was wasn't trying to ***** on any smokers here. As I said, I myself used to do it (as an impressionable teenager who was, again, under the naieve impression that it was what 'cool' people did).

And I still smoke cannabis from time to time, I won't lie. I don't think it's that big a deal, personally. But at least with that you get a good feeling off it; with cigarettes all I ever felt was a little calmer, and as I said before, if you're stressed out, smoking is not the cleverest thing to do to relieve it.

If you start smoking because you're stressed, as a stress relief, you're much more likely to develop a dependance - even when you've gone passed the stressed stage, your body will get used to using it as stress relief, making you more stressed. If you do it just cause, without any real reason to need it, you'll probably be less dependant overall.

And I base that on absolutely nothing

And weed is different because it's not addictive, so of course it's less of a deal. And it's pretty awesome too