cigarettes
cigars
leaf chewing tobacco (Red Man, Chattanooga Chew, etc)
dipping tobacco (Skoal, Copenhagen, etc)
pipe
hookah
nasal snuff (if you have to ask what it is you haven't tried it)
I smoked tobacco for xx years but quit back in xx
I still use tobacco
I have never tried tobacco in my life
just second hand smoke
other
I have experimented only with one or more of the above (explain below)
By popular demand, here is the thread and poll about tobacco usage. Tell us all about your experimentation and/or historic usage.
I have the feeling opinions will vary greatly on what constitutes 'experimentation' but for the purposes of discussion let's initially say it encompasses using/purchasing a product less than a half dozen times (e.g. packs of cigarettes, pouches of chaw, etc.). It can be debated/negotiated.
I smoked Marlboro Lights - 2 a day (if that) for about 3 weeks after I returned from our high school's student exchange program in France. The French smoke and after 3 weeks in France I was almost French so it made sense that I should smoke too.
I had also gotten my one ear double pierced while in France - a HUGE NO-NO in my family- but managed to hide it for about 3 weeks.
When my mom confronted me about smoking we had a huge fight and while in the throes of the argument I pulled my hair back and showed her my ear. She was so shocked she couldn't continue the argument.
Eventually we compromised that if I promised to quit smoking I could keep the piercing.
Scared of cigarettes / smoking when I was
11 yrs old when Father had a Left Lung Lobe removed due to Cancer;
14 yrs old when he died of C at home (NO / well before hospice / counseling was available)
and
Ever since !
Last edited by JNA; 21 Oct 2010 at 10:19 AM.
Oddball
Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves?
Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?
From Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Are you sure you're not hurt ?
No. Just some parts wake up faster than others.
Broke parts take a little longer, though.
From Electric Horseman (1979)
Never have smoked...........a co-worker had a partial lung removed, then died within 2 yrs at age 37..................
I'm interested in what prompted people to try smoking or chewing to begin with. A friend of mine once told me he started smoking "because he needed a vice"
Smoked, mostly cigarettes, for 15 years after I got out of high school. Really liked smoking but eventually decided to quit. Tried several times with no success and got up to a two pack a day habit. Finally kicked them by going cold turkey on a 4 day weekend and giving up coffee (temporarily) at the same time. Took up running as my new addiction and haven't looked back since. You can do the math, I haven't smoked again since Thanksgiving weekend 1978.
If you're can't quit, you know that you've got an addictive personality no matter how you rationalize it. Try substituting a healthy addiction like I did. I don't run much anymore, certainly no more marathons but I don't regret all those hours on the road.
Why I smoked? My father did and, as a child, I liked the smell of his cigarettes. I played sports so I didn't start smoking regularly until I had finished my last h.s. varsity season. After that, my somewhat introverted personality liked having something to occupy my time while the extroverts did all the talking.
“Death comes when memories of the past exceed the vision for the future.”
I checked "experimented", but that isn't accurate. Experiment implies interest, and that wasn't the case. My parents smoked, so tobacco was available, and I did occasionally take a drag of my parents' cigarettes. My younger siblings all smoked; I never attempted it beyond goofing around with Mom's Silva Thins.
Our house reeked of smoke; it could even be smelled outside our closed up house during winter. I had a sore throat until I moved out on my own. I won't go to smoky places; as a child I had no choice but to breathe smoke. Now that I can decide, I avoid it.
That's the one reason I wish I smoked, I'd get to stand outside with a cigarette while other people are blabbing at a party or planning conference.Originally posted by ofos
I tried it once just to see what it was like and I didn't get why people enjoy it in any way. By the time I was in high school (late 80's / early 90's) smoking was starting to be seen as more stupid than cool by most kids.
I smoked through college and quit when I met the woman that eventually became my wife. Every now and then I will have a cigarette, but the last time I smoked a cigarette I realized that it didn't do much.
Per my post in the Random Thoughts thread from yesterday, I do chew tobacco, stemming from a mighty stressful time I was having at work last Spring. I am unsure of my feeling on chewing right now and I feel bad that I do it. I will eventually stop, but I have an addictive personality and it can be hard to do at times.
Ho hum... I guess.
You get all squeezed up inside/Like the days were carved in stone/You get all wired up inside/And it's bad to be alone
You can go out, you can take a ride/And when you get out on your own/You get all smoothed out inside/And it's good to be alone
-Peart
Where's the choice for the wacky variety?
For others of course...
"Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost." - 1980 Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan
IMO (not that it matters) I find chewing tobacco much more disgusting than cigarettes. I hate the smell/taste of cigarettes but at least it doesn't involve people dripping spit all over the place.
A year or two ago we had a party and I was cleaning up afterwards by rinsing out the cans & bottles for recycling. I went to empty one can only to realize it was full of chew spit.
Shall I recount the time where I was at a party and someone who dipped set down their spit can on a table and I just happened to be drinking the same kind of beer and set my can down on this same table and came back a minute later and.....A year or two ago we had a party and I was cleaning up afterwards by rinsing out the cans & bottles for recycling. I went to empty one can only to realize it was full of chew spit.
No. No, I like dandy too much to do that.
In the past I occassionally smoked a cigar if I wanted to be obnoxious. Mostly I grossed myself out, though. I never understood why people smoked. You smell bad, have bad breath, and you're just burning up money. I'd rather spend the money on something I can keep.
And zMan, as your friend, I say STOP NOW!
I have never smoked. I have been a fairly competitive runner throughout my life (from 13 on) and it just didn't work with the lungs. Many of my friends chewed, mostly because they played baseball. I would go the seeds route, but I guess many baseball guys like the chew.
Lots of cancer runs in my family, so it has never been worth it to me. My grandfather smoked, my father smoked until I was born, and many of my aunts and uncles smoked. I just never saw the pleasure in it.
A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. -Douglas Adams
Dipped occasionally while in high school, smoked cigarettes every once in awhile in college (generally while drinking and playing poker), used ro smoke five or six cigars a year - haven't had one in probably ten years, though.
I found you a new motto from a sign hanging on their wall…"Drink coffee: do stupid things faster and with more energy"
I got diagnosed with asthma about the time kids start experimenting with smoking, so no. I did have a friend in college who was a wheeze and smoked mentholsThe other forms of tobacco I find disgusting.
Slightly OT, I was involved in the Junior Optimist anti-tobacco campaign when I was in HS. Was anyone else involved in something similar?
When did I go from Luke Skywalker to Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Both parents smoked like trains - especially dad who at one time was up to 3 packs a day. Spent alot of time riding around in smoked filled cars. I never wanted to smoke as a result so I have never had to give it up. I do smoke about 6 or 7 cigars a year - all of which occur with my brother at our golf weekends.
"Whatever beer I'm drinking, is better than the one I'm not." DMLW
What I find nauseating is people at the counter that smell / reek like a ashtray.
Among my favorite bumper stickers is
Kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray
Oddball
Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves?
Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?
From Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Are you sure you're not hurt ?
No. Just some parts wake up faster than others.
Broke parts take a little longer, though.
From Electric Horseman (1979)
I'll admit some smoke stinks, particularly cheap cigars. I'm neutral about most cigarette smoke. Pipe smoke, OTOH, is usually aromatic in a good way IMO.
Never smoked. none of my friends smoke. smoking is not allowed in any business here in Massachusetts. Only time I encounter smoke is when I go in and out of a business or travel through another state.
Pipe tobacco/smoke does have an actual aroma that is specific to the tobacco. My grandfather smoked Black Cherry pipe tobacco. When I see it/smell it, I remember him and the summers on the farm. I inhale the second hand smoke, because I remember how happy those summers were with him.
Cigarette smoke, OTOH, just plain stinks. Cigar smoke smells like what I imagine an elephant fart smells like. And chew is disgusting - mostly for the spit aspect, but also the yellow teeth, bad breath and lumpy look that accompany it.
"We do not need any other Tutankhamun's tomb with all its treasures. We need context. We need understanding. We need knowledge of historical events to tie them together. We don't know much. Of course we know a lot, but it is context that's missing, not treasures." - Werner Herzog, in Archaeology, March/April 2011
When I was very young, both my parents smoked cigarettes, but they both quit when I was in first grade. I occasionally smoke a cigarette with a friend here and there (say, maybe one or two a year) mostly as a social thing (and perhaps after several beers...). But I have never actually paid money for cigarettes nor have I ever gotten hooked. I'm thankful for that.
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
IMHO
When an attractive women sticks a cancer stick in her mouth, her attractiveness quotient drops quickly.
Sorry attractive women who smoke.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Definite cross over to the 'Reforming' an SO thread.
Oddball
Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves?
Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?
From Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Are you sure you're not hurt ?
No. Just some parts wake up faster than others.
Broke parts take a little longer, though.
From Electric Horseman (1979)
I've got an additive personality... the ladies can't get enough
I tried chewing a few times until my dentist sister had a book of mouth diseases lying around and I saw the chewers without jaws. I haven't touched the stuff since. I don't understand why they need to add those chemicals to cigarettes. I don't know the business but why not just outlaw nicotine and let people smoke because they want o, not because they need to?
We have a woman in the office that puts her used butts in her garden so she saves them in her pocket and walks around smelling like a fresh ashtray all the time. She's been doing it for over 15 years here so I guess no one can tell her to stop or she just doesn't care.
I burned down the church to atone for my transgressions.
I only smoke when drinking in the company of good friends. I've never actually bought a pack of cigarettes or a cigar in my life. Every cigar I've smoked was a gift and every cigarette was bummed off a friend. So, it's really just a social thing. Maybe once a month or a couple times a month.
I know it's not good, especially the cigarettes, and for me, it's very easy to not smoke, but when I'm drinking with my friends, I just have a very carefree live-and-let live attitude.
I didn't smoke cigarettes when I was dating and once I find another GF, I probably won't socially smoke anymore.
"Life's a journey, not a destination"
-Steven Tyler
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