Smokers are Mad, Bad, & Sad.

[tikay]

That's been my view since I quit, October 8th last year.

I feel pity & contempt for those slaves to addiction who have to rush outside & get their "fix", it's weak & so are those that can't quit. In Scotland, Ireland & Wales, they can only smoke outside "public places", where they are given an "Air Lounge" (a room with no roof!), & England will soon follow suit.

The best part about quitting is not being a slave to nicotine, not feeling owned by ciggies, it's lovely.

So it's hard to understand how I've fallen off the wagon.

A pal bought me some Henri Winterman Half Coronas, always my fave cigars, for Christmas, & for some reason, I took them to Monte Carlo with me in March or April, & smoked one. It was lovely, I had 2 days holiday, sat in the sun, chilling with friends, & I enjoyed my cigar.

I smoked 1 or 2 more, & then I started little cigars now & then, particularly savouring a cigar when on a long drive, very relaxing.

In Dublin, a young lady whom I'm very fond of offered me a ciggie, & I smoked it. It was horrible, but that's not the point. I had 4 or 5 cigars over the weekend, too.

I'm not sure where I go from here with cigars. I don't think I'll go down the ciggies road again, but I'm enjoying the occasional cigar.

The health side (my health) does not trouble me, it's a little too late for that, & I'm a bit too old to worry really.

But being a nicotine slave DOES bother me a lot, also it's so socially unpopular these days.

I also hate the thought that I've failed, & I don't much care for failing in anything I attempt.

I guess with age comes stupidity. It's just mad, bad, & sad.

[scottm]

I guess with age comes stupidity.

So, thats what we all have to look forward to  then Tikay ....  



Looks like you'll just have to saddle up and try again  

[ifm]

Some of us don't want to quit, don't feel like slaves, are not social lepers and don't feel sad or unhealthy.
We are just the latest targets for the woolly hatted tree hugging brigade who happen to have the power of the propaganda machine at their disposal, the ban itself is just another labour stealth tax.

"I smoke. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your f****n' mouth."
Bill Hicks

[Indestructable]

Isn't that what the tobacco companies want you to think?

[SuffolkPunch]

I've more or less given up for six weeks now, having only fallen off the wagon when playing poker somewhere (only twice). I'm content with that - but if the signs are I am smoking more and more, and heading back to full time, then it's blanket ban time.

Cigars are awful - I gve up for six months once and started on the odd cigar, which soon turned into 10 or 20 cigars a day!!! Cigarettes followed swiftly!

[Graham C]

I don't see how a little of something that you like does any harm.  Smoking 40 a day is clearly bad for you health, but a cigar every so often is more of a treat.

Everything  in moderation.

[George2Loose]

I can't imagine how difficult it is giving up smoking.

I have never smoked and never will but I'm currently trying to lose some weight and can't stop eating all the pies so I can only imagine how hard it is to give up something which is actually addictive.

That being said I cannot wait for July 1st. Despite having non smoking card rooms- I always come home stinking of cigarette smoke, gets everywhere- on my clothes and in my hair.

Will also be nice taking the kids down to the local without fear of passive smoking.

[Graham C]

Yep quite agree George, I'm very much looking forward to July 1st too - like you said, be nice not to come home and absolutely reek of ciggies, makes me feel quite ill sometimes. 

[Karabiner]

I'm not sure where I go from here with cigars. I don't think I'll go down the ciggies road again, but I'm enjoying the occasional cigar.

Tony, I packed up smoking cigarettes around 1991 and have never been tempted to smoke another one, but I do enjoy an occasional cigar, expensive ones, Havanas, and i treat myself to a box whenever I have a decent win.

However, I've not had one for a couple of months now  and can honestly say that I really can take them or leave them. I'm not addicted to cigars like i was to ciggies for twenty-five years, I just really do enjoy them.

So don't feel bad or guilty, just enjoy a simple pleasure when you feel like getting jiggy with a nice cigar 

[matt674]

[quote author=Karabiner link=topic=24294.msg492318#msg492318 date=118103573
So don't feel bad or guilty, just enjoy a simple pleasure when you feel like getting jiggy with a nice cigar
[/quote]

Quote from Bill Clinton?

[KingPoker]

My mum smokes around 4 ciggies a day, always has one at lunch, one when she comes home from teaching 30x 10 year old children and one before she goes to bed and as much as i hate smoking i would never want her to stop what she enjoys. 3 or 4 cigarrettes a day isnt going to kill her, I think the stress of not having them probably would though!

But thats a person who has been smoking 30 years, when i see someone my age smoking (none of my really close friends smoke!!!) AFTER all these really effective (IMO) anti-smoking campaigns have come out and the fact there are 20 known carcinogens (cancer-causing substances) in a ciggie then i am disgusted by them, and, in my opinion there is no bigger turn off than having a girlfriend that smokes, which is why i have never had a smoker as a girlfriend!

Saying that, we all always used to have a victory cigar after a big rugby match, a team-bonding thing, and me and my mate went through the young teenage thing of smoking a couple of fags when we came home from school but i have never found them addictive or never felt the urge for a ciggie at any time in my life, it was more fun selling them for a quid each at the local dances to the older lot who had run out!

Plus ciggies gave me one of my most favourite memories ever, with the above mentioned friend and the smoking thing when we got home, we went round the back of the house before mum came home to have a drag, i had turned the lighter up like you do so it was like a flame thrower but when my mate came to light his ciggie he forgot about this and did that shielding from the wind thing you do when you light up and lit the flame thrower and burnt off all his eye brow and eye lashes on the one sde, well i was in tears for about an hour!!!!

I hate smoking though now i have grown up, a bit, and hate seeing other people do it especially mum and it took me until the 6th of the 8 years my bro has been with his girlfriend to discover that she smokes!!!!!!
But what a lovely feeling it is to come home now from a night on the slosh and not wake up the next day with your clothes and hair not smelling of other peoples smoke!!!

And TK it sounds like you are one of the worst types a smoker, a social smoker as you only seem to do it when your out and other people are, this is the trouble with having mates as smokers but you havent failed, smoking is one of the hardest things in the world to give up and if you can keep the number down in this period of relapse then it wont be long before you are back on track again. But 1 quick question

Do you actually want to give them up

Edit:- plus smoking gives rise to one of my favourite sayings, "bum a fag!" lol.

[RED-DOG]

You smoke, or you don't smoke. There are no in-betweens.

[kinboshi]

Someone mentioned the other night (might have been Eck, but it could have been anyone really, the Guinness was good), that in night clubs where smoking is banned you notice a strong smell of BO, which was obviously previously masked by the smoke.

Not suggesting that smoking is good, but I think an increase in hygiene levels needs to be encouraged.

[CelticGeezeer]

I have a friend with a drink dependency problem. Recently his liver stopped working and he was taken into hospital where the doctor advised him that he would have to give up the beer. When he was released from hospital he started to drink wine, problem solved.

[AdamM]

giving up was the best thing I ever did.

Appart from the improvement in my health there's the benefits to my kids, their health from my smoke, their health from not following my example and taking it up and them having a dad longer.

more money in my pocket (don't know where I found the money) and cheaper health insurance

I can taste and smell my food so much better.
 
Finally, I don't smell like a tramp (sorry smokers, but until you give it up you won't understand how a smoker smells a couple of hours into the day).

Giving up was also one of the hardest things I ever did and people attempting to kick it have my sympathy. Stick with it. Its worth the pain. Red's right. you smoke or you don't. 'Social smoking' is an oxymoron and cigars are no better. Good luck to anyone packing in July 1st