I put it in "Health", as by now, there can be little doubt. My own sister, sneaking smokes before high school, my mother reiterating to me at a very early age about my sister smoking in the bathroom, accompanied by the school friend she would later run away from home with, stressing to me the importance of staying away from smoking. Those girls blew the smoke down into the toilet bowl, then flushed, thinking they would not be detected, "smelled". My sister continued smoking throughout her shortened life. Her health was reminiscent of our genetic graces, European Slavs with great immune systems. She never "caught cold", delivered 5 children uneventfully, withstood repeated mental and physical abuse from her second husband, father of 4 of them, kept house, cooked, kept the two ornery boys in line, took jobs when they were in high school, smoking all the way through.........I spoke with her closely for the first time in a lifetime, (there were terrible animosities throughout our lives), as she lay in the hospital, gasping for every breath. This was in Chicago, I had a midnight flight back home to Phoenix, and I bade her good-bye about 7PM. As I reached the door, she called me back........reached out her hand, as I grasped it. She said very fervently, "Good-bye", Frank. I responded with I would be seeing her at home. Couple hours later, at Midway Airport, I thought I heard my name paged, but was unsure (half-deaf already at 53). Called my wife in Phoenix. She reluctantly revealed my sister had died within the past few hours. This all happened in 1995, she died at 65, having been never sick seriously in her life. A real tribute to the "glory" of smoking. During her last hours, oxygen was being delivered into her lungs, but her heart was shot beyond being saved. Sorry to be so burdensom with this personal "tripe"....... Frank
I started smoking in high school and for a couple of years after, but I was only a half-pack-a-day smoker, and haven't smoked since the early 1970s.
I started smoking when I was in middle school and continued for the next 40 years. I finally used CHANTIX to quit about 10 years ago. I still miss it and might start again when the finish line comes into view.
When I was in my early 20's, I smoked cigars and a pipe for a few years, but NEVER cigarettes.. I stopped smoking when I got married (for the first time) at 26 years old.. I HAVE NEVER SMOKED ANYTHING SINCE !!!!!
Started smoking cigs after I went into the Navy. A cig and a hot cup of coffee kept a sailor awake during the Midnight Watch onboard ship at sea. Stopped for a few years, then started up again when I rented a room at a house that a manager I worked for owned. Even at this time, I was a light smoker, being a pack and half a week. I had smokers tell me "you're not a smoker. I smoke at least a pack and a half in one day!". When I got involved in rodeo, I switched from cigs to Copenhagen, Skoal and Redman. Compared to some other guys I knew, I didn't do much of all three. Due to some "tingling" inside my lower lip, wife and I decided that I should stop "dipping" and I did, in 2005, right before my hip replacement surgery. I missed it and the following Spring, bought a can of Skoal. While on the boat fishing, opened it, took a dip, but less than 30 seconds later, took it out of my mouth. When we got home, I threw the can away. That was 13 years ago and nothing since. Wife and I are both very glad that I stopped smoking and dipping/chewing.
I started smoking around 25 and quit about 11 years ago with Zyban. . I always think that if I get a terminal diagnosis I'll start again ...plus eat all food that's not good for you. Plus I want to be doped up and feeling good. All wishful thinking....I'm sure it doesn't work that way. Saw it with my husband who couldn't keep down what he ate in the last months...
I have never smoked in my life, but (alas) I have spent most of my life around smokers; so I am sure that I got as much of the second hand smoke as most smokers would have. Since I was also several months premature, my lungs never fully developed, so I have always been short of breath, or at least never had very good lungs. When I was a very young girl, I was fascinated by watching my father smoke and blow the smoke back out of his mouth or nose, and I really, really wanted to be able to do that myself. My dad gave me his cigarette, and I put it in my mouth and blew on it, making the end turn red just like I had seen it do for me father when he put the cigarette in his mouth. Happily , then, I blew air out of my mouth, but to my huge disappointment.......... no smoke came out. My dad then explained that you have to suck the smoke into your mouth before you can blow it back out, so I tried again and this time, I discovered how AWFUL a cigarette tastes. Then, I asked my dad why he would want to smoke when it tasted so horrible, and he told me that he had started as a boy, and wished that he had never started, and now he could not stop smoking. Since I knew my wonderful daddy could do anything, I though that smoking must be really bad if even he could not stop. When he said that he hoped that I never started that vicious habit, that made up my mind immediately, and I never had any desire to smoke a cigarette in my life. Amazingly, when my dad was in his 70’s, he stopped smoking . He said that one day, he woke up and didn’t crave a cigarette, so he didn’t have one. This went on for the whole day, and after several days of not wanting a cigarette, he decided that there was no sense carrying the pack around in his pocket any longer, so he just threw them away, and that was the end of his smoking.
I started smoking cigars in high school as mosquito repellent while fishing. I smoked an occasional cigar in college, but never inside. I would walk in the woods, puff the cigar, and ponder the world. While in the Navy, I smoked cigars and a pipe when I could get the required materials. Again, smoking a pipe while sitting on deck and watching the world. I continued with pipe smoking until I had children and had to apply for life insurance. It raised the rates, so I simply stopped and have never gone back. I never smoked cigarettes, but I always questioned whether nicotine itself was addicting, since I took in significant nicotine, but when I wanted to, I simply stopped. Cigarette smokers seemed to be more addicted, so I wondered if they put stuff in the cigarettes to make them more addictive. I really think the second-hand smoke thing is a con to make smokers feel guilty. They can't say "I'm only harming myself" and are more likely to quit, but essentially all the "statistics" concerning second-hand smoke are fabricated as there is no way to do controlled studies on the subject. I don't mean that second-hand smoke isn't a bad thing or harmful, just that it really doesn't kill people--just exacerbates other conditions that may lead to death, such as asthma and perhaps heart failure.
I began smoking cigarettes at age 19, and stopped "chilly chicken" (cold turkey) in 1977 at age 41. It has been 41 years since I had a puff (I'm now 82), and I smoked from 1 to 1.5 packs a day at my worst. My first wife smoked a small white antique pipe, and we both rolled our own cigarettes. When I married my second (and final) wife in 1994, we were both non-smokers, but she introduced me to Rum & Coke, which I've been happily drinking ever since! I'm glad I quit...really glad! Hal
That also had everything to do with the ability to ban cigarettes from just about everywhere because it makes victims of people who aren't smoking.
@Hal Pollner "I'm glad I quit...really glad!" Exactly how I feel, really glad I never started....... Frank
@Nathaniel Roswell As you must be aware, to be able to make the above statement places you in a most small minority. As me and my friends matured during our teen years, a majority of them began smoking; then, I imagined the reason to be a means of declaring freedom from parental decree. I couldn't imagine them all so foolish as to ignore the obvious, by then, health threat. Unfortunately, as we all wound up going our separate ways, I cannot produce information regarding the outcome. One good friend, Russ, 4 years my junior, smoked heavily and drank even more so. I would have then ranked him among the most likely to succumb before any of us others. But, he changed his ways (a woman has a mischievous way of bringing that about), he married her after I left the area. Only within the past few years have I been in touch with Russ. He became a successful Realtor over the years, had kids and grandkids, still married, a turn-around of unusual expectance. Of the gaggle of friends, Russ smoked, Ted no, Charlie no, George no, Byron yes. Those guys were all younger than I. Russ, Ted, & Charlie are still alive, George dead, Byron unknown. I myself have never touched a cigarette. Once, during a weekend poker game, I lit up a Swisher Sweet, small, fragrant-smerlling cigar, to counter the offensive stink ogf Russ's cigarettes. God, I thought I swallowed a lit match! Next morning, I could not believe the unbelievably horrible taste in my mouth and throat! Frank
Yes Frank I am quite aware. Some of my friends during our teens started smoking heavily. Now, their health has been deteriorating due to the bad habits they did and are constantly doing.
@Nathaniel Roswell Morbid, it is, but wondering if you have kept in touch with friends, what the effects of smoking have caused, compared to those not smoking. Frank