Are you a non, ex or current smoker?

horse

ex-smoker. When I gave up I found it useful that somebody I worked with was trying to quit at the same time. I was determined that I'd not cave in before they did, and used that to my advantage. Got easier after a couple of weeks. Didn't go out drinking whilst I was quitting either, which helped.

I remember when being a smoker seemed like a significant part of my identity. Now it seems odd that I ever did...

All the best with quitting.

Danny1969

Ex very heavy smoke. Champix worked first time for me, don't miss fags at all. 

equalsql

dogload said:

Ex. Although I confess to the occasional, ahem, social smoke.

I started work in a place where to smoke I had to walk half a mile to shelter from the elements in a doorway next to a boilerhouse, so decided that it was time to knock the fags on the head!

Reminds me of this scene from the IT Crowd

DesVegas

i socially smoke (as in weekends) which sometimes run into mondays and tuesdays too ... i vape during the week and that certainly helps not smoke on those days.. i'm vaping Kool Grape flavour at the moment which sure is tasty.

And reading the Allan Carr book definitely helps explain why you smoke (little monster in your head etc) worth a read deffo

Gassage

I bet the majority of those who have said ex or current are older than say 27?

Tattoos have replaced cigs as the rebellion of choice.

GavRichList

33 year old tattooed reluctant ex smoker. Ticking boxes then....

Drew_TNBD

I'll smoke a joint every now and then.

Fusionista

dogload said:

My mate has just given up and has found himself wracked by a flu-like ailment involving loads of mucus!

Detoxing. Good sign. 

Gave up in my 20's. It was hard but OMG am I still pleased with myself , and grateful... and still alive.

That said, 30+years on,  I describe myself as "a smoker who does not smoke"

It is total insanity, end of.  You wouldn't inhale the smoke from burning banknotes would you ?  Same thing only more toxic.

Hertz32

Gassage said:

I bet the majority of those who have said ex or current are older than say 27?

Tattoos have replaced cigs as the rebellion of choice.

Ohh, now theres a point. 
Girlfriend is 16, an ex-smoker and tattooed herself twice with pin/knife and pen. I'm certainly getting tattooed at some point in the next few years too. 

Gassage

Fusionista said:

It is total insanity, end of.  You wouldn't inhale the smoke from burning banknotes would you ?  Same thing only more toxic.

Not sure. Depends if I could find a lighter or not.

Deadman

Ex. Smoked from 13-23, 30-42 when I finally gave up for good (2012). The trigger was when my Mum and Dad died 11 days apart of cancer and the thought that it's in me was enough. Don't wanna go giving it a helping hand do I?
My Dad smoked for years. My Mum was a non-smoking tea-totaller.

vasselmeyer

Ex-passive smoker. After having suffered my parents smoking in the house and the car throughout my childhood in the 1970s and early 1980s I have never and will never touch a cig myself.

randomhandclaps

I have to smoke as I have an inadequate pension fund.

I don't actually smoke although I have chest issues thanks to growing up in a constantly smoky environment.

Fuzzdog

Smoke free for a year and a half here after 20 years of 20-30 a day.  Gave up after seeing my dad die from smoking related illness.  Actually, the smoking didn't directly kill him - he was in hospital for surgery to remove bits which were diseased from smoking, and they buggered up the procedure, and he ended up drowning in his own blood when he got home after some poorly done stitches in an artery split.  But he wouldn't have been there at all were it not for the cigs.

Switched to vaping for about a year, then tailed that off.  Still do every now and then, but just the nicotine free stuff.

My lungs were awful, I was barely able to do anything without wheezing or hacking up a large ball of mucus.  I think I breathe better now than I did when I was a teenager - pretty amazed at a) how quickly my body repaired the damage, and b) how much damage the cigs did to me.  It's only now that I've stopped that I realise just what I was doing to myself.

Also it cleared up my chronic snoring and sleep apnoea - possibly the biggest benefit of all, as now I (and anyone around me!) actually gets some rest at night.

Neil

Knowing what we know now (and have for many years) about the effects of smoking it's amazing people ever take it up nowadays - but they do. 

I guess the "cool factor" can never be downplayed.

Gassage

Neil said:

Knowing what we know now (and have for many years) about the effects of smoking it's amazing people ever take it up nowadays - but they do. 

I guess the "cool factor" can never be downplayed.

Also, erotica and smoking fetish. I think smoking is the 2nd or 3rd biggest fetish for straights or gays. Don't ask me why.

chillidoggy

I don't smoke, dabbled in my youth, but never really got going enough to get hooked. I couldn't care less if people smoke, that's up to them what they do, as long as it doesn't affect me by breathing their secondhand smoke.

Thing is, I love the smell of fresh hand-rolling tobacco, and I quite like the smell of roll-up smoke. Whenever I go for a beer with my mate Stu, the bloke never has a roll a single fag for the entire evening, I commandeer his baccy tin, and just hand him a rolled up fag when he wants one. Sometimes he sticks a bit of orange or lemon peel in with it, and it's really fragrant. It's like catnip to me, but I couldn't smoke one of the roll-ups I'd made, or I'd probably be sick.

boogieman

Ex smoker. Smoked from 14 till my mid 30's. Then started again at 50 when I was going through a very bad time. I gave up permanently 3 years ago. I just went cold turkey. I do miss the old coffin nails occasionally, especially when I'm at a pub and I get a whiff of a freshly lit Marlborough, but I've never been tempted to buy any more.

Fusionista

Neil said:Knowing what we know now (and have for many years) about the effects of smoking it's amazing people ever take it up nowadays - but they do. I guess the "cool factor" can never be downplayed.

There is nothing cool about it: it's expensive, dangerous, poisonous, dirty and smelly. 

(The only time I thought it was a little bit clever was when I saw a Thai bar girl smoke one with her fanny. She did some other tricks after which were much better though...involving food!)

Nunogilberto

Non. Never tried it, so I see no reason to start now.