To all of my smokers...what made you begin smoking? Cigarette smoking Poll?

Question

curiousity? watching your parents/loved one smoke? peer pressure? trying to look cool? stress?

also wanted to know
2)how old were you when you began smoking
3) how long have you been smoking
4) have you ever tried to quit? if so, how many times?

Answer 1

i started because my friend smoked, so we both smoked together...

hmm....I smoked for the first time at maybe 14 y.o., but I became a true "smoker" i think at 18 or 19.

I have been a smoker for about 10 years now.

I never seriously tried to quit before, but I quit a week ago. Every once in a while I could use a cigarette, but I'm doing well. I came up with my own way to quit and it's actually working.

Here it is (if anyone cares):

Last Saturday, I said to myself this is it, I'm done smoking, I quit. That wasn't working. By monday, I was dying for a cigarette. So...I went to the LIquor store and bought a brand of cigarettes that was much cheaper than the ones I used to smoke (yuck). I tell myself that my brand of cigarettes no longer exist, Only this brand that I hate. I do not take them out of the house with me. So when I get home, and I'm dying for a cigarette, I only have this cigarette that I hate, I light it and I can't even finish half of it. I used to smoke about 8 to 10 a day, I still have 11 cigarettes from that same pack (my boyfriend took two) so I actually only smoked 7 cigarettes half way, and I haven't even done that in the last 3 days!

Answer 2

I found that smoking a cigarette made me less likely to throw up or feel sick while getting drunk. That's one of the ways it started. I also saw that it was a great way to meet cute guys because they'd be smoking and I'd ask for a cigarette. We used to drink every weekend back then and we'd buy a pack of cigarettes to go with it. It just went from there...

I was 12 when I first smoked cigarettes but I don't think I had more than about 20. I also used to chew tobacco that year. I didn't smoke another cigarette until I was about 17 or 18 (after a few years of getting drunk and doing other drugs). Both of my parents were heavy smokers and I had always promised myself I'd never do it. That's probably why I started so late.

I've now been smoking for just over 10 years. I wasn't fully addicted and smoking everyday until I was 19 and I will be 29 in a few weeks. It's about a pack a day but it was up to 2 packs a day for awhile in my early 20s when I was drinking every day.

I've only seriously tried to quit once and that was 7 months ago. It coincided with a complete nervous breakdown so I picked up again. It was working though. I was using the patch but when I ran out, I just didn't buy more patches and chose to smoke instead because I thought the nervous breakdown was related to quitting smoking. (I was wrong about that though)

Answer 3

I started to smoke when I was around 10 or 11- my mom smoked and so did my older sister's- I didn't actually inhale until i was like 13 or 14! I found my mom's carton of cigs. after she died and decided "hey what the he**?" and I have smoked ever since-I am 48 years old now so I have been smoking since I was 15 for sure., so I think that's like 33 years!!I kept smoking because I thought it was cool-by the time I realized it wasn't-I was addicted! I tried to quit once but I was such a bi*** people were handing me cigerettes right & left to make me not be one! That was the only time I tried to quit-but am thinking about getting the patch because it seemed to have helped an old friend of mine, plus with all the new non-smoking laws and the cost of them who can afford it and if you can where can you do it???It is a nasty, expensive and very harmful habit! I also have a new grandaughter who , when I am outside at her house puffing on one , she looks at me like " HUH???" What's that thing? So she really is the main reason I should quit! And I am going to try soon-maybe! I hope I will anyways!!

Answer 4

I don't smoke anymore, but figured I could give my two cents. =P

1. Why I started smoking: Honestly? I started smoking cigarettes only during the times when we'd run out of weed. I started smoking weed because I was curious and was just looking for a new way to forget about my crappy family life.

2. How old I was when I started smoking: I was 15 when I started smoking cigarettes, and 14 when I started smoking weed.

3. How long did I smoke for: I smoked cigarettes for 6 years.

4. How I quit: I just quit cold-turkey one day. I had gotten out of a horrible relationship earlier in the year and was just barely starting to date my (now) husband and I just felt like I was ready for a change...I wanted to be healthier. I had tried to quit before, a couple times, but I knew that the reason it never worked before is because I didn't WANT to quit before. You have to REALLY want it...and not for anyone else but YOURSELF. I also didn't tell anyone when I quit...I didn't want people nagging at me if I "fell off the wagon". And that worked perfectly for me. I said, "This is my last pack..." and that was it. I was 21 at the time (almost 22). Don't get me wrong...it was TORTURE trying to keep away from it...but I have a strong willpower and I really wanted to be healthier and I kept thinking of any future children I would possibly have...I wanted my body to be healthy for THEM too. So I did it. I had freakin dreams for MONTHS though, where I'd start smoking again and then I'd wake up in a panic thinking I had actually smoked...LOL!

I don't smoke ANYTHING anymore. But I also don't have a problem with those who do smoke cigs are weed. *shrug* To each their own.

Answer 5

Goooood questions - as I struggle with this addiction. Is smoking the most NASTY habit or what?

I could not STAND cigarettes for most of my life... parents, siblings, friends, and even spouse. Now (here is the really stupid part)... on my 43rd birthday (you read right - 43rd) while I gagged as everyone was blowing smoke all over my birthday cake at a wonderful party - I reached over and grabbed a friend's Newport as a JOKE and have been smoking every since and I'm 55!

I am on a STOP program and hoping like HECK to STOP. I still can't stand the smell, the taste, the COST, or what it does to my health but I have to admit to the addiction.

I smoke less than 6 cigarettes day (we've counted) but my fiance smokes 1 - 2 packs and it is torture for me because I WANT to QUIT.... HELP (cough, hack, wheeeeze).

Answer 6

Curiousity. One parent smoked. Fiance' was a smoker. I began smoking at age 20. I smoked for 7 years. Quit for pregnancy. Quit for good when I had a disabled child. I need to live as long as I can to take care of her or I otherwise would have continued to smoke.

Of the people I've known who smoke, it seems the younger they started, the harder it is for them to quit.

Answer 7

hey good question/poll. Honestly i think mine could be a mixture of all those u mentioned. Moms boyfriends always smoked and drank, i was young-peer pressure, stress. I was going through a rough spot in life when i started. I was 16 when i started i quit once for 2 years and started back but i guess almost 13 years. I want to quit now, but honestly im scared to gain anymore weight. I have a huge gut, i have a bad back and i have gained alot of weight due to inactivity, mostly in my gut so im like if i quit i will get even bigger.

Answer 8

Can I still answer although I quit smoking? Its 115am here and I have nothing else going on. I can? Sweet.

I started smoking when I was a sophmore in college. My friend and I took a bowling class where the teacher said smoke or drink if you do, treat it like a league. She and I noticed a really hot guy smoking in the corner. We wanted to chat him up, so I bought us a pack of smokes. We choked,coughed decided that was it. Then back at the dorm couple days later, the "cool kids" were at the stoop. I had the smokes, joined up. End of story.

I smoked from soph in college, 1995 until last May 2006.
Quit at a seminar. But I pride myself on not being one of the "used-to-smoke" annoying people :)

Thanks for letting me answer anyhoo. :)

Answer 9

I was 17 and I grabbed a pack from a friend and started smoking. I loved it so much I just kept smoking, now going 14 years. I have tried twice to quit and think about quitting constantly.

Answer 10

I started smoking really young. I was 10 or 11. My cousin came to live with us and she got me to try it.
I smoked for 9 years then quit when I was PG. I didnt start smoking again until my daughter died in 1990.
So its been 16+ years plus the 9 years prior with a 8 year gap that I quit.
I havent really tried to quit since I picked up the habit again.