POLL: Smokers - why did you start smoking?

Question

Now that smoking has been banned in most enclosed public places and all places of work, has that made you more honest to yourself about the real reason you started smoking?

Do you now accept it as a character flaw?

Since society has made it clear that it does not admire your habit, will you finally admit to yourself that the real reason you started smoking was to be admired? (for being hard, or cool, or rebellious, or thin).

Do you feel like even more of a rebel now that you have to "sneak out the back to quickly suck off a f4g"? (Note to Yahoo - f4g is British slang for cigarette).

Since you can't smoke in public, do you subject your children to even more passive smoke at home? Doesn't that make you feel guilty, or does it make you feel like even more of a hero?

Yes, I am aware that f4g also refers to a younger boy who performs tasks for older boys at Public schools. It can also refer to the task itself, and even the performance of said task.

Using it as subject, verb and object in the same sentence, however, for example "the f4g fagged the f4g for the head boy", will make you sound like some kind of mutant smurf.

As it's the season of giving, please give this question a star! :)

Answer 1

Lately, I have become more spiritual and have included a bit of yin and yang in my lifestyle. I'm in the best shape of my life, I run 6 miles a day, 7 days a week, eat organic food, practice all the healthy things in life...and I smoke about 3 to 5 cigarettes a day...Call it a reward, or a mid-life crisis, I don't know...

By the way, I am half a century old and I only started smoking last year...cough cough...

Answer 2

I'll answer your questions in order.

Been a smoker for 23 years (I'm 38), I started mainly because my peers were smoking at the time (not so much peer pressure, I could have said no if I chose to do so)

In todays society I would agree that I see smoking as a flaw in my personality and character, I have both smoking friends and non-smoking friends, but even before the ban was introduced, I had the respect for those around me who may not have been smokers (ie restaurants, enclosed places, public transport...now thats going way back)

I can honestly say that I didn't start smoking to be admired, it was just that my peers were doing it and I joined in (as mentioned in my first answer)

Don't think I'm being rebellious as such when sneaking off for a quick smoke, my work mates do the same, but I admit that I've cut down a hell of a lot since the ban (ultimately planning to give up altogether in the new year)

As for smoking at home, I've never smoked a great deal at home and especially not around my kids, I implement the same respect for other people in public (which I have touched on with my second comment), the only guilt I feel is that I am shortening my life which in turn affects my children, they know I smoke but seldom do they see it.

Great topical question, star from me...!

Answer 3

I've always been honest about why I started smoking -- I like it. Yes, I believe it is a character flaw but character flaws are what make us unique and human. I will not admit that I started smoking to be admired because I didn't. I probably enjoy smoking more when I am alone. I don't feel like a rebel but I do feel like a pariah. I think it is sad the way our society has demonized smokers and think it reflects our overall intolerance toward each other. You don't need to be polite to someone, just pass a law to legislate their behavior. What the anti-smokers don't realize is that they have been manipulated into believing that smoking is far worse than it really is. Our leaders have no integrity when they lie to us about the hazards of smoking in order to justify smoking bans and manipulate the public into being their cheerleaders. If you scratch beneath the surface, you will find that the secondhand smoke hazard is nothing more than smoke. True scientfic studies show virtually no link between illness and second hand smoke. When the politicians discovered that there was no scientific basis for their claims, they just proclaimed them to be hazardous. Personally I resent being manipulated and lied to. I guess if you dislike smoking enough you don't mind the lies if it accomplishes your agenda.

Answer 4

Such a loaded question...
The smoking bans have not made me more honest with myself about the real reason I began smoking, but rather you have incorrectly assumed that I was never honest with myself about it, and you further assume that everybody who smokes started doing so in order to be admired, cool, rebellious, or thin. I began smoking because the medication I started taking at the age of 17 created an excitible sensation in me that seemed to only be quelled by smoking tobacco. I don't accept it as a character flaw. Do you accept grandstanding with false generalizations or suppositions in a way that belittles people and insults their intelligence as a character flaw?
I also don't feel like a rebel when I "sneak out back," a question that only serves to belittle.
I do not smoke in front of my son, so your last question, which assumes I would answer "yes," does not apply. It's plainly another attempt to belittle smokers, but in my opinion, it better serves to make you appear very self righteous.

Answer 5

I started smoking in junior high/high school because it was nice to smoke one while drinking. then all of my friends were smoking and it was like "the thing to do" at that time, we'd all light up and whatnot, then one day I was like .."what the hell am I doing?" and I stopped that day and haven't touched a cigg since. They are so disgusting and they make you smell. Now I can't even stand being around people that smoke because the smell just sticks to hair and clothes and I go home and basically have to disinfect everything I was wearing or else my entire home will reek of second hand smoke.

I just tried it out of curiosity and not because it was a personal flaw, but I tried it, learned it was no good, and stopped.

Also I started because my mother was extremely addicted and it was very easy to bum ciggs off of her and even smoke in the house because she'd never know; I was curious so me and my friend light up one day to try it.

Also a few people I know that smoke ciggs, only do so because they have oral fixations and need to have something in their mouths to smoke. Because weed isn't legal they rely on ciggs until they can smoke up the joint.

I do feel bad for all those on here stating they tried it at a young age and now they can't quit because I quit the day I decided to stop and I never touched it again, even though I chain smoked like a fiend for years I never got addicted to ciggs, I don't know why. But I'm very glad I didn't. This guy I knows smokes so much and he coughs up black tar phlem.

Answer 6

In junior high, all the kids who were perceived as "cool" smoked. It wasn't to be admired, just to be accepted and perceived as "cool." It was also an "adult" habit, so I think we all did it to seem more grown up.
There is nothing wrong with my character, thank you very much! I am a productive, well-adjusted, law-abiding citizen. I don't cheat, steal, lie, or swear. I am against violence of all kinds, and give to charities to help animals, children, and the poor. My health is fine, also.
My children are healthy and happy. My daughter is about to receive her Bachelor's degree, is planning to go for her Master's, and is thinking about getting her Doctorate.
My son is a Sergeant in the US Army, and is planning to go back to school after this war is over.
Can you say all that?
If you can, bravo! If you can't, maybe you should expend more time and energy worrying about your own "character" than about what other people are doing on their own time.

Answer 7

I started smoking after a night on cider and never drank it since. To be honest I only have a cigarette when I am bored in the house and do not smoke at work.
I used to like a *** after sex but seeing as I am single and tommy tanking all the time its not the same lol.

Answer 8

Cos a lot of my friends were smoking weed and I figured it wouldn't be too long before I was offered some, and I didn't want to be the prat who coughs it up in front of everyone. So I got in the practice.

I quit a few years later, but I sometimes smoke socially and the stigma doesn't bother me a bit.

Answer 9

i always been honest as to why i started smoking, i was 12 when i started and stupidly thought it looked cool and i felt really grown up...of course when i look back all it done was make me look the age that i was at the time...immature and not knowing anything about life and taking things for granted, i still smoke now, and i deeply regret starting and ive always said that to anyone who asks me. i plan to quit smoking in the new year though, as im sick of spending £120 a month on it, the money we save is going toward a holiday to lap land next year for the kids :) happy christmas xxxxx

Answer 10

The sort of self satisfied smugness you represent is of no help at all to smokers.

Smokers are not sub humans, they are simply people who for various reasons have a serious addiction that society told us was harmless for many years.

I think it will take another 50 years before smoking disappears, but in the meantime a little patience and understanding will do more than smug posturing.

I don't smoke, but I don't feel like a superior person because of that.