Hey smokers: Why do you smoke?

[badger]

I was feeling bored and decided to check out the health insurance info and HOLY SH!T --- you guys pay twice as much for health insurance as us non-smokers!

So, with all of the info out there on how bad it is for your health, with all of the taxes and high price per pack, and now with the skyrocketing health insurance costs, I have to ask: Why do you smoke?

Why do you chew tobacco?

Why do you do anything involving tobacco, period?

[sanantoniosooner]

Addiction?

There is no GOOD reason.

[olevetonahill]

Stupid.

[badger]

Addiction?

There is no GOOD reason.

I wasn't asking for good reasons, just reasons... or reason. Singular or plural.

[olevetonahill]

I wasn't asking for good reasons, just reasons... or reason. Singular or plural.

I gave it to ya, I did it for 47 years, quit a year er so ago

[rock on sooner]

I gave it to ya, I did it for 47 years, quit a year er so ago

Good on ya, Bro....

[Wishboned]

I gave it to ya, I did it for 47 years, quit a year er so ago

Congratulations!

[badger]

I gave it to ya, I did it for 47 years, quit a year er so ago

Next question: What made you quit, especially after it was a part of your life for 47 years?

[stoops the eternal pimp]

He found a new pole to smoke on.

[olevetonahill]

Next question: What made you quit, especially after it was a part of your life for 47 years?

Woke up one sunday mornin with my chest hurtin
said Vet yer STUPID so I quit
Figure Ive saved over 4K so far

STEP, No way would I try to take yer job from ya bro.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

:chuncky:

[Tulsa_Fireman]

Because it tastes good and I have an oral fixation.

Not to mention chicks dig brown teeth.

[reflector]

I can honestly say that I do not smoke.

[rock on sooner]

Because it tastes good and I have an oral fixation.

Not to mention chicks dig brown teeth.

Need to know where those chicks hang out, so I can not go there...

[olevetonahill]

Need to know where those chicks hang out, so I can not go there...

Austin

[StoopTroup]

I did it when I was younger. Once I got the flu a few times and realized I was hooked on them...I quit. Then I quit again about 6 more times and at 26...I quit for good. One of the best decisions I ever made. I don't know why it took me so long as I didn't ever smoke a pack a day as I didn't really like them that much.

If there is anything that I can say good about them is this....

That first draw after lighting one with a match....that was awesome. After that 1st puff...I could have tossed the damn thing on the ground and stomped it out most times.

[8timechamps]

Addiction?

There is no GOOD reason.

This.

I can't give you a single good reason why I chew. It's my only vice.

[StoopTroup]

This.

I can't give you a single good reason why I chew. It's my only vice.

I started smoking again so I could quit chewing. That was rough and I only chewed for about a year.

[8timechamps]

I started smoking again so I could quit chewing. That was rough and I only chewed for about a year.

Did you ever see the movie Uncle Buck? John Candy's sister-in-law asks him if he has quit smoking, and he tells her he is on a 4 step program "Gave up cigarettes for cigars, then on to a pipe, then chewing tobacco, then I should be done". LOL

[StoopTroup]

Did you ever see the movie Uncle Buck? John Candy's sister-in-law asks him if he has quit smoking, and he tells her he is on a 4 step program "Gave up cigarettes for cigars, then on to a pipe, then chewing tobacco, then I should be done". LOL

Yup. RIP John....you were a funny dude.

I still have some cigars in my Humidor. I haven't had one in a long long time.

[olevetonahill]

Did you ever see the movie Uncle Buck? John Candy's sister-in-law asks him if he has quit smoking, and he tells her he is on a 4 step program "Gave up cigarettes for cigars, then on to a pipe, then chewing tobacco, then I should be done". LOL

Most of the Peeps i know that tried to quit by substitutin for another form of tobacco just ended up with another disgustin habit

[sanantoniosooner]

I wasn't asking for good reasons, just reasons... or reason. Singular or plural.

Are you expecting an amazing answer?

You must be seriously bored to ask a question like that.

Maybe we can ask people to explain why they beat their children or drink until they black out.

[olevetonahill]

Are you expecting an amazing answer?

You must be seriously bored to ask a question like that.

Maybe we can ask people to explain why they beat their children or drink until they black out.

I never beat my Children, Just the neighbors kids, I drank cause I can
any other questions?

[hawaii 5-0]

Smoking satifies that 'Hand to Mouth' thing.

I bit my nails till I started smoking. I traded one habit for another.

Smoked for 30 years.

Saw the writing on the wall. It just wasn't socially acceptable anymore. It was getting expensive. It was like my Best Friend........that was trying to kill me.

Quit 12 years ago. Not one since.

5-0

[SicEmBaylor]

I am slavishly in love with cigars and have been since, literally, my first day on campus when I was 18. It isn't just about smoking cigars -- it's a lifestyle.

Think of what it takes to produce a cigar. You're talking 3 different varieties of tobacco grown in three different locations. That tobacco had to be grown, cared for, and cured in just the right environment with the most tender of care. In the case of the wrapper, the leaf is so thin and delicate that it's easy to rip just by gently touching it and any rip or tear renders the entire leaf useless.

All of those different varieties of leaf in different locales then show up to the rolling floor to be uniquely blended together and carefully hand wrapped by craftsmen who spend a lifetime perfecting their trade craft. Each cigar is personally inspected to ensure quality before being placed gently and neatly into a cedar box, sealed, and delivered to either my door step or to the B&M from where I purchase my sample sticks.

Each one sits in my humidor that I painstakingly keep at just the right temperature and humidity to ensure both long term and short term storage (the short term storage humidor is just slightly over humidified).

At the end of the day, there are few things more enjoyable than pouring myself a little bourbon and reaching into that humidor for a cigar that still secretes just a trace amount of oil from its leaf. I always tell myself not to hesitate when cutting into the head, but sometimes the anticipation becomes too much and I like to savor it. Of course the ideal way to light a cigar is with cedar chips and the last thing you want to do is light it with a Zippo. Nonetheless, I almost always go with my lucky Zippo despite knowing better.

The first puff is always the best.

[olevetonahill]

Oh and Badj since No one gave ya the Real reason

The #1 reason to smoke is so ya can make an ash out of yerself :welcoming:

[Petro-Sooner]

I wasn't asking for good reasons, just reasons... or reason. Singular or plural.

Are you expecting an amazing answer?

You must be seriously bored to ask a question like that.

Maybe we can ask people to explain why they beat their children or drink until they black out.

Well put.

[jkjsooner]

They start when they're young and stupid and think it's cool. Then they're addicted and can't stop.

It (with immune suppressant drugs probably a contributing factor) killed my mom more than 20 years after she stopped smoking...

[C&CDean]

I used to smoke Kools, dip Skoal, and chew Redman/Beechnut/Days-End plug. At the same time. Whilst drinking beer. I often ran PT in the Army with a dip of Skoal in my mouth. I also used to do that Oliver Twist snuff. Started smoking cigs/cigars when I was about 10, and started inhaling both by 12.

Why? Cause I thought I was one groovy cat; and after a while was addicted like a mofo.

In 1987 I had an epiphany. I was 30-years old, had 3 kids, and was going through a rough divorce. On March 14 of that year I quit it all. I gave up cigs/dip/chew/snuff, weed/hash, cocaine/acid/pills all on the same day. The only vice I kept was alcohol. I did smoke a little weed and did a little coke a couple times in like 1989 when I met some hot chick who was a druggie, but that was it.

I had my baptism by fire after I'd quit for about 5-months, was sitting in a place called The Chicago Bar in Tucson, and some dude comes in and opens up a fresh pack of Kools, lights one up, and sits it in the ashtray right in front of me. Then he throws the pack of Kools on the bar. I started Jonesing out. I came this close to going "mind if I bum a Kool?" but instead finished my beer and left. That was the day I knew I was done with them.

So why do people smoke? Cause they're addicted. Why do they start smoking? Cause they're stupid. Just like Vet said.

[Mississippi Sooner]

Funny thing. After almost 30 years of dipping snuff, I just woke up one morning and said, I ain't gonna do this anymore. Threw the can away and didn't touch it again for almost two years. No problem.

Then, my wife died, and I picked it up again. Putting it down again was the hardest thing I've ever done. Maybe because I was using it as a crutch.

[C&CDean]

Oh yeah. I almost forgot. Quitting dip was tougher than all the other things I quit combined. If you're thinking about started to dip, don't do it. It's a bitch to kick.

[olevetonahill]

The hardest part of quitting to me was Making up my Mind that I wanted to quit. after that it was easy

[C&CDean]

Yup. It's all in your head.

[FirstandGoal]

The hardest part of quitting to me was Making up my Mind that I wanted to quit. after that it was easy


I'm still just so happy that you've managed almost a year and stuck with this.

There are a million reasons--none of them which make much sense-- as to why people pick up a tobacco habit. The bottom line is that **** is hard to kick and kudos to any and all (myself included) who have managed to quit.

I'm sure that at least 9 out of 10 people asked would rather they didn't have the addiction in the first place, but wishing things away doesn't make them go away. What it takes is a "why" that is stronger than the addiction.

Howard listed his.

Mine was the fact that it pissed me the hell off that something (cigarettes) had power over me. One day I just got sick and tired of being chained to them like a mindless slave. My anger over the fact that there was an aspect of my life I didn't have control over was the push I needed to quit cold turkey.

One of the biggest fallacies that people who have kicked the nicotine habit have is that they have "beaten" it. This is not true. Over the years I was able to quit for anywhere from weeks to months (pregnancies) at a time but I always went back to it. Its like any other kind of addiction. Alcoholics don't stop becoming alcoholic once they stop drinking. I will always be a smoker--- I just haven't had one in over 6 years. The day I forget that is the day I might pick the habit up again.

[olevetonahill]

Hon I consider myself an EX smoker. Never had an addiction Prob

Never thot about it before cause i was still smokin but those dayumed things STINK worse the Stoolwater.
I have NO desire Nor craving for one

I left the store the other day and walked past a car with the window down, Old gal sittin there smoking. That **** bout made me puke

naw I dont ever see me with another one

Oh and just a quick guesstimate on the Calculator and Ive given the Backky company's dayum near a 1/2 Mil. of my moneys in my life

[badger]

Are you expecting an amazing answer?

You must be seriously bored to ask a question like that.

Maybe we can ask people to explain why they beat their children or drink until they black out.

I have never seen a state with as many smokers as I have in Oklahoma, which is why I thought it would be a good question to ask. Addiction is what most people expect, but before you're addicted you have to start... and after you're addicted there's more ways than ever (and more reasons than ever) to quit.

So, perhaps I'm bored, or perhaps the state of Oklahoma has more knowledge on this subject than any other (except perhaps tobacco haven North Carolina)

Plus someday, baby badger is going to be old enough to ask me why people smoke since so many people around her in the Tulsa area do... and I really don't know what to tell her. I don't think smokers are stupid, I don't know if they're addicted (because one once told me that I should smoke because it's fun... of course he was an interesting old guy so he might have just be joking in his weird way) but people around me do it en masse.

So, there you go. It's a fun topic so far though, right?

[olevetonahill]

Cause they ****in STUPID
Pay Tention :D

[C&CDean]

For me I had to learn to hate them. To this day, when I see someone light up I think "what a ****ing idiot. He stinks, he's blowing money, and he's killing himself and his family." I hate casinos cause of the smoke. I don't go to bars where there's smoking cause I hate the smell.

When I see young girls smoking it makes me wanna smack em in the mouth. I wanna go "do you seriously know how stupid you look and what you're doing to your body/skin?" The very worst though is seeing someone with a car load of car seats and kids puffing away. That there makes me wanna seriously smack em in the mouth.

[badger]

For me I had to learn to hate them. To this day, when I see someone light up I think "what a ****ing idiot. He stinks, he's blowing money, and he's killing himself and his family." I hate casinos cause of the smoke. I don't go to bars where there's smoking cause I hate the smell.

When I see young girls smoking it makes me wanna smack em in the mouth. I wanna go "do you seriously know how stupid you look and what you're doing to your body/skin?" The very worst though is seeing someone with a car load of car seats and kids puffing away. That there makes me wanna seriously smack em in the mouth.

Some day soon, I think that smoking laws are going to be even more restrictive than they are now for some of the instances you mentioned. I don't think they're going to restrict sales or the amount one can possess -- there's too much tax revenue on the line -- but I could see entire public smoking bans going into place.

[Pricetag]

The very worst though is seeing someone with a car load of car seats and kids puffing away. That there makes me wanna seriously smack em in the mouth.
It would suck being a kid in a smoking household these days when it is no longer the norm. I remember visiting a few friends' houses as a kid and marvelling at how wonderful the places smelled. I had no idea it was because their parents didn't smoke.

[sanantoniosooner]

You didn't ask why they started. You asked why they currently do it.
I have never seen a state with as many smokers as I have in Oklahoma, which is why I thought it would be a good question to ask. Addiction is what most people expect, but before you're addicted you have to start... and after you're addicted there's more ways than ever (and more reasons than ever) to quit.

So, perhaps I'm bored, or perhaps the state of Oklahoma has more knowledge on this subject than any other (except perhaps tobacco haven North Carolina)

Plus someday, baby badger is going to be old enough to ask me why people smoke since so many people around her in the Tulsa area do... and I really don't know what to tell her. I don't think smokers are stupid, I don't know if they're addicted (because one once told me that I should smoke because it's fun... of course he was an interesting old guy so he might have just be joking in his weird way) but people around me do it en masse.

So, there you go. It's a fun topic so far though, right?

[Blue]

Going on 11 months nicotine free here. (2 packs a day for 15 years). Don't crave it at all.

[BajaOklahoma]

When I worked for a group of oncologists, I would give chemo to our patients.
Some of our patients, on oxygen, would come in for their chemo treatment for lung cancer. Midway through the treatment, they would have to take their oxygen off and go outside for a smoke. Sad.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

The summer after high school graduation, I started smoking because I started dating a girl who was a smoker. Very occasional, causal smoker at first but during my undergrad years at OU it became a habit. Nicotine is addictive.

I wanted to quit when I decided it was time to have kids. So when I suggested to my wife that she stop the pill, I knew it was time for me to stop smoking.

I happened to see a movie named Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Bruce Lee is portrayed as someone who is haunted by a phantom from childhood throughout adulthood that he ultimately must slay. When I walked out of the movie, I realized this was the metaphor I needed.

My addiction was a demon inside me that I must slay. When the withdrawal began I thought of it as the demon crying for nicotine and I chose to make it suffer. In my mind I was relishing the withdrawal as a sign the demon was suffering. My mental state was taking pleasure in withdrawal instead of pain. I was determined to fight this until the demon was dead and no longer crying for nicotine. For about a month, I would wake up - WIDE awake at 4 in the morning. I got up each morning and went to a 24-hour supermarket and shopped to preoccupy myself. And then my body finally became adjusted to the absence of nicotine. I had slayed the demon.

[C&CDean]

The summer after high school graduation, I started smoking because I started dating a girl who was a smoker. Very occasional, causal smoker at first but during my undergrad years at OU it became a habit. Nicotine is addictive.

I wanted to quit when I decided it was time to have kids. So when I suggested to my wife that she stop the pill, I knew it was time for me to stop smoking.

I happened to see a movie named Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Bruce Lee is portrayed as someone who is haunted by a phantom from childhood throughout adulthood that he ultimately must slay. When I walked out of the movie, I realized this was the metaphor I needed.

My addiction was a demon inside me that I must slay. When the withdrawal began I thought of it as the demon crying for nicotine and I chose to make it suffer. In my mind I was relishing the withdrawal as a sign the demon was suffering. My mental state was taking pleasure in withdrawal instead of pain. I was determined to fight this until the demon was dead and no longer crying for nicotine. For about a month, I would wake up - WIDE awake at 4 in the morning. I got up each morning and went to a 24-hour supermarket and shopped to preoccupy myself. And then my body finally became adjusted to the absence of nicotine. I had slayed the demon.

That was some good **** you were smoking brah.

[yermom]

Mine was the fact that it pissed me the hell off that something (cigarettes) had power over me. One day I just got sick and tired of being chained to them like a mindless slave. My anger over the fact that there was an aspect of my life I didn't have control over was the push I needed to quit cold turkey.

listening to people plan their life around drinking and/or smoking is quite interesting

i guess it's harder to see when you are in the middle of it

[FirstandGoal]

Oh, and it only takes 72 hours for your body to get over the withdrawls from nicotine. Its the behavioral aspect that's so hard to kick.

[BudSooner]

Y'all call that an addiction? You ever suck **** for Coke? I wonder if that is why aggies hang out around Cocoa Cola machines....they must have gotten the wrong message about that.

[ouwasp]

I interviewed a WWII Marine vet one time for a newspaper article... this man landed on Iwo in the second wave, his best buddy was cut in half by a Jap machine gun that day... 2/19/45

Anyhow, the previous June on Saipan, his unit was under fire and he saw his gunny sgt calmly smoking a cigarette as the Japs threw hell at them. He thought "If it works for him, maybe it'll work for me", so he bummed a smoke, and smoked for the next 4 decades or so, until quitting late in life.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

Mine was the fact that it pissed me the hell off that something (cigarettes) had power over me. One day I just got sick and tired of being chained to them like a mindless slave. My anger over the fact that there was an aspect of my life I didn't have control over was the push I needed to quit cold turkey.


There is so much truth to this. And that is why the "demon inside me" metaphor seemed so appropriate for me. It controlled me. It would make me choose not to socialize in certain situations if I knew I would have to go without smoking for a long period.

When I moved from Oklahoma to California, I found among many circles being a smoker was about as low as being a child molestor. It's tolerated in a few places like the gold country foothills.