SMOKING THREAD!

[SandChigger]

GARAMS, clove cigarettes, from Indonesia. That's all I ever smoked.

I started smoking late, in my mid 30s.

I stopped in mid-March of this year.

I'd cut back a lot since finding out about my hypertension last fall, but was picking up the pace again until one morning when too many smokes and too many cups of coffee resulted in a weird tachycardia that scared me more than anything and I quit that day.

There's an almost-full pack with a lighter sitting on it on a little book table beside me, easily within reach should I decide I want to light up.

And I want to light up.

But I don't.

So...who else smokes or used to and quit?


(Not quite the thread you were expecting, Phaedrus? )

[A Thing of Eternity]

I love cloves, but have had them rarely. I started smoking cigarettes when I was about 12, quit about a year ago. Still smoke on rare occasions. I have a fondness for pipe tobacco too, more the smell than the taste though.

As far as the other smoke... I smoked a fair bit of pot in Jr High, dwindled off into very little by grade 11 or so, at which point I realized that I had developed an adversity to pot, possibly an allergy. I get dizzy and nauseous and pretty much sit around wishing I hadn't smoked it. So I don't anymore, haven't in years.

[Omphalos]

I started smoking in high school, like 10th grade or so, and stopped about three years ago. It was really hard to stop and I kept back sliding (I started quitting in 2001 or so). I picked up a pipe for a few years and that got me off cigarettes and then I quit the pipe and now I don't even want one any more. I quit for my health, but I tell you what, every time I thought about having one I looked at my pictures of my babies and beat that fucking urge to the ground. Im actually quite risk averse now, but that is because of a combination of my kids growing up without their dad and the pictures of the horrible, mutilated bodies I have to look at every day in my job.

[Spicelon]

Started when I was 20, quit from November 06 to December 07, then fell off that wagon. Back at it.

And...um...still do the other rather infrequently.

[Phaedrus]

(Not quite the thread you were expecting, Phaedrus? )

Actually, it's just about exactly what I was expecting.

I started smoking last August, and despite a couple of moments when I said, "Fuck this, I'm quitting," I still haven't convinced myself it's a good idea. (Although I have cut back, unless if I've been drinking, when I'll chain smoke a pack in a couple of hours.)

My first cigarette was a clove, and it was probably the most horrible experience of my life. I still hate cloves, they're too sweet.

When I actually started smoking, I started on Marlboro lights, which I now detest as well. I switched to Camel Filters for a while, which I still like, then just bought random brands and varieties.

I think my favorite cigarettes are Natural American Spirits, although I like Camel Filters, Marlboro Reds, and as I've just discovered, Pall Malls(I bought a pack to smoke while I read Vonnegut). I hate lights of almost any brand, and menthols of all variations.

Smoking from a pipe can be a good experience, as can cigars, on occasion. I know absolutely nothing about cigars, only whether I like them or not.

[Freakzilla]

I started smoking Marlboros at 13, I switched to lights since.

I also smoke marijuana when I can, or whatever other narcotics you want to offer.

"Smoking gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth."

[Dune Nerd]

I started smoking when I was 15, started on Newports and did that for a long while, then switched to Marlboro Menthol Lights. Still smoke but making a feeble attempt at quitting here and there.

Lots of drugs throughout the years mostly pot but have tried just about everything else outside of heroin.

[Fantômas]

I started smoking evil weed at the age of 15. It was 6 months after arriving in the U.S. that I encountered Cannabis. I was riding one of those playbikes with the banana seats and I fell off the bike on the intersection of a neighborhood street. An older guy which was standing on one the corners approached me and threw on my lap, while I was still down, a nickel bag of herbs. I did not speak english so all I asked him was, what's this? He said, marihuana and I want you to have it. I accepted it because I had a vague idea that this grass costed money. I had heard of all kinds of drug stories, told by my uncle which had been living in the U.S. for some time now, about the dangers of accepting anything from strangers at school or on the streets. I was already hanging around with the bad boys which I met in school and hung around with them after school eventhough I had to ride 5 miles to go to their neighborhood. These bad boys knew more than I did and when I showed them what I had I became an integral part of the group. We learned with the advise of an older fellow named Tony. The first inhalation burned . It was only after my lungs were cured by Mother Nature that I was able to inhale cigarette smoke. I kept smoking buds but quit cigarettes after only a week of smoking them. I smoked an ounce a week. Only after I started going disco, I smoked cigarettes while I drank. No cigarettes for the next 20 years until a became a commercial driver, at which point in my life I had to quit grass for obvious reasons. While I was a driver, I smoked 3/4 packs per day per year of Marlboro's various strenghs. Now, I just bought a pack of Natural American Spirits after 2 months of not smoking cigarettes. I succumbed to life's pressures. It is ironic this weed being illegal; when used in moderation I find I sleep much better, my prostate seems to relax ( I only get up once to urinate, versus 2-3 times a night when I do not smoke), and I also use it to relax my eyes for I have problems in my retina which is incurable. I would like to learn about cigars and pipe smoking tobacco. I think I like the green(it used to be gold) better.

Never have I tried clove smokes.

[orald]

to smoking!

"Smoking gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth."

Smokers are fools who don't know what else to stick in their mouths.

[Fantômas]

to smoking!

"Smoking gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth."

Smokers are fools who don't know what else to stick in their mouths.

And evidently you do!

[SandChigger]

Ah yes, where's there's smoke, there's...eventually a few drooling village idiots gather to go, "Ooh, fire!"

[Tleilax Master B]

I started smoking when I was 14 or 15. I am still trying to quit. I haven't smoked in a week or two, but that is becoming a regular pattern for me. As soon as I start quaffing a few pints and someone lights up, I end up bumming one and smoking. I probably down to 2-3 cigarettes a week on average. Its a nasty fucking habit and I really want to quit--but damn, those cigs are sooooo good

[GamePlayer]

I had my first cigarette when I was about 10. It felt like dying Since then I've had the occasional cigar on special occassions, which is plenty of fun. I've been told I smoked pot before, but it's always while I'm drunk so I can't confirm. According to my friends it once made me "hyperactively happy". I was laughing at everything and tiring everyone around me. Serves 'em right

[Omphalos]

I started smoking when I was 14 or 15. I am still trying to quit. I haven't smoked in a week or two, but that is becoming a regular pattern for me. As soon as I start quaffing a few pints and someone lights up, I end up bumming one and smoking. I probably down to 2-3 cigarettes a week on average. Its a nasty fucking habit and I really want to quit--but damn, those cigs are sooooo good

I was a bum smoker (when I drank) for a loooong time. It got to the point where I would buy a pack from the bar, smoke one or two then give the rest to a friend and say "Take it, Im gonna bum more than that off of you in the next few weeks."

[KJA]

to smoking!

"Smoking gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth."

Smokers are fools who don't know what else to stick in their mouths.

Pump Boy

[SandChigger]

The Garams are only available at a few places that carry imports. I usually bought mine at the licquor shop on the main drag (puff puff) out front of school...or at a little mom-n-pop drug store downtown up here where I live. Sometimes I'd run out of smokes over the weekend and simply couldn't be fooked driving downtown to get some and would wait until Monday when I could pop over to buy some during lunch. Again, I would want to smoke, but could do without. (I tried making do with regular cigarettes...but everything else always seemed too rough on my throat...which is pretty funny when you consider that the Garams I usually smoked had 32 mg tar and 1.5 mg nicotine.) I kinda got it into my head that I would be able to quit any time I wanted to. And so far, it looks like I was right.

Now if I could just give up on some of my other vices....

[Omphalos]

Do any of you live in areas without anti-smoker laws? I remember when I lived in DC, Maryland passed a whole host of anti-smoker laws very early, like in the late 80's or early 90's. I thought it was barbaric at the time. And shortly after I came to CA they passed the same ones. I was kind of a barfly then, and I guess I got slowly acclimated, because I was shocked when I went back to VA and people were still smoking in restaurants in the late 90's. Now, we dont even miss it, though you will find clumps of smokers standing outside bars every night here in CA.

[A Thing of Eternity]

We have crazy anti-smoking laws in the parts of Canada I've been too, all activated within the last six years. No smoking inside any public building (bars etc) no smoking at schools, no smoking outside a hospital (only in some areas) no smoking within five meters of an entrance to a public building (very recent) their working on no smoking in an enclosed space with a child (I'm actually with that one). To be honest, the no smoking in bars really helped me quit.

[Serkanner]

I smoked self-rolled cigarettes for 20 years from when I was 17. In December 2006 I decided to quite. Haven't touched one since.

I do miss it at times though and I think the craving will never truly leave my system. Fortunately I still drink my beers otherwise there would be no use for living at all any more.

[Dune Nerd]

Alabama has those laws passed (not everywhere but the county I am in is 'advanced' so they do) and it sucks. I go out to the bar to get drunk and can't smoke, lamest shit ever....

[A Thing of Eternity]

Mosty of the bar's I know of just set up outdoor patios to get around the rules. Gets pretty funny when it's minus 30 degrees out though!

[Omphalos]

I smoked self-rolled cigarettes for 20 years from when I was 17. In December 2006 I decided to quite. Haven't touched one since.

I do miss it at times though and I think the craving will never truly leave my system. Fortunately I still drink my beers otherwise there would be no use for living at all any more.

I used to love Dewey Eggberts rolling tobacco.

[A Thing of Eternity]

Someone mentioned Marlboro's, I'm not really a fan of american tobacco. I used to enjoy smoking them on occasion, but didn't find them nearly as satisfying as Canadian tobacco. I believe in the states they actually "smoke" the tobacco while drying it (with what kind of smoke I don't know) to give it a more... smoky taste. Just not my thing I guess.

[Robspierre]

Not a smoker myself, never did go for it. Booze and broads took up to much time.

Rob

[Phaedrus]

Alabama has those laws passed (not everywhere but the county I am in is 'advanced' so they do) and it sucks. I go out to the bar to get drunk and can't smoke, lamest shit ever....

You're from Alabama? I don't know anywhere in this state that doesn't have some sort of anti-smoking law. They're usually of the variety where restaurants are either all smoking or all non-smoking, from what I know, and most other buildings are just non-smoking.