Do you smoke?

[jshawley]

Dad died in 69 at the ripe old age of <46, of a heart attack; Mom in 80 at the age of 54, due to cor pulmonale,caused by emphysema. Both were 2 pack/day smokers. Older brother chews; my five-year younger brother smokes, but looks at least 10 years older than I. I don't, not even after spending six years in the Navy in 75-81.

 

[Dart]

Strict limit of two per month, usually served with a Talisker, Johnny, or a nice port.

James Dean

Not even that for me. I'm a tobacco addict. I love all tobacco products except chew (makes me puke) and the dip stuff is for kids. All that spitting....

I'm clean again now but, after ten years clean I tried the "occasional" cigar and BAMO!!! Hooked back in within six months. It was another four years before I could quit again. Will be five years clean this memorial day but I realize now that one never stops being an addict. You just stop the behavior through force of will (and the Grace of God).

I rarely think about by now, but every now and then I wish I could have just one good cigar and a brandy, or a Marlboro and coffee.

Hardest damn drug to quit I've ever tried.

 

[Lance F]

An old article but you'll be interested. These are just off the end of #22 at LEW(Auburn-Lewiston, Maine). Maurice is a very interesting guy who's done a whole bunch of projects and professions. His house is right beside the birds; the 2nd story, from the outside, looks just like an Air Traffic Control Tower. Spectacular house(on the inside) with large swimming pool near the master bedroom and other function rooms. The city has given Maurice **** re his request to taxi his smaller Cessna across his lawn/field in order to taxi onto Runway 22. No such permission.

http://www.conniesurvivors.com/1-maine_starliners.htm


HR

Thanks HR. Through this site and the links it provided I easily killed a couple of hours tonight immersing myself in Connie stuff. I loved it.

 

[Chas]

I voted Never, but I lied ..... I have a cigar maybe once every two years or so, on average - and not ONE since I got married three years ago. The sacrifices one makes for love ....

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Last year Georgia went no smoking indoors in public places (maybe bars are excepted). This totally eliminates the smoking/no smoking section hastle. Now I get freaked out when I'm in another state where these anachronisms still exists.

I still remember the first time I went to CA after they passed their law (Jan. 2005), went to a restaurant and said "two for non-smoking." She laughed at me, and then I realized where I was!

The funny part is when you cross the border into NV and they still haven't even gotten to the point of having a no-smoking section yet! You'd swear the place is on fire...

 

[flyingcheesehead]

At least in restaurants, we were limited to an area where non-smokers didn't have to inhabit.

The smokers were limited to the smoking area... Problem was, the smoke wasn't.

And Nick... You're smart enough to quit right now. Start by putting on your business hat and calculating how much per year you spend on cigarettes.

 

[deafsound]

I roll my own smokes.
You should see the looks I get at the airport when I twist one up after getting out of an airplane.

 

[alaskaflyer]

Do cigars only when in Vegas count?

 

[poadeleted3]

I find smoking somewhat less obnoxious than self righteous preaching and unsolicited advise from non-smokers. I do not tell them what I believe they should do with their lives. If you want a rude response from me, stick your nose into my business and give me advise on my choice to smoke.

And if someone came at me with a fire extinguisher, I would assume they were trying to kill me and I would shoot them dead.

 

[Ken Ibold]

I'm gonna say what a lot of you have thought but not posted. I used to smoke in late high school and early college. But never cigarettes. Quit THAT nasty habit in 1979 and never looked back.

My mom smoked 2 packs a day when I was growing up, and my dad smoked pipes and cigars. Our house always reeked. To this day the smell of menthol is slightly nauseating.

Fortunately, they both quit 20 years ago and it's pleasant to visit them again.

 

[poadeleted3]

Ahhh... I see now why I'm one of the few smokers to speak up. Typical of those who think they have the right to control and judge others, obnoxious anti-smokers don't even want the rest of us who enjoy the freedom to make our own choices to express our opinions. Personally, I think my post added a point of view that is lacking in this thread. I'm unsurprised to find those that dislike others being allowed to choose options they dislike find such freedom of expression as distasteful as I find the attitudes expressed by the anti-smokers in this thread, complete with their lack of manners. But, I've not gone and dinged any of them for their opinions. Yet. Now, I'm considering spending my lunch going through and giving bad rep to every person who has expressed an anti-smoking viewpoint. I think many of the posts in this thread are ill mannered, after all.

 

[SkyHog]

Wow, Joe, I didn't know that you smoked. After the last post, I was hoping I had a non-smoking ally about the preachiness of those that talk down to smokers.

Don't get me wrong, I wish I didn't smoke. But not as much as I wished I didn't have people tell me all the time that my decision offends them. The offer of advice in ways to help quitting is always appreciated, but the funny looks, and the off-color remarks I get from people as they walk by is uncalled for.

Just think, it wasn't too long ago that non-smokers were the minority.

My favorite is when older folks try to claim "We didn't know it was bad for us back then, you have no excuse." That's utter BS. No one stuck a plant in their mouth, lit it on fire to inhale the waste product, starting breathing harder and couldn't run as well and thought it was a healthy past time. The old "9 out of 10 Doctors recommend Camel Brand Cigarettes" commercials were a joke, and I can't believe anyone actually bought into that crap.

 

[Bill M.]

I smoked many years ago but I know there's no point in trying to convince others to quit.
I just wish those folks who smoke could see the people I see in the ER on a daily basis. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is slow, malevolent, debilitating disease for which there no real cure. These people suffocate and smother most of the time, and most can't even lie flat to sleep. It progresses to the point where supplemental O2 doesn't help anymore and exacerbations of COPD are sometimes treated with intubation and ventilators. I find this a whole lot scarier than lung cancer beause it can go on for years and years just getting worse each day. You're not alive and not quite dead.
I have never know anyone to smoke who eventually didn't regret it in a big way. And the weirdest thing, is a lot of respiratory therapists smoke.

 

[jesse]

Here is my view.

I hate smoking.

Inhaling 2nd hand smoke makes my eyes tear up, cough..etc.

BUT

I have never said anything to a smoker about it. That is their deal. I hope they have enough respect to not start smoking in my place..or in my car..But I'll also have enough respect to put up with it if it is in their enviroment.

I recently stayed with a girl for about a month who is a smoker...From the start she said she would go outside to smoke. BUT. It is her place. There was no way I'd make her go outside. I just told her it didn't bother me and put up with it.

There was a few times though to where I'd smell the smoke on myself at work and get a "sick feeling".

 

[Dan Smith]

I smoked for a number of years, and truly enjoyed it. My last tour afloat I was the navigator, on the permanent 0400-0800; it was a great time to go through many Camels and not a few cups of coffee. I quit 20 years ago when I found that the smoking interfered with too many things that I liked to do, like skiing, soccer, etc. Still a complete non-smoker, since I do know from experience that it would only take one to get me going again, and my wife would seriously kill me dead. When they give me six months to live, though...

Dan

 

[Bill M.]

I smoked for a number of years, and truly enjoyed it. My last tour afloat I was the navigator, on the permanent 0400-0800; it was a great time to go through many Camels and not a few cups of coffee. I quit 20 years ago when I found that the smoking interfered with too many things that I liked to do, like skiing, soccer, etc. Still a complete non-smoker, since I do know from experience that it would only take one to get me going again, and my wife would seriously kill me dead. When they give me six months to live, though...

Dan

HAHAHA...I've thought the same thing. If I was told I only had a few months to live...Ahhh....the click and the smell of my old zippo firing up that fresh Camel (didn't matter which end you lit) and the head rush from the first drag.
A friend gave me an expensive Havana last year and I've been afraid to smoke it.

 

[Dart]

I find smoking somewhat less obnoxious than self righteous preaching and unsolicited advise from non-smokers. I do not tell them what I believe they should do with their lives. If you want a rude response from me, stick your nose into my business and give me advise on my choice to smoke.

All true but, I find it equally rude to come across smokers who ignore posted non-smoking areas. And trust me, I WAS one of them.

What people do in their own house, private venues, and vehicles is their business.

If smokers had any idea how bad it reeks (and speaking from experiance they DON'T) they would understand the "dirty looks" better. I don't give a crap about smokers health, so I don't lecture anybody. I just don't want my meal/movie/show ruined by gagging.

And if someone came at me with a fire extinguisher, I would assume they were trying to kill me and I would shoot them dead.

Well, "Duh!"

 

[Dart]

HAHAHA...I've thought the same thing. If I was told I only had a few months to live...Ahhh....the click and the smell of my old zippo firing up that fresh Camel (didn't matter which end you lit) and the head rush from the first drag.

I hear ya, Camels, ...sigh.

A friend gave me an expensive Havana last year and I've been afraid to smoke it.

I've got one in my desk drawer, five years old now. I take it out an sniff it every few months.

 

[Dan Smith]

Ahhh....the click and the smell of my old zippo firing up that fresh Camel (didn't matter which end you lit) and the head rush from the first drag.

Do you remember the feeling you got when you overfilled that old zippo and stuck it in your pants pocket without first cleaning it off? And the torch you could get from that thing on a windy day?

Dan

 

[Bill M.]

Do you remember the feeling you got when you overfilled that old zippo and stuck it in your pants pocket without first cleaning it off? And the torch you could get from that thing on a windy day?

Dan

Oh yes indeed!! Like Dart said, I still have my old zippo but I havn't sniffed it lately...might go do that now though.
I also remember all the "cool" lighter tricks you could do, like snapping the thing open between your thumb and index finger. Or straffing across your pants to open and fire it up.
Well, maybe I won't pull it out....Having been quit for years, I'm always only a RCH away from starting back.

 

[gprellwitz]

I did about three packs when I was in high school. I found I really didn't enjoy it, and grew to hate the smell so much that, when my parents divorced, I elected to live with my father largely because my mother was a heavy smoker. She quit cold turkey a few years ago when her husband's doctor told her it was harming HIS health. The very same day, my father-in-law quit because he had a heart attack and his doctor warned him about it.

I hate the way I smell when I come out of a smoke-filled bar, and I hate finding it difficult to breath in there. I don't generally (ever?) say anything to smokers.

I did notice, however, that most of what I took to be beligerent or angry notes on this thread came from the smokers who felt that they were being wronged in some way.

Smoking is an addiction. Just look at some of the messages here for anecdotal evidence of that. Yelling at or criticizing an addict to get them to stop their behavior rarely works, and can be counterproductive. Few want to continue smoking from a rational standpoint. The desire to smoke always seems to be because "it feels so good" or "it gave me a rush" or something similar.

Yeah, like I'm saying something we don't all know already.

 

[Shipoke]

Well i smoke............ and if someone asks me to put it out i will as long as they dont demand it,If they are nice about it i am too,If thay are asses then i can be the biggest one in the world.Had one women take my cigarette and dump soda on it at the bowling alley one night. never even asked me to put it out or move, So i figured i can play that game too, Lite a cigarette and walked over to her and put it out in her soda.then told her i have just as many rights as she does.later she came over and told me i was Rude, i looked at her and said F**k off. Yes i smoke but i dont try to force it on anyone,and i dont want their not smoking froced on me.like i said if you ask nice i'm very accomadating. Dave G.

 

[NC Pilot]

Smoked probably a few packs of cigs in college. Didn't like it, so I stopped.

My father smoked 2 to 3 packs a day from the age of 14 until he died at 68. The smoking probably didn't help, but he had other vices that actually contributed more.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

But not as much as I wished I didn't have people tell me all the time that my decision offends them.

Offends them? Sheesh. They need to get a life.

You can do whatever you want to yourself... Just don't do it around me, please. And the only time I tell people to put it out is when they're inside my vehicle.

Joe, maybe I missed a post or something... What got you all riled up?

 

[Greebo]

No, Never.

But I did for 7 years, 2 packs a day at the end.

 

[AirBaker]

Interesting responses. I've never had a problem with a smoker NOT respecting a direct request to kindly put out their cigarette.

That having been said, smoking is something 'THEY' enjoy and not the non-smokers. So, feel free to have your own places to enjoy your tobacco of choice. Just don't force me to breathe the smoke.

I think that smokers get a bad image often from what other smokers do. Tossing the cigarette butt on the ground is one thing that really bugs me. So my appologies to those of you that properly dispose of your butts.

 

[jeff@MAL]

And if someone came at me with a fire extinguisher, I would assume they were trying to kill me and I would shoot them dead.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[fgcason]

My thoughts exactly.

Um. I was going to say something but it really doesn't matter. I simply do not help non friends anymore since society is so hostile/murderous toward people helping others.

Sometimes things are not always as the seem. You might want to consider the situation you're in before executing someone.

Haveaniceday. I'm outta here.

 

[AirBaker]

And if someone came at me with a fire extinguisher, I would assume they were trying to kill me and I would shoot them dead.

Have a few beers first. That would make ATF happy.

Now, I'm considering spending my lunch going through and giving bad rep to every person who has expressed an anti-smoking viewpoint. I think many of the posts in this thread are ill mannered, after all.

You can't get mad for other people not enjoying your habit.

 

[Brian Austin]

My father smoked 2 to 3 packs a day from the age of 14 until he died at 68. The smoking probably didn't help, but he had other vices that actually contributed more.

Ditto for mine but 5 years younger. Died eight days after his 63rd birthday this last January.

 

[poadeleted3]

Have a few beers first. That would make ATF happy.



You can't get mad for other people not enjoying your habit.

Ahhh... but I can get mad at your poor manners and obnoxious behavior. If someone talked to you the way you people are talking here, you'd be less than happy. But, hey... ya'll seem happy with your bad behavior. Just keep it away from me.

 

[Dakota Duce]

I find smoking somewhat less obnoxious than self righteous preaching and unsolicited advise from non-smokers. I do not tell them what I believe they should do with their lives. If you want a rude response from me, stick your nose into my business and give me advise on my choice to smoke.

And if someone came at me with a fire extinguisher, I would assume they were trying to kill me and I would shoot them dead.

You better get me on the first shot.. because you won't ever get a second chance!!

Dakota Duce

"May All Your Flights Be Of Good Weather!"

 

[Brian Austin]

Good grief. Back off on the testosterone, for crying out loud.

 

[jesse]

Some people on this forum...do manage to make me laugh..which is a plus once a day

 

[woodstock]

I find smoking somewhat less obnoxious than self righteous preaching and unsolicited advise from non-smokers. I do not tell them what I believe they should do with their lives. If you want a rude response from me, stick your nose into my business and give me advise on my choice to smoke.

.

what if I told you to try clove cigarettes instead of Marlboros?

when I graduated from college and moved here (oh so many years ago) I actually lived with two smokers - for 3 years almost. and they smoked in the house or wherever they felt like it. for some reason it didn't bother me, likely b/c my grandparents smoked - or maybe I was young and impervious to it.

now I'm so UNUSED to it I try to avoid it - unless it's in a bar of course. (which I think is weird that they have banned in so many places - it's a BAR.)

for the most part I could care less. you wanna smoke, feel free, it's a free country. that said - NO ONE smokes in my car. or in my house. deck, fine.