Could you explain to me what it is about inhaling burning smoldering embers into your pulmonary system that's "fun"? I understand the enjoyment of the pharmacological effect of nicotine, but what is actually "fun" about the activity?
Are you saying you don't understand why people enjoy this particular nicotine delivery mechanism?
You hit the nail on the head. What is "fun" about inhaling burning embers?
I didn't say no one should like it, lots of reasons to do so. But Jay said it was "fun", and I want to know what's so fun about inhaling burning embers.
Anyway, in addition to the rapid delivery of nicotine...
People enjoy the taste and the smell of (fresh) cigarette smoke. Lots of people also find it pleasurable to occupy their mouths with something other than food - ever chewed a pencil, or your nails? Watching and breathing out smoke can be relaxing and contemplative too, in the same way that sitting in front of a campfire is "fun" for some folks.
The ritualistic, physical sharing element is also a bonding thing and an icebreaker in social situations (or was, when smoking was permitted in any environments where you might meet new people), but perhaps getting into the many cultural aspects and associations would be straying too far from a tight definition of "fun" for you.
I'm like Jay, if it wasn't hazardous I'd smoke again now (quit years ago).
Well, you must realize that my smoking experience is decades out of date (my last cigarette was New Years Eve 1986) but I will take a whack at that question.
Smoking becomes a ritual, and there is fun in rituals. Pour a cup of coffee, light a smoke. Drink a beer, have a smoke. Hit the freeway, have a smoke.
Because I knew it was unhealthy, I would use it as a reward system. Finish this project, have a smoke. Get through Chicago rush hour traffic, have a smoke.
The opening of a new carton was like Christmas. Take a cool, sleek pack out, and smack it, hard, half a dozen times, to tighten up the tobacco. Tear the cellophane off, and pop one out.
A new lighter was always fun. Playing with fire is always fun! The first smoke of a new pack was always fresh and delicious. That first smoke in the morning -- that I wouldn't allow myself until I was driving to work (another reward, for getting my ass out of the house) was amazing -- like a breath of fresh air!
Twirling the cigarette in your fingers was fun and comforting. Blowing smoke out your nose, or smoke rings, was a gas. The "lung burn" felt great, so do a double inhale!
If your girl smoked, too, french kissing smoke was awesome! And, of course, hanging with your friends on break, all of whom smoked, was fun!
These are the good things I remember. I still dream about smoking, and occasionally still awaken with a start, all guilty and sweaty, thinking I had stupidly started smoking again!
Of course, we could do a whole 'nother post on the BAD parts of smoking that ultimately compelled me to quit. lol
Well, if you were REALLY crazy (crazy=fun) you would have forced yourself to keep smoking, until it was fun.
Which, in a strange way, is what every smoker does, at the start. (I remember feeling quite ill on that first cigarette!)
Humans are strange, no? Of course, I was pretty amazed when Mary wanted a second child. If a woman can forget THAT sort of experience, anything is possible.
Jay and Tiger laid out all the pieces pretty eloquently...but no one is quite connecting the dots.
Junkies know what this is about, but cigarette smokers have been PR'd into believing they aren't the same.
Here it is; smoking becomes 'fun' when your brain connects it to the delivery of a hit of the drug, nicotine. If you and your brain are addicted to the nicotine, everything connected with getting it is 'good' and 'fun' and 'rewarding' and 'satisfying'. Even if to a normal person it is smelly, unsanitary and sickening.
Put another way, heroin and coke junkies that use the needle in absolutely disgusting ways, connect the two things in a way that makes it 'fun' to do. The brain is addicted to the drug and therefore 'rewards' the delivery mechanism including the equipment, the setting, the camaraderie, and the process itself (see Jay's posts for the cigarette version).
Here's an interesting 'test' of whether something is truly addictive; Addicts tend to be fixated on the drug and a primary delivery mechanism. Non-addicts fooling around with non-addictive substances, not so much. There are exceptions all around but nicotine is highly addictive because:
- cigarette smokers smoke cigarettes and not pipes or cigars
- Pipe smokers smoke pipes and not " "
- Cigar smokers smoke cigars and not " "
- Marlboro smokers smoke Marlboros and not other brands
- Cigarette smokers smoking e-cigs are trying to quit or get some nicotine in places they can't smoke - it's always less satisfying
- Kids who start vaping won't necessarily start smoking (we'll see)
- Go into a place that sells nicotine and they always know what a particular customer is coming in for - brand and type.
Pot and THC is not highly addictive because:
- Joint smokers like pipes and bongs and vice a versa
- Go into a head shop and the variety of delivery devices is mind boggling
- Many smokers enjoy 'brownies' and many will eat it as readily as smoke it for a different experience
"I'm addicted to food".... bullsh*t
"I'm addicted to sex".... maybe, can you be more specific?
"I'm addicted to flying".... double BS, want to fly my PC-12?
