How many smokers out there?

[Orchidflower]

Grandfather smoked 3 packs a day from 13 to 82--when he finally died of lung cancer. Professional gambler for a living, so it makes sense he would gamble with his life, too. What else do old Greeks do for a living?

 

[Calgary_Girl]

Never smoked. I tried to take a puff when I was in the 7th grade to see what the older kids were making such a big deal about - couldn't get the awful taste out of my mouth the rest of the day .

Grew up with a dad that was a smoker and spent the better part of my childhood trying everything to get him to quit...I even went on a hunger strike for an entire day to get him to quit. He was the typical yo-yo quitter: he would quit for about 2 weeks as part of his New Year's resolution and then start up again.

Dad finally quite cold turkey on May 1, 1999 (after smoking for 30 yrs) and hasn't had a cigarette since .

 

[aaronc879]

Never smoked a single cigarette in my life. Never even considered it. I gag at even the slightest wiff of second hand cigarette smoke why would I want it first hand.

 

[Steve O]

It's part of my ER plan

 

[ziggy29]

Started smoking at 12 - quit cigarettes at 17 on a bet with friends for case of beer.

Quit cigs for booze. Love it. Out of the frying pan, into the fire...

 

[tibbar]

Mom and Dad both smoked. I hated road trips with the car filled with smoke and me throwing up in the back of the station wagon. Gee, you think the cloud of smoke I was riding in had anything to do with it? Dad quit in his 40's but Mom never could. Mom died at 62 of Tongue and throat cancer, still smoking till she physically couldn't at the end. Dad died at 78 of Pancreatic cancer which has a very strong link to smoking. With my hatred of smoking I can't believe I married a smoker in my early 30's. He quit a 4 pack a day habit with my encouraging and as far as I know (we're divorced) he hasn't started again in 20 some years.

Though I never smoked and haven't had a drink in 28 years I will probably get Cancer. Everyone in my family dies of cancer, we must have the gene for it.

 

[jimnjana]

I tried it but I didn't inhale...When I was about 10 I stole a pack of Winstons from my dad and went out back of the garage and tried to smoke them all, boy after that I didn't have much use for them, especially since one of my sisters caught me and used that as blackmail for along time, geeze I think she still is using it...

Jim

 

[W2R]

I am surprised at how many here smoke. If you count the "don't want to answer because it might incriminate me" vote, then at this point 14% smoke. Another 8% quit less than 5 years ago, and are likely to resume smoking (or that was my experience, anyway).

So that is 22% who have been smokers at some point during the past 5 years! Wow. I can't imagine how anyone could smoke any more while holding down a job. They make it so hard these days. At my work we have only a tiny covered area outside where smokers are allowed to congregate to smoke. They look so pitiful huddled there in the rain. They have 15 minutes of break time every 4 hours to smoke and/or do whatever else they need to do, like run to the bank or go for a walk. I quit smoking in 1977 but when I was a smoker was a lot easier.

 

[aaronc879]

My workplace makes it very difficult for smokers. Most of us work 12 hour shifts and tobacco products aren't allowed on company property and you aren't allowed to leave the building during your shift. So if you're a smoker, you have to go over 12 hours without smoking on work days. There is a zero tolerance policy and many people have been fired for first offense for being caught smoking in a bathroom or sneaking outside. People have also been fired for smokless tobacco. We work primarily with flexible packaging for food so it's undestandable not to allow smoke or tobacco residue to get on the product.

 

[tryan]

Yeah, always the same group huddled together ... but it seemed more like every hour for 10 or so minutes. Used to joke with my coworkers I was going to get a cigar and take a 1 hour break.

So when my first son was born I did an outdoor status meeting after 2 weeks vacation to help at home with the new born. Attendance optional, supplied real and chocolate cigars to all attendees (along with pictures of course). Most smoked, some ate. Not all bad ....

 

[Khan]

G-rated

YouTube - We are smoking in front of the building

 

[Meadbh]

It's part of my ER plan

smoking or quitting?

 

[Meadbh]

Wow. I can't imagine how anyone could smoke any more while holding down a job. They make it so hard these days. At my work we have only a tiny covered area outside where smokers are allowed to congregate to smoke. They look so pitiful huddled there in the rain.

Where I live, the smokers look so pitiful huddled out in the permafrost, risking frostbite. And most of them are patients. But that's addiction for you.....

 

[Meadbh]

BTW, I have never smoked. Both my parents smoked and it grossed me out.

 

[Moemg]

I only smoked briefly in college . I've seen the results of smoking first hand and it is not pretty .

 

[JOHNNIE36]

I smoked from the time I started college (1954) until 1986 when I quit cold turkey. I was up to 2 1/2 packs a day. I tried to quit many times and never made it. Tried every method out there. One day I was at my doctors office reviewing blood work and I asked him to prescribe something for my high cholesterol. He proceeded to chew me out big, "you smoke that much and want me to do something about your cholestrol. No way! You don't care about yourself. You come back when you quit smoking and I'll give you something for the cholestrol." Told me that my bad habit would prevent me from ever reaching retirement age. I knew he was right. I was in a high stress job and the smoking didn't help. But, his rantings pissed me off and from the time I walked out of his office, I never took another drag. I was going to show him! It's probably my greatest accomplishment. I think I owe him my life. Congratulations to all those who quit and to those that never started. I have golf buddies that smoke and I can't believe I ever smelled like that.

 

[redmcclain]

Started smoking Kools when I was 15 yo (that's what my parents smoked - quickly realized I preferred my mother's filtered cigs to my father's non-filtered). Quit cold turkey when I was 33 - was just tired of the cost (financial, social, health, etc.). I do miss the seemingly instantaneous way smoking reduced my levels of stress/anxiety - today I substitute exercise which works but takes much more effort.

 

[Reelax]

I smoked since high school. When I turned 50 I tried to quit. Chewed the nicotine gum like it was going out of style. Would quit for a day every other month. This went on and on. I gave up. Resigned to the fact that I would die from smoking and that is just the way it is. I was reading a blog one day. The author of the blog said she quit from reading Alan Carr's book "The Easy Way to Quit Smoking". I bought the book, read it in one day. The book to me was simplistic and rather silly. but I quit after reading the book. My wife read the book. Quit the next day. My niece read the book, quit the next day. To this day I don't know how it happened. My wife says it was brainwashing. It was still difficult to quit.

 

[Alan]

I am surprised at how many here smoke. If you count the "don't want to answer because it might incriminate me" vote, then at this point 14% smoke. Another 8% quit less than 5 years ago, and are likely to resume smoking (or that was my experience, anyway).

So that is 22% who have been smokers at some point during the past 5 years! Wow. I can't imagine how anyone could smoke any more while holding down a job. They make it so hard these days. At my work we have only a tiny covered area outside where smokers are allowed to congregate to smoke. They look so pitiful huddled there in the rain. They have 15 minutes of break time every 4 hours to smoke and/or do whatever else they need to do, like run to the bank or go for a walk. I quit smoking in 1977 but when I was a smoker was a lot easier.

So this sample is not much different from the USA population as a whole in 2007 according to the CDC.

This report summarizes findings for 2007, which indicated that approximately 19.8% of adults were current smokers in 2007, a decrease of 1.0 percentage point from 2006 (20.8%) (2). Cigarette smoking has declined during the past 40 years among all sociodemographic subpopulations of adults; however, the declines during the past decade have been smaller than in previous decades. The proportion of current everyday smokers who made a quit attempt during the preceding year decreased 7.2 percentage points from 1993 (47.0%) to 2007 (39.8%). During 1993--2007, young adults (aged 18--24 years) consistently had the highest prevalence of quitting for >1 day during the preceding year (59.3% in 1993 and 53.1% in 2007).

 

[harley]

I smoked for ~30 years. Never touched tobacco though. That stuff is nasty! I don't see the point of it. Like drinking near beer. yuk!

If the laws change I might start back up. Hey President Obama, $10B/year in taxes currently sliding right past the IRS. That could pay for a couple minutes of the stimulus package.

 

[Steve O]

smoking or quitting?

I don't wanna live until 95 like the rest of my family... We all gotta die of something

 

[RonBoyd]

I don't wanna live until 95 like the rest of my family... We all gotta die of something

But of all the ways to die, the deaths from lung cancer that I have witnessed places that way, way down the choice list for me. (Granted it has only been three but I am convinced nonetheless.)

 

[73ss454]

Yup, I watched my Mom die from lung cancer, not fun. I just want to wake up dead, I'm chicken.

 

[Alan]

Lung cancer is only one way of dying from smoking. I've watched several family members die from throat cancer, lung disease, coronary failure etc. My Dad has been the "luckiest" but the last 6 years have been really miserable for him. He is 84 and rotting from the bottom up. He has Peripheral Artery Disease which is common among smokers and affects over 8M Americans. He has continual pain in his legs and can hardly walk. Because of the poor circulation in his legs they are wasting away, no hair, ulcers on the feet etc. His parents went through the same thing for the same reason but fortunately died before needing drastic measures such as amputation.

While still in in England I remember watching a documentary about it so this was about 25 years ago. They showed one old guy sitting in a wheelchair still smoking shortly after his second leg had been amputated. I guess the need to smoke knowing all different the nasty ways it can affect is just over whelming for many.

 

[haha]

I wonder if Obama will stimulate a rise in smoking in America? Or even maybe around the world?

I guess it would be bad for public health, but good for tobacco stocks.

It's an ill wind...

Ha