Poll: Does Anyone Smoke Cigarettes Anymore?

[savory]

We have been amazed at the number of smokers in the small 'timber' town we recently moved. It feels like the 60s. No problem seeing people taking smoke breaks at work. Even doctors smoke. Our town also is in or near the lead for unhealthy weight and diabetes. It is sad and unfortunate.

Our family wonders why so many people in this town have not gotten the message. All I know now is they can't seem to stop.

[O2Bfree]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 In our high school in CT we had designated smoking areas outside so we could light up between classes if we wanted to. That was 1961.

At my high school in WA in the 70s the girls smoked a lot in the bathrooms. During the busiest time at lunch, a cloud of smoke would puff out when the doors opened, usually to some laughter and shouts from those outside in the hall. For some reason, not much was done about it. A teacher would come through once a week or so, someone near the door would hiss, "Teacher!", and we'd all toss our smokes into the toilets and file out. You wouldn't get busted unless she saw you with a smoke in your hand. Oddly, the boys didn't smoke in the boys bathroom, unlike what the song portrayed.

[Hyper]

It's horribly depressed where I'm from. On the rare occasions when we go back it's like a scene from China with all the smog but is cigarette smoke! Within 5 seconds of being there you smell like an astray! Definitely not like that here in the west. Thank the great Lord!

[Scuba]

Tried it in high school, hated it. My dad smoked during my childhood but quit “cold turkey” in his 40’s. Lived to 86. My mom smoked 2-3 packs/day and died at 76 from lung cancer. My eldest sister smoked heavily too and died at 59 of COPD/emphysema. Hard for me to understand anyone who continues to indulge in such a destructive habit, but I try not to judge as I am a bit overweight and can’t seem to lose the 20 lbs I need to and keep it off.

DH and I hate being around cigarette smoke and almost never have to be since we live in So CA. Pot smoke is another matter. Our neighbor smokes regularly and it wafts into our place from time to time. I don’t love it, but it’s more pleasant than cigarette smoke.

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 There's no upside to smoking cigarettes. I mean it doesn't make you feel particularly happy, or relaxed, or excited or anything, the way other legalized drugs might do (alcohol, weed (almost legal), etc). And they do put signs to warn the uninformed how dangerous it is like warnings on cigarette labels, ordinances banning smoking in all sorts of areas including multi-complex apartments, etc. Strange we can still buy this stuff.

Maintaining the concept of a "free" country, I guess. From back before the days where "what isn't specifically allowed is forbidden". As opposed to the ideal opposite.

Personally, I never saw the point in smoking something that didn't get you high. It's not like it tastes good or anything. It would be like drinking scotch without alcohol.

[Katsmeow]

I don't smoke. DH quit 30+ years ago before I ever met him. He now hates to be around smoke.

As for young people - now I don't see many smoking. Here is some data:

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_sta...king/index.htm

13.1% of those 18-24. It is around 18% until 65 and then drops to 8.8%. This makes sense to me. Young people know more about the dangers, may vape instead and don't have as much money. The middle group may have started smoking when they were younger and find it hard to quit. For the over 65 crowd, I would bet a lot are former smokers.

My dad tried and tried to quit and couldn't. He died from lung cancer at age 75. He was otherwise very active and healthy... I have another relative who was finally able to stop, but only in her 80s. I've seen several that smoked for years and finally they had bad enough health problems to be able to stop.

The reason we are more likely here not to smoke is due to education and general SES. 24% of people without a high education smoke. 40.6% of those with a GED. It falls to 7.7% of those with an undergraduate degree and 4.5% of those with a graduate degree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Although cigarette smoking may not be considered "cool", it sure seems to me like a lot of younger people are vaping and think that is ultra-cool. I don't see the point in vaping, personally; either smoke or don't.

However, vaping is more popular among young people. It is seen as fun, cool, and safe. People who wouldn't smoke due to lung cancer concerns will fape.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GalaxyBoy Recall how many of the talking heads insisted that banning smoking in restaurants and bars would put them all out of business?

They still say that about casinos. Some casinos have non-smoking areas but they tend to be small and the smoke in other areas wafts in. I am very allergic so it makes it hard for me to go to a casino even though I enjoy doing it.

[mamadogmamacat]

I have never smoked. However, most of my relatives while I was a kid did smoke, so was around it a lot. I suppose I'll be a good data point as I continue to age to see if there will be any second hand smoke effects.

Recall one relative who hid out in the tree house on her parents farm to smoke. She and i were close growing up so sat in that confined space with her often.

[LastOfTheBoomers]

I’ve never smoked - and at $6 to $8 dollars a pack - and their life shortening effects - it doesn’t seem like a good FIRE strategy.

[Amethyst]

Never liked the idea of going out of one's way to get "hooked" on something, the way young people used to with cigarettes.

I recall my Mother, in other ways a person with great common sense and self-discipline, telling me, "Oh, everyone around you does it, so you join in, and then you can't stop because you need it." This, to me, sounded like a horror right out of Stephen King.

Later on, she said she'd started smoking in her teens to curb her appetite, as she was very petite and wanted to stay slim. Well, she succeeded in that goal, but she also got emphysema. Neither my elder sister nor I wanted anything to do with cigarettes.

[UnrealizedPotential]

One thing that has to have some kind of impact, if even small among young smokers is the age restrictions. In California it used to be you had to be 18 to smoke, now you have to be 21. That should slow some down some of the younger smokers.


I think in Hawaii one has to be at least 21 as well to buy tobacco products. Not sure about other states. But I think it's a good law and I'm sure other states will make the change to age 21 to buy tobacco products in the future.


Edited to add: New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon and Maine, along with Hawaii and California are the states that legally require one to be age 21 or over to buy tobacco products. Among the large cities, New York City and Chicago also require one to be at least age 21 to buy tobacco products .

[FIREd]

I tried it once and did not like it. Never touched a cigarette again. My parents were smokers and they often smoked around the kitchen table. I remember vividly being fascinated with the blue smoke lingering like a wispy cloud over the table. My grandparents were tobacconists and their home was filled with the smell of unburnt tobacco (which is pleasant to my nose). I actually like the smell of warm cigarette smoke (the smell coming from a burning cigarette) but I cannot stand the residual smell of cigarettes in homes, on clothes, in cars, etc...

[HadEnuff]

I watched a few episodes of "Madmen"...I got a sore throat just watching all of that smoking going on.

[Ronstar]

I tried it and did not like it. Probably smoked less than 5 cigarettes in my life.

[JoeWras]

Most of us saw the evolution of this in the workplace.

1980 - Smoke everywhere. I was an office cleaner of a collection agency. You want to see office smoking? Go to a 70s era collection agency phone room. Holy crap! One 40-something lady died of cancer during my time there. Thank goodness I only had to cruise through and dump the garbage cans. The walls were brown, and not painted that way!

1985 - Smoke with permission. If you share an office, you may have to ask permission or get teamed with another smoker. IBM actually had "green and red sides" of conference rooms. Smokers on one side, non-smokers on the other! Extra exhaust vents were added above the smoking side!

1990 - Smoke in designated spaces only. Maybe a specific break room.

1995 - Go outside if you need to do it. Feel free to smoke on the balcony or right next to the door. Pity the poor soul who sits next to the door.

2000 - Go outside and get away from the doors in a designated area. Balcony off limits.

2010 - Get off the property. Many companies do this now. You see people forced to walk to the official property line and line up to smoke. Common near hospitals, but not exclusively hospitals. Smokers tend to drive off campus for lunch a lot.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsmeow I don't smoke. DH quit 30+ years ago before I ever met him. He now hates to be around smoke. As for young people - now I don't see many smoking. Here is some data: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_sta...king/index.htm 13.1% of those 18-24. It is around 18% until 65 and then drops to 8.8%. This makes sense to me. Young people know more about the dangers, may vape instead and don't have as much money. The middle group may have started smoking when they were younger and find it hard to quit. For the over 65 crowd, I would bet a lot are former smokers. My dad tried and tried to quit and couldn't. He died from lung cancer at age 75. He was otherwise very active and healthy... I have another relative who was finally able to stop, but only in her 80s. I've seen several that smoked for years and finally they had bad enough health problems to be able to stop. The reason we are more likely here not to smoke is due to education and general SES. 24% of people without a high education smoke. 40.6% of those with a GED. It falls to 7.7% of those with an undergraduate degree and 4.5% of those with a graduate degree. However, vaping is more popular among young people. It is seen as fun, cool, and safe. People who wouldn't smoke due to lung cancer concerns will fape. They still say that about casinos. Some casinos have non-smoking areas but they tend to be small and the smoke in other areas wafts in. I am very allergic so it makes it hard for me to go to a casino even though I enjoy doing it.

+1 on the bolded by me.
This point is not emphasized enough for various reasons.

[scrabbler1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnrealizedPotential One thing that has to have some kind of impact, if even small among young smokers is the age restrictions. In California it used to be you had to be 18 to smoke, now you have to be 21. That should slow some down some of the younger smokers. I think in Hawaii one has to be at least 21 as well to buy tobacco products. Not sure about other states. But I think it's a good law and I'm sure other states will make the change to age 21 to buy tobacco products in the future. Edited to add: New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon and Maine, along with Hawaii and California are the states that legally require one to be age 21 or over to buy tobacco products. Among the large cities, New York City and Chicago also require one to be at least age 21 to buy tobacco products .

Between raising the age and tax levy to buy smokes, together they have made smoking far more difficult these days.

In the suburbs surrounding New York City, Nassau County (Long Island, just to the east of NYC) just raised the age to 21 from 19 earlier this year. Same for Westchester County, just north of NYC. Suffolk County, to the east of Nassau, raised its age to 21 a few years ago, so we have uniformity in areas which have ~12 million people combined.

[Bamaman]

My mother was an addict, and it greatly affected her health.

Cannot stand the sight of a cigarette and none of our friends smoke.

The only smoker friend we had died of lung cancer earlier this year. Had he been getting regular checkups including a chest xray, they might have caught the cancer before stage IV. It is normal for lung cancer victims to not know they have it until it is too late.

[GalaxyBoy]

Reading this thread I feel so grateful for our modern (nearly) smoke-free world. Oh, the memories of air travel with the magic cardboard sign that kept all the smoke aft of a certain row and the sound of two dozen simultaneous lighter strikes at the sound of the first "ding" after takeoff. I recall a restaurant with a no-smoking table , and establishments with no-smoking sections that "floated," meaning if you didn't smoke they took the ashtray off your table. I grew up in a high school with a smoking block, and I also got away with not having a smoking permit.

Late in my career I described to one of the young people at the office how things used to be. They were in complete disbelief. "You mean you could smoke in the office?!"

[Uncle Albert]

ER'ed in 2015...we both still smoke cigarettes but are working to transfer to vaping which is allowing us to cut down...goal is to stop smoking cigarettes altogether

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GalaxyBoy Reading this thread I feel so grateful for our modern (nearly) smoke-free world. Oh, the memories of air travel with the magic cardboard sign that kept all the smoke aft of a certain row and the sound of two dozen simultaneous lighter strikes at the sound of the first "ding" after takeoff. I recall a restaurant with a no-smoking table , and establishments with no-smoking sections that "floated," meaning if you didn't smoke they took the ashtray off your table. I grew up in a high school with a smoking block, and I also got away with not having a smoking permit. Late in my career I described to one of the young people at the office how things used to be. They were in complete disbelief. "You mean you could smoke in the office?!"

All true.

Bus travel was even worse. Smaller compartment. Same rules: smoke in the back. You serious?