Poll: Does Anyone Smoke Cigarettes Anymore?

[kgtest]

No way. No how. Used to smoke the occasional cigar but after watching both my Mom and Dad die in a not-so-great way from COPD, I won't mess with them now, either.

My Mom and Dad smoked a LOT (quit in 1989, though) and their choice was Pall Mall. I had a chill go up my back yesterday when I went out to check progress on the estate sale that is being set up at their house. Smack dab in front of the garage door was a half smoked Pall Mall cigarette (from one of the workers, I assume). I didn't even know people still smoked those things!

My mom is dieing the exact same pall mall death. Seeing Uncle Smoker basically lose his mobility to COPD and emphysema and the denial that came with it (adamant that Hurricane Katrina aftermath caused emphysema) I decided it was time to quit.

I posted in another thread how I had passed out and knocked myself out with a concussion once...it was after I endured the very descriptive half hour of his story from start to finish all the way to how he was about to lose his leg. When he took the bandage off the leg, I lost consciousnesses.

Never smoked another one after that and that was I think about 7 years ago. It was much easier for me to quit drinking than smoking. I think I attempted at least half a dozen times before I sorted out the emotions from reality.

For me it was Marlboro Lights. I still get the damn coupons sent to me and I've moved like three times since I quit. Big tobacco will never stop the pursuit.


Uncle Smoker was loved by soo many, he did finally quit once he lost mobility and his breathe, but it was waay too late. He passed away last year.

 

[Ian S]

If they find one what are you options and how effective are they?

Treatment can range from medications to reduce blood pressure all the way to surgery to install a kind of stent to strengthen the weakened aorta wall. Thing is if you have an undiagnosed one that ruptures you will in all likelihood die. A relative of mine was in that situation. Medics thought she might be having a heart attack and by the time they figured out the real problem, it was too late. She was an active and vigorous 70 years old with no symptoms until it burst.

 

[Midpack]

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.

Makes sense now but - many of us smoked 30-40 years ago when there weren’t all the restrictions there are today, cigarette vending machines were still very common, and there were still smoking sections on planes (it wasn’t completely outlawed until the late 90’s per wiki).

Peer pressure was much greater (at work in my case). There were ashtrays everywhere, offices, conf rooms, break rooms, etc. It was a daily occurence in meetings for the room to be so smoky you could hardly see, in retrospect I feel bad for the non-smokers. I smoked a pack/day at work, but usually only 2-3 cigarettes on days off. Smoking wasn’t always taboo like it is now.

 

[Nemo2]

Treatment can range from medications to reduce blood pressure all the way to surgery to install a kind of stent to strengthen the weakened aorta wall. Thing is if you have an undiagnosed one that ruptures you will in all likelihood die. A relative of mine was in that situation. Medics thought she might be having a heart attack and by the time they figured out the real problem, it was too late. She was an active and vigorous 70 years old with no symptoms until it burst.

Thank you for that information.

 

[omni550]

From the CDC...

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/index.htm

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, accounting for more than 480,000 deaths every year, or about 1 in 5 deaths.1
In 2016, more than 15 of every 100 U.S. adults aged 18 years or older (15.5%) currently* smoked cigarettes. This means an estimated 37.8 million adults in the United States currently smoke cigarettes.2 More than 16 million Americans live with a smoking-related disease.1
Current smoking has declined from 20.9% (nearly 21 of every 100 adults) in 2005 to 15.5% (more than 15 of every 100 adults) in 2016. The proportion of ever smokers who had quit increased; however, current smoking prevalence did not change significantly during 2015-2016.2

Nationally, 15.5% of adults are cigarette smokers...and ER.org looks to be ~3% so far. We are again out-of-step (in a good way).

omni

 

[braumeister]

Started smoking as a teenager because most of my friends did.
By the time I got back from Vietnam I was over two packs a day. Hated that, and finally quit when I was 26. The thing that surprised me the most was that I had a lot of nonsmoking friends who had put up with me during my smoking years. They were saints!

An uncle used to smoke Raleigh cigarettes, five packs a day. He bragged that he had practically furnished his home with the coupons. He also died from it.

 

[skipro33]

As a kid, my cousin and I would buy a pack at the vending machine from the local bowling alley. Just as a novelty. When I joined the military, in basic training in January, they would march us outside, then tell us to 'smoke 'em if you got 'em'. Non smokers had to stand there for 15 minutes in the snow, rain, cold while the smokers lit up a butt. So I started then. Just to get the extra heat off the lighter. Ha! I quit when we had kids, then smoked lightly after they went to college and still do. A pack will last me a week, so maybe 2 or 3 cigs a day. Never around anyone else though. Worked for 30 years and no one knew I smoked. Once got busted by a coworker and they were amazed I smoked. It's something I do to take a break when working. With the cost these days, $8 a pack of 20 in California, I may quit, but I don't feel a strong urge to for now.

 

[Walt34]

Started smoking as a teenager because most of my friends did.

Same here. I was working in a gas station in high school and I was the only one who didn't smoke. In later years I did try to quit many times but was never successful until about five years ago. I've heard that tobacco is harder to quit than heroin and I have no cause to doubt that. I even quit for an entire year once, but that craving never went away. It got to be a joke at work among us who were trying to quit but couldn't - "Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it hundreds of times!"

Finally, I don't know what switch I managed to flip inside my head, but I quit and there were almost no cravings afterward.

 

[pjm-7]

Tried it, didn't like it. I waited tables my senior year of high school. I had very long hair at the time and hated how my hair smelled after a shift. I didn't want my hair to smell like that because of my own doing.

 

[audreyh1]

I remember when they used to smoke in Planes also.... Yuk....

I remember on our plane to Hawaii - we were in the middle of the last non-smoking row. Chain smoker behind me finally had an epileptic fit. Fortunately the airline decided that the plane was too far out over the Pacific to turn around.

Probably was 88 or 89. Smoking on planes was gone not to long after that.

 

[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.

A sports bar we currently frequent to watch Astros games and eat the best chicken wings in south Texas has a cigarette vending machine with packs that cost a ten spot.

 

[scrabbler1]

Those sound like pretty serious battles, to me!

Had to battle smokers at work, too. Until smoking was finally outlawed in Government buildings around 1990, there were tons of chain-smokers in the offices, and the attitude was "Smokers' rights." Indeed, to complain about smoking was to be labeled a crank! I actually turned down a job with excellent promotion prospects, because there were 50 people in the room and 40 were chain-smokers. You literally could not see the other side of the room for the smoke.

But there was a silver lining to the smoke cloud: If everyone in a particular office space agreed, it could be declared a No Smoking Area. I went looking for an assignment in such an office, and guess which ex-smoker was working in the one I finally selected? Yep, the man destined to become Mr. A.! If I hadn't minded smoke so much, we would never have met.

When I began working in 1985, smoking was allowed although pretty much nobody on my floor smoked, thankfully. But after 4 years, I got switched to another department and there were a few smokers near me in the last few months before my company moved to a new building (7 World Trade Center) in 1991. Smoking was banned in that building and I was thrilled.

It was another big step forward in getting smoke-free spaces. In 1988, the Long Island Rail Road finally banned smoking on all of its trains, another bit of great news for my barely tolerable commute. In 1990, smoking was banned on most US airplane flights. (On one flight in 1988, I sat a row in front of the smoking section after being paid to trade seats with another passenger who wanted to sit next to his business partner. I was sitting in the second-hand smoking section.)

In the 1990s, smoking eventually got banned in restaurants and most other public spaces, making the frequent question, "Smoking or non-smoking?" one I never had to hear again. The default was now "you can't smoke" after years and years of having to put up with smokers.

My dad smoked sometimes but quit cold turkey in the late 1960s after he heard me coming home from school learning how bad smoking was. He didn't ever want me to smoke but felt he couldn't preach the message I was getting at school if he were smoking. So he quit. (I do have some faint memories of seeing packs of cigarettes in the house when I was about 4 or 5 years old.) He hates smoke as much as I do.

 

[O2Bfree]

I smoked about a pack a day for about ten years, quit in 1989. Always did especially enjoy that first cig with a cup of coffee in the morning!

I occasionally get into a social situation where I'll have a smoke, like maybe once every couple of years. Last year for example the parents of a cousin's girlfriend were visiting from China and they attended a family reunion. Not being English speakers, they seemed a little left out. After we ate, the father pulled out a pack of smokes and offered them around. A few cousins took one, as did I, and he seemed quite pleased as we sat around smoking and smiling together. Not so healthy, I know, but it was enjoyable. Haven't had one since then.

 

[MRG]

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.

A sports bar we currently frequent to watch Astros games and eat the best chicken wings in south Texas has a cigarette vending machine with packs that cost a ten spot.

Yes indeed. I'm from 75 and we had smoking outside. You were supposed to have a permission slip signed by a parent, I never did. I just hung outside and acted like I belonged. Funny thing is the vice-princpal ran the place and knew I didn't have a slip. Never busted me. The principal did because we were out by the parking lot(under a roof in the rain) in an unauthorized area. He took my bag of pipe tobacco mixed with afghani hashish, didn't know what it was! I got it back! Oh the thrills of being young and dumb.

 

[Rustward]

At work, I used to 'campaign' for putting all the smokers in one big room where they could smoke and inhale each other's fumes.

This made me think of airport smoking lounges. Being in one of those would be torture.

 

[MRG]

This made me think of airport smoking lounges. Being in one of those would be torture.

I smoked Camel non-filter and would never venture into one of those. There was a similar one in a Megacorp holding, I'd never go in there either. We joked about licking the wall in the area, you'd probably die.

 

[6miths]

You have to admit though that the blue haze in those rooms was pretty impressive and the layering effect could be quite pretty. (Where is the hacking emoji - no the other hacking!)

 

[omni550]

And the homes of smokers...ugh

My first real estate purchase was a condo in ~1978 from a couple who were both smokers. When I first moved in, I recall taking a shower and the steam in the bathroom would cause rivulets of tar/nicotine to form and run down the walls, leaving stains. Taking off face plates of the light switches revealed a dark mess of tar/nicotine clinging to all the interior surfaces. And any food in kept in the freezer for any length of time would eventually start tasting of smoke. Yuck! Over time, I updated most everything.

About 10 years ago, I was a realtor for a short time. I was showing homes and ran across one occupied by a heavy smoker. OMG literally everything inside was stained yellow -- the venetian blinds, all the 'white' woodwork, walls, ceilings, windows, cabinets...you name it. Plus it just reeked of smoke inside. I can't imagine how long it took to sell that house. My buyer certainly wasn't interested.

omni

 

[mystang52]

As a child I had somewhat bad asthma that I fortunately outgrew by the time I hit my teens. So, being the smart kid I was I started smoking at age 16, and within a couple of months had an asthma attack. Naturally, my parents did not know then that I was smoking.
After that asthma attack I naturally learned my lesson and continued smoking Some 2 1/2 years later I got a very bad and painful chest cold, and the last thing I wanted was a cigarette. I got better after about 2 weeks, and never resumed smoking. That was 1971 or so.

I feel our generation should have been the last one to smoke; we grew up with it, saw our parents smoking, it was common to see smokers on TV, etc. But I am genuinely baffled every time I see a young person smoking today, with all of the known issues from smoking.

 

[Walt34]

But I am genuinely baffled every time I see a young person smoking today, with all of the known issues from smoking.

Not only that, but the cost! When I started in HS a pack of smokes was 25¢. Even driving to Virginia with one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the country they were ~$4/pack if bought by the carton by the time I quit. That was another incentive to quit - I multiplied it out what I was spending on cigarettes.

I think in NYC it's now up to about $10/pack. Yikes!

 

[LuckyDog]

I was a light smoker for a lot of years. Quit cigs about 35 years ago and cigars about 15 years ago. For me, it was not hard. Guess that I never was really hooked. A pack of smokes here in Western NY is about $10. My buddy was lamenting the fact that he could retire if he did not have that mortgage payment. I told him that I have a fix for that - he and the wife should quit smoking (2 packs each per day ay $10 per pack). You do the numbers...

 

[kimcdougc]

I smoked for 6 months when I was 18. I am a child of 2 ti 3 pack a day parents. Smoked in the car, in the house.

Haven't smoked since.

 

[Amethyst]

When I was 21 I bought a book called "How To Be A Financially Independent Woman." I still have the book. The example for "how to save money for investment when you don't earn much money" involved giving up cigarettes, since the author assumed that most readers smoked. Now, it would be giving up lattes.

Not only that, but the cost! When I started in HS a pack of smokes was 25¢. Even driving to Virginia with one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the country they were ~$4/pack if bought by the carton by the time I quit. That was another incentive to quit - I multiplied it out what I was spending on cigarettes.

I think in NYC it's now up to about $10/pack. Yikes!

 

[audreyh1]

I feel our generation should have been the last one to smoke; we grew up with it, saw our parents smoking, it was common to see smokers on TV, etc. But I am genuinely baffled every time I see a young person smoking today, with all of the known issues from smoking.

It’s shocking to me when I see young people smoking overseas. This really stood out to me in France. The young people out of high school would sit ousted at the cafes and smoke up a storm.

 

[Moemg]

I only smoked briefly in college but I do have COPD mostly caused by allergies . My COPD is moderate so as long as I exercise a lot and take my meds I am okay .