To think that smoking looks really, really cool?

This. Although I've never smoked. Looks gross.

I hear what you are saying and I applaud you for being so measured about it because "the zeal of the converted" is something you often see in exsmokers.
As a smokers who plans on trying to quit on Monday (!) my main motivation to stop is not just money, its also the way it drags you out of sustained focus. Not sure whether you see what i mean, but i find that smoking creates too many opportunities to stop what youre doing and break a flow, or worse still, stops you launching into any kind of flow state in the first place

I saw quite a few of those outside the cardiology building when DH was in hospital last year, some of whom were in wheelchairs.

It must make the doctors and other healthcare professionals feel so frustrated.

I think quite a lot of us saying it is deeply, terminably uncool are those who have been addicted to cigarettes in the past.

So yes, we absolutely get the pleasure of it and the way it can give you a little something for yourself in a busy life with lots of demands.

I think that's why it can be very hard to give up if you are low waged or in a manual job, even though you are the least able to afford it. It punctuates your day and gives you an excuse to stop the endless relentless grind of daily life.

But it takes SO much from you. First your money, then your freedom of choice, then your fitness and finally your health.

Aperol has been very flippant about how her little post won't make any difference, and obviously that's broadly true. But there has been a resurgence in
the idea that smoking is cool, probably in response to the rise of vaping. Aperol's thread title is there on the mumsnet home page, just adding her little bit of weight to that trend back towards smoking. She probably isn't being paid by the tobacco companies but she is doing their work for them.

Cool and sexy people smoking look really cool.

Overweight, unhealthy people sitting smoking outside the hospital, in wheelchairs and attached to a drip, don't

Perspective is everything

no it's not. any anyone saying such is a moron

Revolting. I've never smoked
The idea of sticking paper covering leaves in your mouth band burning them is ridiculous..it smells vile. My late parents smoked,put me off, and yes,DM died horribly at 64 of lung cancer,took 6 months.

I’m sure it was The Jackal I was watching; one of the gangster-type characters was sucking manfully on a vape & I thought he looked ridiculous/hilarious. He would’ve been more convincing had it been a ciggy x

It is cool. Because deep down its saying: life's short and we are all going to die anyway. Its giving into the inevitable. And what non smokers never ubderstand because they never break through that couple of first few disgusting cigarettes, is that its a genuine sensory pleasure. Hence why cultures all around the world have been inhaling smoke in one form or another since the beginning of time

Yeah, it could look cool. And I still love the smell of fresh cigarette smoke wafting across the night air… I still miss bellying up at a tiny cocktail bar, taking a first sip of a martini and lighting a cigarette. Also, the first snog with a man you fancy, the taste on his mouth. Oh yes.
We all know it’s bad for you. Life is bad for you- it always kills you in the end!

x post!

Cool people look cool smoking.
People shuffling around in their pyjamas outside hospital entrances attached to drips, not so much.

Always looks particularly good outside a hospital.

The jakey devil may care look ..nice🙏😁

The glamour...

@CarbonArtistIm such a goody two shoes. No smoking & no drugs & very little drinking which I then gave up years ago. Always had my head turned by the bad boy/player type but knew they were no good for a relationship so steered clear.

I get where people are coming from: on screen for example. Certain people pull it off almost. However you can’t smell it or be around it through a screen. Watching people sit making Rollies with yellow fingers and tobacco bits everywhere not v cool.

My opinion is skewed tbh. I grew up in very heavy smoking household. I hated it then. I hated cleaning ash trays/hoovering ash. I hated the smell even when we were all nose blind before the smoking ban. I’ve never even tried one.

My grandma died of lung disease as did my mum in her v early 60s. I can’t stand it and can’t understand why people still do it. But hey freedom of choice and all that

Looks and smells gross.

Personally I don’t think it looks cool at all, I just vividly imagine the lung damage! A successful school PSHE lesson 30 years ago 😂

As someone who gave up smoking years ago I can’t now believe I ever did it. It’s gross, the people who smoke don’t look cool I think they all look a bit grubby now.

💐

Watching my mum struggling to breathe with COPD was painful. She used to walk around the house with her fags in one hand and her inhaler in the other. She needed the use of a nebuliser every day as well.

I hate smoking and just won't tolerate it near me.

Stop lying to yourself:

Smoking is significantly more hazardous on an individual level. Cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals, with toxic fine particulate matter concentrations measured at up to 10-times higher than a typical idling diesel engine.

I think it's gross, and the only people it looks cool on are the people who who look perfectly cool without it.

Exactly, it’s extremely hot. The confidence and sensuality - it’s a whole vibe. Love the smell of it too. Have never smoked in my life mind you, too much of a goody-two-shoes!

No, not to me. Cool people smoked, so Steve McQueen was cool but to me he wasn’t cooler because he smoked, he was cool without it. Obviously the tobacco firms paid millions to show cool people smoking.

My dad smoked, taking a big drag and then hiccuping - it did something to his diaphragm. Not cool. Then he would stub it out in his half eaten breakfast egg 🤢