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Original poster

How many of your friends & family smoke?

186 replies

Bunnylady53 · 18/08/2019 18:44

I notice at work ( The Range) that quite a few people go out for a fag in their break & I got to thinking that apart from colleagues, I don’t think I know anyone who smokes. I never have & I hate it. Was really shocked at one of our managers who had a near fatal heart attack last year but was still lighting up the other day. Is smoking generally decreasing?

OP posts:
wheresmymojo · 19/08/2019 12:32

Just looking at stats...in the 1940s-50s more than 80% of men smoked!

MaybeDoctor · 19/08/2019 12:32

Only a couple of colleagues and they are definitely in the minority.

I commute by train into London and one day a young woman of about 25-30 got on the train and sat down opposite to me. Her clothes were immaculate, her hair shone and her make-up had clearly taken her a long time, but she reeked so much of cigarettes that I would have moved if there had been another seat available. I understand that it's an addiction, but I honestly don't get why someone would go to so much effort to look good then do something that is simultaneously so unappealing.

MaybeDoctor · 19/08/2019 12:37

Oh and I had a brush with an oral cancer a couple of years ago - even though I am a non-smoker. Had a biopsy but thankfully all clear.

However, reading the descriptions of the treatment plans for oral cancer would put the fear of God into anyone. :(

hairyturkey · 19/08/2019 12:43

None. So great to see so many people saying the same

zafferana · 19/08/2019 12:52

I have three friends that vape, but I don't know any smokers any more. I smoked until my mid-20s and had lots of friends then that smoked, but we've all given up now. FIL smoked a pipe until he died of esophageal cancer two years ago.

Ulverstonian · 19/08/2019 12:59

@wheresmymojo

Didn’t pregnant women used to be advised to smoke, if they were stressed. I know they were advised to drink Guiness Shock

4under4our · 19/08/2019 13:03

2 family members and 3 friends.

Dramaofallama · 19/08/2019 13:11

About 25% of my family still smoke, the other 25% now vape. With friends I will say it is 50/50.
I use to also be a smoker myself.
I have noticed though that 70-80% of my colleagues smoke but I think that may be down to our job. I work in the care sector, so it is long hours and physically and mentally draining. Also, places I have worked, carers have never had designated breaks to ourselves. We would have cups of tea with the service users and eat lunch and dinners with the service users (employers would say this was our 'break' as we got to sit down and relax ConfusedHmm) so most carers took to smoking as it would be the only 5 minutes of the day, apart from going to the toilet that we could have some space away from the service users after a 10 hour plus shift.

Wehttam · 19/08/2019 13:16

I’m shocked at the number of under 30’s who smoke nowadays. Why do they do it? I work with an asthmatic smoker, when she coughs it’s like her lungs are filled with ball bearings the rattling is horrendous. My aunt has lung cancer from passive smoking. Vile disgusting habit.

Mrsjayy · 19/08/2019 13:19

Drinking guiness was for Iron many women used to have poor diets that a glass of stout was advised, and you only have to watch a call the midwife to see how smoking in pregnancy was accepted and normal.

Fifthtimelucky · 19/08/2019 13:26

Absolutely none, though I used to have some work colleagues who did.

My children (22 and 19) have a surprising and depressing number of friends who smoke. I'm very relieved that they don't smoke themselves

Dramaofallama · 19/08/2019 13:28

Regarding the past and smoking when pregnant, DR'S in WW2 use to prescribe pregnant women cigarettes to help ease their nerves due to the bombings.

finn1020 · 19/08/2019 13:31

None

Ulverstonian · 19/08/2019 13:44

Why do we think so many young people smoke. I’m in the office today and a good third of our apprentices are standing outside smoking at lunch time?

Asta19 · 19/08/2019 13:56

Surely young people smoke for the same reasons they always have? When I had my first cigarette at 14 (back in 1983!) it was known even then that smoking was harmful. Didn't stop me and my friends. Just because cigarettes are now hidden from view and smoking is "socially unacceptable" doesn't mean kids won't still do it! For some, that will make it more tempting not less.

I think the big difference does come when these people get a bit older and start having families of their own. I think they are then much more likely to give up, than people of my generation were.

SnuggyBuggy · 19/08/2019 13:59

I wonder if vaping has made it fashionable again

lazylinguist · 19/08/2019 14:04

I've never smoked, neither has dh. None of our friends do. His parents never did. Mine were smokers. DF gave up decades ago. DM maybe 10 years ago but I know that she now smokes in secret a bit (I don't think she realises anyone knows).

It always strikes me as such a dumb and pointless way to risk your health. If I were going to take up something antisocial, unattractive and potentially deadly, I'd want it to provide pretty bloody mind-alteringly fabulous effects or a total cure for stress or something!

Ulverstonian · 19/08/2019 14:05

@lazylinguist

Like Gin?

Wehttam · 19/08/2019 14:08

Asta it’s been 36 years since 83, I was born that year and for as long as I can recall the stigma around smoking is that it’s a vile habit that causes so much harm. Yet young people still do it. I’d hazard a guess it stems from smoking parents who have the don’t care attitude but it can’t always be that can it? The smell to a non smoker is in the same league as body odour and bad breath, it makes your teeth yellow and your skin greasy, what is the appeal?

Aragog · 19/08/2019 14:11

None of my friends and immediate family smoke. 17y says the same - at the moment none of her friends smoke.

I know some of the people I work with do - they're younger than me - mid 20s - 30.

Aragog · 19/08/2019 14:14

Some of my extended family smoke too now I think of it. They'll be in their 60-70s. My grandma smoked for years until she was told by her GP she had to stop otherwise she couldn't have a certain op. She simply stopped that day and never smoked again! There was no weaning off or patches or anything. Proper willpower I guess!

MaybeDoctor · 20/08/2019 09:12

I disagree, the stigma around it used to be far less than it is today.

I was at university in the 1990s and smoking was treated rather like a personal quirk or even a disadvantage (!) that everyone else had to accommodate. For example, if you went out in a big group you would typically sit in the smoking section to accommodate the smokers, or fit in breaks on an activity because someone ‘had’ to smoke.

It is mind boggling what non-smokers had to put up with!

BertrandRussell · 20/08/2019 09:22

“Yet young people still do it. I’d hazard a guess it stems from smoking parents who have the don’t care attitude“
I don’t think that’s the case, actually. Very few of my friends- who are aged between about 45-60 smoke. We were brought up in the height of the publicity about how dangerous it was and sadly saw our parents dying of smoking related diseases. Our children, however do smoke. One of mine does and the other did- and I look on it as one of my biggest parenting failures.

whattodowith · 20/08/2019 10:01

None anymore. My Mum was the last one to quit 2.5 years ago.

LemonPrism · 20/08/2019 10:06

None of my family, until this year when we quit all of my close friends (I mean a good 15) smoked. We're in our 20s