To say smoking does look cool?

[BeachOrPool]

Yes, I know inhaling thousands upon thousands of cancerous chemicals definitely isn't cool!

But there's something about some people lighting up a cig and looking into the distance that looks rather cool and 'suave' to me

I always picture having a deep conversation with a mysteriously handsome but dark horse of a person, looking far into the distance as they respond to my dilemma "That's life, Soph" or some other talk that included clever sayings that I can never think to use at the right moment.

It looks cool.

My executive assistant aunty use to look very classy sitting with her legs crossed and smoking a cig, whilst listening to my dilemmas
I just want to put it out there that I've never so much as taken a puff of a ciggy

Aha Jacinta this is one of my theories, I have an excellent diet. Incredibly varied and whilst I do enjoy inhaling my twice-yearly McDonald's my weekly diet encompasses a huge variety of home-cooked foods and very little if any processed food.

Am am partial to wine though...(goes so well with the fags).

'Obliviously' blowing smoke, not 'obviously'.

It looks cheap. Tacky or ‘chavvy’ as some would say.

And I'm pretty active and can still break into a sprint or stride purposefully up a hill when the need dictates.

You know what Shadow some rare people can pull off tacky with aplomb wish I was one of them

Other people couldn't look chavvy if they tried (me)

Smoking looks 'cool'? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
Smokers look like they are sucking on dummies.
That's what it looks like.

Well quite Jacinta, I've been accused of many things, 'chavvy' has never been one.

(Although I did have a rather heated argument with someone once regarding the use of the word chavvy, it shows nothing positive about the person wielding it).

I am laughing at the posters saying it's a sign of a reckless, rebellious person. How old are you? Thirteen?

Definitely not cool, just very very sad.

I automatically take a disliking to someone who smokes, can't help but think they are selfish.

99% of smokers I know would happily do it in the presence of others, including children and I do judge them massively for that.

Smoking is just for losers.

You hand over about 5% of your lifetime income to a big company.

In return you get a drug that makes you feel as well as you would feel all the time if you weren't addicted.

You stink.

You are in bad health from about age 40 unable to run or swim or climb stairs easily.

Your face looks like an badger with a grater has been at it from about age 30.

You die on average about 12 years earlier than ordinary people.

No thanks.

See, I don't take an automatic disliking to somebody because they happen to do something I wouldn't necessarily chose (violence and criminal sexual acts excluded), why would I?

Cool people (so to speak) rarely smoke though. I sometimes see gangs of rough looking 15 years olds hanging around the chip shop smoking but they look underprivileged, not their fault but it's not associated with coolness or good fortune. Cleaning ladies and granddads with 'sovrittin' rings smoke. Healthy strong people who look like they have it all sewn up rarely smoke.

So much awful judgement on this thread, and so much horrible snobbery.

I think other people smoking is the least of some of the people on here's worries.

I have to ask why people are so opposed and judgemental about smoking when it has no effect on their lives whatsoever (other than the massive tax take, and the benefit if having fewer dependent elderly people to support from an ever ageing population. Actuaries love smokers.).

Some of you are just aching to have somebody to look down upon.

'Cleaning ladies' indeed.

To those people who got bent out of shape by my comment that you have to die of something. I used to say smoking was my insurance policy against living to a ripe old age - my genes predicate my living to be about 105. I watched my mum's dementia progress and kill her, I'd rather die of anything but that. Anything.

I don't think it looks cool and I have never smoked but if people wish to do so then that is their choice.

I do think those e-cigarettes look a bit daft though - they seem to release plumes of smoke which makes the person using it look as if they are on fire

It looks common to me, not cool. I say that as an ex smoker.

Aha Jacinta this is one of my theories, I have an excellent diet. Incredibly varied and whilst I do enjoy inhaling my twice-yearly McDonald's my weekly diet encompasses a huge variety of home-cooked foods and very little if any processed food.

Am am partial to wine though...(goes so well with the fags).*

If you smoke, it doesn’t matter how healthy your diet is, you won’t be getting the full benefit of it. As I said upthread smoking interferes with the take up of vital nutrients, vitamins C and D and calcium in particular.

It really doesn’t OP

Cool people look cool . Nothing to do with the fag

This ^^

If you eat lots of carbs and sugar it doesn't matter that you don't smoke.

Statistically you'll still die prematurely due to complications of diabetes and/or cancer (which requires a bounteous supply of glucose in order to proliferate)

I say this as a non smoking medic.

Pick your battles. We all have our vices.

I have to ask why people are so opposed and judgemental about smoking when it has no effect on their lives whatsoever

It has less than it used to, thanks to smoking being banned on public transport and in workplaces, pubs and other enclosed public places. It still has an effect, though. Children growing up exposed to smoke in cars and their own homes are more likely to have poor health. Littering of cigarette stubs and packaging is common. The taxes raised from cigarettes may indeed pay for a large chunk of the NHS, but I'd rather that people weren't falling ill from smoking-related causes in the first place. That would free up a lot of health care practitioners to do other work, e.g. decent standard of services for the elderly, people with mental health problems, obstetric services.

TBH my paralysed doubly incontinent non verbal parent following a massive stroke caused by smoking doesn't look cool.

"I have to ask why people are so opposed and judgemental about smoking when it has no effect on their lives whatsoever"

It had a huge effect on my life. Both my parents were heavy smokers, and both died from smoking related diseases. They smoked in the car with the windows closed, the house was filled with overflowing ashtrays and stunk of smoke. They never became grandparents in their own lifetime.

It's no wonder my sister and I cannot tolerate cigarette smoke. I think people are stupid to smoke, but I have a lovely friend who does. We just don't discuss it.

The people hanging around outside work still look extremely sad though. Vaper just can't give up their dummy tits and the vapour sets off my asthma. They stink when you're near them, inside or out. I used to think it was just the fags that gave me problems when I ran but then gave up and was diagnosed with asthma which was either caused or masked by the fags. I'm glad not to have the grey skin, wrinkles and literally burning money any more though. A friend of mine complained that it was easy to see I was child free by what I could buy; I promptly worked out that she and her husband spent £5000pa on fags. I was a social smoker who then went up to 20 a day, every day. I gave it up cold turkey when I had a chest infection and don't miss it at all or even remember the year I gave up.

It's outstandingly sad in real life.