To think that smoking looks really, really cool?

[aperolspritzbasicbitch]

To start, I know it’s not, I know it’s dangerous, I know it stinks and is a horrid habit. I’m not going to start.

but equally….I’d bloody love to take up smoking 🤣

I just think it can look so chic, especially the skinny little European cigarettes.

I love the idea of sitting out with a glass of something, puffing on a little cigarette.

having a mid morning coffee outside a cafe on a cobbled street, cigarette in hand.

Or, the original ozempic…a cigarette and a can of Diet Coke of lunch.

like I said, I’m not going to start, I don’t like the smell and I’ve also been very vocal on my views on vaping.

but, at the grand old age of 40, there’s still something about it that I look at sometimes and think ‘god, she looks cool’

Think Caroline Besette in Love Story.

Looks and smells gross.

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

@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.

The glamour...

The jakey devil may care look ..nice🙏😁

Always looks particularly good outside a hospital.

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

x post!

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!

Not seen that pic of Caroline Bessette before.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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 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

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

Oh, good luck with it. It is really tough at first but so worth it. I just feel "I am so glad I don't have to do that any more".

And it gets much easier really quickly. As soon as you are utterly determined to stop, the cravings diminish. It's the nagging thought at the back of your mind that you might have just the one that drags out the cravings.

You do have to be really clear - you can't ever have one again. If you have a drag on a cigarette, you are almost certainly going to end up smoking again. I learned that over many years of trying to stop.

I found the Alan Carr book really helpful in reframing cravings. Basically, you have to experience them and welcome them because that is the only way you learn to conquer them.

But anyway - however you do it, it is worth it and you will feel so much better and wealthier in a few months time.

It’s not cool in any way. It’s massively unintelligent.

Thank you for reminding me of the book because I do have that upstairs.
Totally agree re the one cigarette: I stopped for 6 months and then had one kn a night out, and that was it. Off the bandwagon.

You’ll be shocked to learn that many HCP smoke, binge drink, take drugs, eat crap food so not all will be frustrated.

I remember having to go to the chest clinic with my mum back in the 80’s and there were people in there hocking up pleghm, wheezing, coughing and short of breath! So no I don’t think smoking is cool! It’s a disgusting smelly habit!

I agree. I won’t tolerate it either.
the Image of my dm in resus trying to breathe will remain with me for the reminder of my life.