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.

It makes people look dirty.

I'm actually really pleased that the thread is being balanced with the very real descriptions of the smoker with inhaler in one hand and fag in the other. That's actually a thing, because smoking is a highly addictive and irrational habit that no-one ever starts out expecting themselves to get addicted to.

The more I think about it, the more irresponsible I think your thread is. To make the flippant ozempic comment is literally going to reinforce that association for the many women who smoke because they are scared of gaining weight. You are either very ignorant of the real consequences of smoking - as in, you understand it intellectually but have not experienced it in a friend or relative - or very stupid. Or - in the pay of the tobacco companies. But I suspect just not very reflective.

The cravings and irritableness before lighting up, the smell and hacking cough mean it is just not attractive to me. Can look good in photos but they don't show the reality. And cool people will look cool with or without cigarettes.

No I think it makes people look really stupid.

I don't think it looks cool. It's a sign of an addiction, which is a weakness. I feel a sort of mixture of pity and revulsion at the sight.

It’s disgusting and dangerous, but yes, some
people look super hot when smoking.

I'm glad I've never felt the need to poison my lungs

My dad had part of his mouth and face surgically removed because of cancer strongly related to smoking. He is permanently disfigured and can’t speak properly or chew because he had to have his remaining teeth removed too.

I HATE smoking, but I can’t lie, Love Story made it look so sophisticated 🤣

Steve McQueen was the king of cool. Never imagine him with a bloody vape. Nope. Proper fags for him. Always looked super cool.

But hey, if looks could kill...

I am fully aware that they do, but carrying out heart surgery on a patient who smokes must be frustrating, regardless.

I've never smoked a cigarette in my life and don't plan to start now. My parents both smoked like chimneys, including in the house and the car (different times). I can't stand the smell and avoid being around smokers.

Having said that, I agree with you. I think smoking looks cool. Not in reality but in films, etc. It's entirely irrational, but there you go.

Then there's the mess,ash and cigarette butts,both of which make me feel sick. I don't have a weak stomach I was nursing over 40 years and have seen some terrible things.

You wouldnt think so if you worked in my vascular unit. Black necrotic toes that come off in your hand, coughing up phlegm, brown or missing teeth, leather wrinkled skin, heart disease isnt sexy or chic.

It looks awful, smells even worse,it’s always a personal thing, but seeing someone put a cigarette to their mouth just puts me off immediately as do vapes. It’s not sophisticated and it’s definitely not clever

Amazes me how people coming out at breakntimes during work to suck on a ciggie.
That life and $ , moods surround a single ciggie ever so often.
Ex smoker...like hell its cool.

In the past everyone smoked so it was normalised and therefore glamorous people gave it their sheen. The reality is most people smoking do not look like Caroline Besette or Audrey Hepburn while smoking!

Ugh no it’s vile!!

Unfortunately I agree. Also things like people adroitly handling lighters (I think I admire and am impressed by this as I don’t have the knack), lighting two and passing one to the other person, stubbing a cig out violently when exasperated…
Cigarettes/smoking have a whole language around them that it will be a pity to lose, even though obviously there’s nothing else good about them.

edited for typo

It retro films and stuff maybe. But smoking now looks pretty shite. People do it with such a guilty look on their face and they're always outside so it just looks awkward?!

Now that fewer people smoke, it makes the disgusting smell stand out when people have smoked.

A few weeks ago woman sat next to me on the bus having just had a fag and the smell was absolutely foul. I grew up with grandparents who smoked and it never used to stand out so much. Now it is just awful

Go stand outside a major hospital foyer, observe the smoker patients, then say it still looks cool.

It’s grim. My mum died in hospice care and I can remember seeing dying people having a smoke. It was too late by then, of course, but it’s just awful
If you’ve ever seen an X ray of someone with lung cancer it’s awful. I’m traumatised by what I saw happen to my mum. She was relatively young and very active but she couldn’t give them up.
I hated smoking as a kid. It was everywhere and the house and the car stunk of it. She was very houseproud. And the financial cost was huge my dad always said he hoped my mum died first because, left to her own devices, she’d have picked smoking over food.
I can remember going to see her when she was diagnosed as terminal and the fear in her eyes has never left me. We all face death, but she knew it was due to smoking.
As for those who say well we all die if something, enjoy life, it’s an awful habit. It destroys your mouth and teeth and your skin. It’s absolutely rank.

I think smoking had decades of portrayal in films and media as being cool - it was done for a reason. Its sort of subconsciously grew to be associated with cool, rebellious people, art crowd, etc. All this cool portrayals, however, leave out yellow rotting teeth, gross smell, coughing and cancer.

In real life its not cool at all. I have been to Spain recently and seen a lot of young girls smoking - living in UK, I forgot what it looks like. To me, it was just sad to see, zero coolness.

To add,my 55 year DD, probably smokes 3/4 cigarettes a day. She was told by her dentist to quit because of gum disease, not sure if anyone has mentioned this, people are aware of vascular and lung issues. She did for a time drop down to one in the evening, dentist recently said to her "you're smoking aren't you". What WAS DD reaction 5 years ago....to not go for 6 months check ups. I met people who were amputees,who told me they wish they had never smoked