any smokers? come and talk to me about it-i don't understand.

[themildmannneredjanitor]

i didn't want to hijack faq's thread so i will start my own.

basically-why do you do it? how do you sleep at night when you know what it does to you?

i know about the addiction thing but i know some smokers don't want to give it up as they enjoy it too much.

it's bizzarre!!!!!

[[http://www.freewebs.com/soaring_sphincter_travel_agency/smokers%20lungs.jpg this] is a good reason to stop surely?

sorry about your mum, anorak.

i don't smoke, by the way, but even when i did i knew it was a heady cocktail of brain fugging contradictions. life-affirming, life-threatening, the best smell in the world, absolutely humming etc etc etc...

I've never taken heroin but know people that have and are addicted. It's not something that they talk about openly however my understanding is that the effects are out of this world, that's why they do it and as with nicotine, the next thing you know you are addicted and need to keep taking it to feel normal or go through a bit of hell to get off it.

FAQ I hate to disillusion you but roll-ups do smell disgusting to a non-smoker - and the smell lingers longer than factory cigarettes. Not that I like those either. I find the whole thing very very unpleasant. it's hard to explain to a smoker just how unpleasant it is - because smokers find every reason in the book to support their habit and not have to face reality in regard to how revolting they smell. So people like me are labelled fun-spoilers and I guess boring (if you imagine smoking makes you more interesting then non-smokers must be less interesting) but smoking is vilely smelly - I love my husband dearly but I wouldn't have married him or lived with him if he'd smoked. It's so foul.

HC - I'm one with an addictive personality - only thing i've not been addicted to is drugs (apart from the nicotine and caffeine - but at least they're legal iykwim).

Gambling - yes - badly - lost a lot of money we didn't have

Alcohol - yes - came within a whisper of having SS involved

Food/comfort eating - yes at one stage not many years ago I would easily go through 4/5 chocolate bars and 3/4 packets of crisps in the space of about 1 1/2hrs in the evenings. Of course having that food in the house meant my kids were eating more crap too - so not only did I pile on weight, they were eating too much of that sort of stuff, and it cost me a bloody fortune

if it's true that every first cigarette tastes awful and makes you cough and feel sick-why do you go back for seconds?

thanks babyangels.kick me a bit harder why dont you!

so marla-it was purely for effect then?

I think roll ups smell worse.

The thing about going outside isn't actually killing the 'joys' of smoking. IME its improving it. Sitting in a pub pre the ban, most smokers would chain smoke with alcohol as alcohol decreased the hit. It would be after a night in the pub that I felt my smoking was at its most disgusting.

Nowadays I go outside so smoke less. Get a bit bored, want a change of company time to go outside for a cig. It doesn't spoil my night at all.

CVQ - ignore her - I'm the same as you - it's my crutch when I need soothing (but has admittedly got a little out of hand recently).

It's a shame there had to be a commment like that - as (quite unusually for MN) that was actually turning out to be an interesting discussion on smoking instead of the normal smokers bashing.

I quit smoking cold turkey nine months ago, after having smoked for 8 years. Hand on heart, I was never physically addicted to cigarettes and could go days without smoking one. Still smoked half a pack most days (in evenings, for the most part as days were with DD), though.

I stopped because I want to live for DD. It was a pleasure and it was great during times of stress, and I honestly thought I would never enjoy coffee/wine again, but now I love coffee for its own taste and don't feel like drinking as much wine every evening. I also thought I would miss cigarettes but I don't.

I was 18 when I started smoking, don't know why I did really, not many of my friends smoked, didn't cough and splutter with my first though. Just did it.

aren't roll ups more dangerous because they don't have a filter?

You can buy the filters.

I just do not understand why people who don't smoke are so bothered about people who do? As long as it's not around you (which it isn't likely to be, seeing as smoking is banned in public indoor places, and most people do not smoke in other peoples' smoke-free houses, etc), or of course your children (again, very unlikely), why does it bother you?

Is it a need to understand the psyche of those who smoke? Or is it a need to express a judgement??

The smoke you inhale (through filter) does not smell like the smoke that comes out the other end, by the way.

really? i didn't know you can buy filters!

i remember people at college rolling up bits of cardboard to put in rollies[and joints!]