Do you smoke?

silverlining48

When my first gc was born the other gran had given the parents a carrier bag with a gift for the baby. I was there when it was opened, it was in two different carrier bags, then a lot of wrapping paper, then another sealed plastic bag which had the gift inside … so despite4 or 5 layers of wrapping when the clothing item was taken out, it absolutely stank of smoke.
It was foul, all the more so because the baby was present.
The gran didn’t even notice the smell, but the rest of us did. Awkward moment.

Quite believe it! I used to volunteer in a charity shop and we used to have to bin items that smelled of smoke as customers complained if the shop smelled of cigarettes.

It penetrates everything. We used to get framed pictures in and they would be covered in a yellow film of nicotine. Those we could at least clean the glass and then stand outside at the back of the shop for a few hours. Same with lamp bases, lamp shades, ornaments etc.

I've never smoked. When I was in 6th form, my friends smoked and they told me not to bother starting because it was so difficult to give up. One of the best pieces of advice I've ever received.

I have never smoked an detest it. Both my parents smoke and both had heart attacks which killed them.
My husband smoked but gave up the day I met him. If he hadn’t given up I wouldn’t have gone out with him as I can’t stand stinky breath, hair or clothes.
I gave a lift to a colleague once who was a smoker, and my car stank for days 🤮 She didn’t smoke in the car, it was just from her.
She once moaned that she couldn’t afford to buy a property, unlike the rest of us in the team, only rent. We quickly calculated that she had spent £170K smoking, which would have bought her a decent flat at that time.

I smoked occasionally at parties when at university. I smoked my penultimate cigarette when I was about 23.

I say penultimate, because my PiL were smokers and when i was about 27, they had been staying with us for the weekend and DH went to take them home, they were non-drivers

Anyway once they were gone, I was clearing up and found a cigarette packet with one cigarette in it and I thought, when I have finished I will sit down have a cup of a tea and smoke that cigarette - well I tried to, not having smoked for nearly 5 years, it tasted absolutely disgusting, I took a couple of puffs, stubbed it out and threw it away. I haven't smoked since, nor even been tempted to smoke.

Remember Saturday night with clean hair and best clothes to go out dancing or pub ing, only to wake up to smell of smoke hanging on hair and clothes Sunday morning.
When we held parties, I used to put cigarettes out with the drinks for guests to help themselves.

I used to, gave up about 30+ years ago. No idea why I started, except that all my friends did - I think partly because I always felt socially nervous and it helped me with my nerves. No peer pressure involved. Parents never smoked, but GPs that we lived with did and 2 out of 4 brothers did. Parents hated it. Took three attempts to give up. DH has never smoked so I never smoked in the house or around him.

I understand why people hate people around them smelling of smoke, though - heavy perfumes make me really nauseous and breathless so I avoid anyone smelling too 'perfumy'. I'm another one who doesn't understand why so many people drink alcohol, too, especially spirits. I don't refuse if I'm offered one to celebrate something but it rarely gets drunk. I nearly dropped through the floor when we went to the pub for a meal at the weekend and DH's pint was almost £10! Just as well he only drinks about 5 pints a year!!

My late parents told me that many people started smoking during the Second World War.

Labradora my MIL was advised to take up smoking during WW2 when her DH was MPD. It was her GP who advised her as it would calm her nerves. She smoked for about 12 years then stopped.

I had an elderly neighbour who was an Army lorry driver during the war. Most soldiers smoked and cigs were precious.

When he was learning to drive Army lorries the instructor asked for his cigarettes. He was puzzled but handed them over. The instructor then placed the packet under the front wheel of the lorry and said he was going to learn how to do a hill start without rolling backwards. He learned very quickly!

Reminds me of good advice given to a late teen about to go to university “keep away from drugs because you might like them.”

After my father died (I was 13) the GP advised my mother to start smoking to help her nerves. That was 1960. She did buy a pack but never took to it.

I was a smoker from 19 until last January (I'm 78), when I spent two nights in hospital with pneumonia. Having spent 48 hours not smoking, I thought I should probably continue not smoking. Now I'm hooked on a vape but at least I don't spend my time trying to figure out how I can have my next fag. That was the one thing that used to irritate me, looking to find the nearest exit and an excuse to go outside. Staying in a hotel was a nightmare, sneaking out last thing and first thing in the morning for a smoke. And I have absolutely no longing for cigarettes.

I never smoked cigarettes but I did smoke decent cigars occasionally in my 20s. After age 75 I started smoking good Havana cigars but only 1 or 2 a week and sometimes not at all. I've not been addicted for which I have no explanation (and I'm not deceiving myself on that point).

It's a hobby I can well afford and age 79 it doesn't bother me.

I grew up around smokers. It was enough of a deterrent for me, but having children and grandchildren really made me happy I never picked up the habit. Smokers are generally unaware of what others smell on them. No amount of washing would have been good enough for my babies. The residual smoke left on clothing is awful for children.

yes i do but i use filters you can buy on ebay pulls most of the nic and tars just had by petscan lungs are clear cigs here are 3-10 depending on the kind since i cant drink,weed or body wont let me get high,,,,,stoke will do it to you and no it was not caused by smoking or drinking so the only vice i have except cigs

I gave them up on 1st august 1997. I sometimes bring a sleeve of them back from holiday for my sister as she still smokes and she is now a pensioner on not very much money .

Mt161 and chocolatelovinggran
I do believe that a discarded cigarette stub started the Kings Cross fire.
Smoking is rarer in public now because its legally required to be so when you do smell smoke on other people's clothes it's more noticeable.
I think and hope regular smokers are more considerate of others when in groups, now but if you smoke in your own home ? ....your gaff.... your rules.
The handbasket I'm going to hell in contains red wine, gin and tonic and chocolate......
Anyone watched"Madmen" ? smoking and its effects underpins the whole story. They all smoke like chimneys. It's quite shocking.

I bought a packet of 10 Woodbines for 4/6 when I was about 16. I shared it with friends on a coach trip and then decided that I couldn't afford that sort of money, and never bought anymore.
I was also rather put off by my grandmother. In the 1950s they had a TV, a company car, and a daily woman. This meant that they were quite posh and she was always very smartly dressed. However she also smoked and was rarely seen without a fag hanging on her bottom lip, which ruined the whole effect. This actually had more effect on me that living with my chain smoking father.

Ex smoker here too expensive nowadays couldn't afford it. Stopped cold turkey, no patches or gum. I really notice the smell of smoke now on people, can't believe I went about smelling like that!!.

Used to, but not for a few years now. If I pass someone smoking in the street, I do enjoy a whiff of their fag, though….

Gave up seven years ago, I did enjoy smoking though - sorry.

When I was a teenager in the 1950s, I had a chest infection and was in a hospital ward with adults who were in various degrees of ill-health, many as a result of smoking. The woman in the next bed to me had a severe form of bronchiectasis, and died during the time I was there. She was 37. If I had ever been tempted to experiment with smoking (which I hadn’t) that ward would have put me off. The amazing thing was, the patients were allowed to smoke!

I’ve never even tried a cigarette. My father smoked and my mother attributed my regular bronchitis to it, he switched ti smoking a pipe but I always despised him for it. All my AC smoked in their teens, to keep up with friends, or probably to upset me, just as they all got tattoos because they know how much I detest them. I’ve only been out with one smoker and couldn’t bear to kiss him. Filthy, disgusting and such a stupid, stupid health risk and total waste of money.

I vape on and off in the day, I use the small vapes that you fill yourself and you can dilute them down to very low nicotine content by mixing the vape liquid with 0% liquid. sometimes I go 6 hours without but if under great strain do vape.

It did start with a period of extraordinary strain when I was about 54, and I have subsequently cut them down to this "almost nothing" level and have no intention of giving up atm

I don't self judge nor judge others. People harm others in many different ways, and I drink almost no alcohol at all.

I smoked as a teenager. A lot of us art students did. I don't think I really enjoyed it. When I met DH he smoked too but I smoked about 5 a week. We both stopped when we had children. He found it much harder to give up than I did.
One of our DS began smoking in his teens but doesn't now.
It's just not acceptable any more, thank goodness.
I loathe the smell. I do have a friend who's younger than me and she and her DH smoke.
He has recently had to have his leg amputated and her skin is very wrinkled so she looks older.
My DH died from kidney cancer 5 years ago. Whether these things can be blamed on cigarettes, I don't know.
I'm very glad I don't smoke.

No. I tried to smoke one when I was younger to look ‘cool’ but hated it. My lovely dad died of lung cancer. He smoked Park Drive from being a teenager. He was so addicted he would even leave the ward to go and smoke in the day room (it was allowed back then) Now my lovely friend (61) also has lung cancer from smoking - she has struggled so much to give up, even now. I’m so glad none of my children smoke. But it’s an addiction like any other, and so hard to quit once it gets hold of you.

Yes, Primrose and silverlining, the smell of smoke is all - pervasive. When I was teaching infants, we had a problem with reading books going home in book bags to certain homes and returning smelling terrible. We were able to hang them to air before we sent them home with the next child, but it was a perennial problem.