Do you smoke?

No, never even tried it.

I stopped smoking 39 years ago, when I was about 27. My husband doesn't smoke, and neither do our sons and their partners. My brother (76) still smokes, and whenever I see him, I change all my clothes as soon as I get home.

I've never smoked fags or cigars, no e's or vapes or anything, totally anti-brigade, I think the entire thing - the filthy stinking drugs - are utterly vile, and I refuse point-blank to allow anyone to do it near me or anywhere on my property.

I've no idea how much they are, but I bet they're quite expensive!

I’ve only rarely drank alcohol over the past 30 years because my “circle” gradually changed and I don’t hanker after it, but “why do people start drinking in the first place?”…..well obviously because it makes them feel good for a bit, and especially if they felt crap before hand. And it is legal.

Smoking is a whole other kettle of addiction I started aged 14 (with my best friends encouragement) and we knew all the stats about the dangers even then 1975.
We bought tens of the well known menthol ones -quite expensive at the time but smoked other peoples when offered -though no one wanted ours😉
I continued smoking along with millions of others in work places, buses, etc even the post natal midwife and health visitor did this was 1980!
I stopped after my third “mild” heart attack and did it with vapes in 2017 not willpower.
I don’t care what they look like, they worked for me.
I wouldn’t touch tobacco now and they are prohibitively expensive to me anyway and yes everything smells nicer now but I always had a very very keen sense of smell anyway which can be a burden sometimes.
Most people I know don’t smoke either but I have sympathy and don’t judge or obsess.

Smoking = yuk, never. I stopped ordering Avon from a neighbour because everything reeked of cigarettes...

Two of my SILs who are heavy smokers (still) and have COPD expect non smokers to adapt to.their snail pace when walking. I do it but have to grit my teeth.

Oh dear Retread I hear that it’s possible to get something from a dentist to help with that “terrible gnashing of teeth” 🦷

I grew up with parents who smoked and hated it. My father died from a smoking related disease and so did several relatives. I have never been tempted.

I have always tried to avoid places where people smoked.

Whenever i have walked behind someone vaping it’s like being in the midst of a steam train. The amount of ‘smoke’ they puff out is astonishing. There isn’t enough evidence yet that vapes are safe.
When I decided to give up smoking 50 years ago, I just stopped. I know it can be hard, but not always, my mil who had smoked since childhood also decided to stop, then stopped that day and never smoked again.
What she did do was put her cigarettes money into a pot and when there was enough opened a savings account. She had never saved before due to low income and was rightly proud of her achievement.

I'm an ex smoker. I started at age 19 and stopped just before I was 40. Apart from the health concerns, I wouldn't be able to afford it now. I can't think why I ever started, except that all my friends smoked back then. Now, I hardly know anyone who smokes.

All my family smoked. I remember being sent to the shop at about 8 years old to get my Mum 5 Weights (imagine doing that today!)my Dad smoked Woodbines.
I started at about 15, smoking Consulate menthol cigarettes then moving on to other filter cigarettes. I gave up about 40 years ago. I worked from home at the time and it was a habit to light up whenever I picked up the phone. Therefore I started to keep my cigarettes upstairs so that I physically had to walk upstairs every time I wanted one. I also kept a record of how many I smoked each day and made an effort to reduce them every day. Once I was down to one cigarette I left it in the packet I kept it until one day I gave in and smoked it. I didn’t buy any more and haven’t smoked since.
They say there is nothing worse than a converted smoker and I’m her, I can’t stand anyone smoking near me!

Granmarderby10

Oh dear Retread I hear that it’s possible to get something from a dentist to help with that “terrible gnashing of teeth” 🦷

I have a mouth guard, thanks! ☺️

My OH, an ex-smoker, is worse than me 😀

Apart from sneeking 2 or 3 from my mum's handbag and smoking them in the garden shed when I was about 12 , I've never smoked. It never appealed to me at all.

There are five of us siblings and only one started smoking. She gave up when she was pregnant. Our parents were both chain smokers and we begged them to stop smoking or cut down. The first thing on the grocery list when we were growing up was 60 cigarettes. Even at 6 or 7 we were regularly sent to the corner shop for a packet of fags for mum. Towards the end of the week when money was a bit tight the fags were bought before food so we had to make do with what there was to eat. There was always milk and bread so we never went to bed hungry but it certainly made a big impression on me.

By the time we had all left home mum was smoking 80 a day. She regularly fell asleep smoking and it's a wonder she didn't burn the house down. She was obviously unwell and died at 56. She never got to see her grandchildren grow up which still upsets me. Dad was also a heavy smoker and died too young.

Like I say Mum and Dad produced a family of non smokers. We were all passive smokers of course but so far no ill effects.

I tried smoking at school but coughed my guts up, so never continued. My dad was a heavy smoker and both my siblings smoked until they were pregnant or trying for a baby .
I hate smoking and the smell . We were recently in Crete and the almost everyone , Greeks and tourists were smoking and lighting up whilst others were eating . The tables were crowded together and it was impossible to get away from the smoke , ditto the beach .
We paid for a sea view room but our neighbours were constantly on their balcony smoking , spoiling our morning coffee or evening wine .

Had no idea cigarettes cost £15/16 per pack, I wonder how anybody can afford to smoke nowadays.

Loved them

lovingit

I can't believe I am the only smoker on gransnet.
Yes it is a filthy habit that is expensive and smelly and damaging to health but it,s my choice.
I am 74 on no medication apart from hrt,low blood pressure I walk 4/5 miles a day with my dog and swim 20 lengths 4/5 times a week as well as mucking out my friends horse twice a week.
I don,t smoke a lot maybe 6/7 a day but ladies I do enjoy it and have no intentions to stop.

I have finally stopped smoking in the last 5/6 years. It’s just not as enjoyable as it was. Outside smoking places can be a bit grim, and I loved ‘fancy’ cigarettes. I remember the last packet of Sobranie cocktail cigarettes I bought which was for my 60th birthday party.

I didn’t smoke for about 25 years from before I first got pregnant but started again in my late 40s. I used to dream about lighting a cigarette, and smoking with a cup of coffee. I liked smoking outside, or with glass of something. DH (no2) is not and never has been a smoker, and I’ve never smoked in our house. And I would never smoke in the car.

I was always a social smoker - I liked smoking and I liked sharing cigarettes with people. I was always surprised at who I met outside also having a sneaky cigarette! I still like the smell of a good cigarette, or a cigar.

I understand why people don’t like it, but I see a lot of people with other very unhealthy habits around food and alcohol (not to mention drugs like cocaine). I am 71, fit and well and on no medication.

(Don’t get me started on vaping, which I think is gross. I really dislike being developed in clouds of horrible artificial smelling vapour. And the frequency with which people need to sip on vapes to get sufficient nicotine is crazy. And such a shame to see so many children using them.)

I stopped over 50 years ago, but when my Son was in junior school he made me an ashtray in pottery. I've often wondered how he knew.

Yes I smoke started by taking one out of father's packet at 14. I used to smoke very heavy up to 40 a day. Now I'm only smoking 15 or 16.
Yes it's killing me as I have COPD. Every cold is a chest infection with antibiotics and steroids. Then stomach problems for a few weeks after.
I've had a clear X-ray every year so no cancer yet.
I can't give up but have tried a few times. It's too late really as the damage is already done. Once you have COPD it will progress regardless of whether you give up or not.
I don't smoke in the house anymore so the rooms don't smell. I do drink alcohol very rarely maybe once or twice a month. I made sure I would never be an alcoholic as I had a violent alcoholic stepmother.
Lots of very judgemental people on here sadly.

I have never smoked and, as a lifelong asthma sufferer, have never wanted to. My mother never smoked, although her father, my grandpa, smoked both a pipe and cigarettes until he had an operation and the anaesthetic put him off the ìdea of smoking altogether. He went on to mint imperials instead. My dad's side of the family were all heavy smokers, apart from my grandma; so much so that they would hand around the cigarettes like sweets. I remember the fug in a small room, which meant that it was impossible to see the person sitting opposite. Sadly, several family members died earlier than they perhaps would have done because of smoking. My dad died of lung cancer at 77 - he had not smoked indoors for decades but could never quite give up. He was a teenager in the fifties and it was almost a rite of passage to start smoking then, especially young men. No one had any real idea of the dangers or addiction of smoking then. Even in the seventies, when I was a child, most older teenagers and adults seemed to smoke. Many people had a vinyl three piece suite with giant ashtray on a pedestal to complete the look. People were becoming aware of the dangers of smoking to oneself but knowledge of the dangers of passive smoking was still in its infancy. On a final note, I remember my chemistry teacher, who was also the headteacher, showing our class, aged around fourteen, photos of a healthy lung and a smoke blackened lung in order to discourage us from smoking. The irony was that he was practically a chain smoker himself and every time he bent over our work as the smell of stale smoke was horrendous.

I remember before the smoking ban in pub, clubs and restaurants.
I used to come home and put all my clothes in the washing.

I gave up myself in the sixties. But never really liked it.
It was a social thing.

My partner is a smoker : unfortunately.
But always goes outside for a smoke.
I wish he would give it up but I’m not going to nag him about it.
That would be a waste of time.

It's an addiction...be a little more understanding and less judgemental. Perhaps she was bored!!

Did have a few cigarettes, those offered by smokers when in late teens. Mouth tasted disgusting and the smell of hand, hair and clothing was about as bad and lasted for ages. Father and both older brothers smoked, Dad mainly a pipe. Mother and older sister and I never smoked. Very masculine household, sporty and professional footballer yet smokers.
Agree it does become an addiction but one that only requires willpower, no medication. At the price quoted by OP I cannot understand how people can afford the habit.

I was never a dedicated smoker, but I thought I looked really cool with those long slim menthol cigarettes called St. Moritz. I gave up when I was first pregnant because they made me feel sick, and if I’m walking behind a smoker even now I still gag. I absolutely loathe the smell, and having an acute sense of smell I can smell it on clothes in a nanosecond. It just smells dirty to me.

Because I was never addicted I’m not very sympathetic with those who are! I’ve asked some smokers from my husband’s family how does it make you feel, and none of them could give me an answer. And the cost!!

I’ve never smoked. I never wanted to. Perhaps it was something to do with growing up around heavy smokers (Dad, Grandad and 2 brothers). It used to drive my Mum mad, she was constantly opening windows and lighting candles to try to get rid of / disguise the smell. Our sitting room used to look like a blue, foggy haze, every day and the smoke meant redecorating was a regular necessity.

The smoke used to make my eyes water and my throat close up. It certainly didn’t encourage me to want to try it.

Actually, my Dad gave up smoking after my wedding. He just stopped and never smoked again, went cold turkey.

Ironically, it was Mum who ended up with cancer of the throat - I’m convinced being surrounded by cigarette, cigar and pipe smoke all her life played a part in her getting it. She’d never smoked one herself but was a victim of passive smoking I believe.

Plevey08

It's an addiction...be a little more understanding and less judgemental. Perhaps she was bored!!

Every addiction begins with a choice...