Do you smoke?

I have not had a cigarette since 1st Feb 2005.

I think most cigarettes are now over £15 for 20. I could never warrant spending that. They were £2 something a packet when I quit but that was cheap brands.

Not since I was 22, so 60 years ago.

It's an addiction, and so, not always easy to give up. Especially as you suspect, things are hard for her just now.

No, I've never so much as touched a cigarette. I'm vehemently anti-smoking, almost to the point of a phobia. And that's either despite - or because of - growing up with parents who smoked. I detest it with a passion. Thankfully none of our family have ever smoked either. My children were left in no uncertainty as to what the consequences would be if they ever started!

One of my chores when I was an (older) child living with my parents, was to clean out the grate of the coke fire. So a pan full of hot ashes with the acrid smell going up the nose and down the throat.
I attribute the fact that I have never smoked to this chore because smoking cigarettes, when I tried as a teenager, gave me the same unpleasant sensation. Other people's smoking has never bothered me much.
My late parents told me that many people started smoking during the Second World War. My parents only ever smoked lightly and stopped completely in their late forties.
I'm glad I never started because it's obviously the most awful struggle to stop.
A smoke fug in the office and in pubs was completely normal in the 70s and possibly 80s ( I can't remember when it all stopped).I can remember London tube carriages with wooden-slatted floors crammed with cigarette butts......
Makes you think......

“It's an addiction, and so, not always easy to give up”……… I agree Maremia and the very first hurdle is actually wanting to stop.
I wanted to stop, told myself out loud that I wanted to stop and told my family too. Did it all myself, cold turkey, no patches, no gum, no support groups (there wasn’t anything like then way back anyway) . And now I detest the smell, cannot tolerate being near anyone who smokes or vapes and FWIW I actually think those vape things look ridiculous !

No I have never been a smoker but I don't judge people who do. As other have said it is a serious addiction and there is lots of help available for people to quit.

I ‘smoke’ only when someone hurts my family - then it billows out of both ears.

I gave up cigarettes when pregnant and didn’t start using them again. Really dislike the smell now.

My last cigarette was in 1974. I was never a heavy smoker so found it easy to give up when I became pregnant with DD2.
I couldn’t be bothered to start again after she was born.

I've never had a cigarette. Wine however.........

I have never smoked even one cigarette. It always seemed an obviously stupid occupation to me, though several close friends smoked. I was a teenager in the fifties when smoking was still seen by many as sophisticated.

My elder son has never smoked, but my younger one did, from the age of 14 until he gave up at 25. I didn’t know he smoked when he was a teenager. When he came home smelling of tobacco smoke, he would say he had been on the top deck of a bus. I believed him for years. I couldn’t believe a child of mine would be so foolish!

There was a shop near his school that would sell single cigarettes to schoolchildren who couldn’t afford a packet, so that’s how they started and became addicted.

I could never fathom out why anyone even started smoking in the first place. What makes anyone think it's a good idea to stick something in their gob and set it on fire?
So to those who do or have ever smoked, why did you start?
And don't give me the old 'peer pressure' argument - I've been in rooms full of people smoking or doing all sorts and never felt the need to join them...

I have never smoked, despite coming from a family who all smoked. It damages health and I can’t imagine how much it has cost someone throughout their lives. Money literally up in smoke.
Those from the generation before me have all died through smoking related illness, but it was their choice.

No never have but I lived with smokers my Dad and my first husband it does worry me as my Dad was a heavy smoker. Both my daughters smoked but gave up long ago to my knowledge my son never has.

No, I’ve never smoked.

DH was a smoker when I met him, back in 1970. In fact, I bought him a cigarette lighter for our first Christmas. 😲
(Why?)

He changed to small cigars later, by then I nagged him to give up.

It wasn’t until 1999 when he had a bad cold that he didn’t feel like smoking. He never started again. I was so proud of him, , he just stopped, no vapes, nicotine patches, chewing gum….

In fact, we only commented the other day how few people we now know who smoke.

Merlot my story and even the date, is exactly the same as yours.

I dont know anyone who smokes, and can’t understand how anyone can afford to smoke, £16 per pack? 20 a day? X 7 days….

Some people in my family smoke. My DH smoked (a lot) from the age of 15 until Mrs Thatcher put them up on a budget and we were struggling for money. He hasn't had one since, with no help

I have never smoked. I tried it at age 16 and had an asthma attack after a few puffs so never again.
I rarely see anyone smoking now but it was quite common when I was young - a very long time ago.

Yes, not as much as I used too but I still enjoy a cigarette.

Yes,I'm remembering Gauluois,Sobriani black russian, those bendy hand rolled cigarillos bought in Soho, various other foreign ones I don't remember the names of. My father smoking cigs from a pink box ,maybe got them from GIs during the war.Might have been Turkish?
Cigs nowhere near as nice today.

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 do not smoke, my husband does and I do find the money that is spent there very frustrating. I can't even mention it because it would cause a row. When I think of all the life experiences we could have with that money it makes me deeply sad. I can't imagine saddling myself with that habit and I can't imagine not at least trying to give it up till success

No.
Our staff room used to be navy blue with fag smoke.
I forgotten what’s it’s like to be in smoke filled room, until I went to visit an old friend from way back. She lit fag after fag, my eyes were streaming after an hour.
I couldn’t believe it when she said she had her daughters new baby to look after, that baby must reak of cigarette smoke.
Once home I had to put all my clothes in the washer & take a shower 😩