Why'd you start?


I'm not judging here, I don't care one way or another if a person chooses to smoke as long as they're not blowing smoke in my space. But I can't help but wonder what makes people pick up the habit, especially when it's common knowledge it's not exactly gonna help you run a marathon.

to hide behind the fact that i was a goofy kid.

I quit smoking about six months ago, but I smoked for about 17/18 years. I have no idea why I started. I honestly can't remember my first one, but I know it had to have tasted awful. All my friends smoked in high school, but I didn't. But for some reason, I picked it up in college. It was a lot easier to smoke then--you could do it almost anywhere. It was also relaxing and helped focus my brain, but those are things I learned after I started.

But really, when you think about it, there are all kinds of things that taste or feel bad when you first do them: beer, wine, tons of different kinds of food, some kinds of sex. But you have people telling you they'll get better later, or maybe you just feel they will, so you stick with them.

Seriously, every single person I've ever known that started smoking to "be cool"... that's why I started too... I ALWAYS HATED the taste of cigs but I smoked for a good 5-7 years and when I moved back to Cali it was the easiest thing in the world to give up, it's banned EVERYWHERE!

I still bum a smoke when I'm out drinking and that is now the only time a cig appeals to me, when I've got a liquor chaser... Although in college I used to LOVE the taste of coffee and cigs... good times, gooood times...

People actually smoke to look cool? Really?




I thought that was just something that happened in those old Just Say No ads....

meow85 said:

Hells yeah!! Remember candy cigarettes??? Or how about the NEW fad called "Smoking Smarties"??? WTF is that you ask? Just more dumb-ass kids bein' dumb-asses...



actually, that lil' dude had it down...

I really feel sry for the teens that smoke.
They're brains are still developing and smoking slows the rate of their brain development and damage brain cells in the process.

Because I wanted to.

No peer pressure, no 'looking cool' status, I just wanted to.

I still enjoy it but working on quitting in the next few months.

i dont smoke but ill tell u somethin crazy.

i was working on this short film (im a film student) where my character smoked. so my people told me to roll a piece of paper and put it between my fingers and hold it for a few days and pretend it was a cig to get the "motion" of a regular smoker.


man, i became actually addicted to having a paper cig in my hand! i just liked the feel of it between my fingers, and pretending i was smoking. I actually thought it "felt" cool, it felt "right"

it took me about a month or two to stop doing it.


it was the weirdest thing ever

i already know i have an addictive personality so i try to stay away from ALOT of things....


and that kid is gonna do crack in bout 2 weeks i promise you

I'm not a current smoker; I quit about 12 years ago but I think the reason why I started was to appear older. I had my first cigarette at 6 years and started smoking regularly when I was 11. I think the "looking cool" thing was a part of it but the biggest thing was appearing older than 11 years old. I didn't feel like I was that young and I certainly didn't want people to think I was that young. I had a big thing for older guys which probably prompted the whole smoking thing.

It's funny how when I was younger I thought smoking made someone look cool and now I think it makes them look like an asshole.

RenHoek said:

That would so not work up here. Our Smarties is chocolate candy, not unlike M&Ms.

Nvncible1 said:

When I'm not writing I hold a pen like a cig. I have no idea why.

actually, my friend and i did it the first time just to try it, it was her idea and i went along with it - dumbass i know....

but when we smoked it and it made us feel lightheaded thats the part that we soon really enjoyed. it happened all the time with just one cigarette, then we had to smoke faster and faster to get that feeling. soon we had to smoke 2 in a row to get that same feeling, after that we kinda lost the high feeling and just ended up with the cravings...


stupid, dumbass move


now i've been smoking for like 22 years and i have no intention to quit, its part of who i am and i still look forward to it no matter how many horror stories i hear the only time i really get upset is when i have to pay for those cartons now days - 47$ a pop!!!


damn, im still a dumbass

My father quit my mother quit together.

My sister quit after she noticed she could not run as well in senior high. She went cold turkey and has never had one since.

I have never smoked. I remember seeing a movie presented to the school in regards to lung cancer and they displayed a healthy lung and a cancerous black lung. Seeing that cancerous lung was enough for me to say "I'll never smoke" and I was in grade 5 at the time.

I notice that people who miss taking their cigarette or who try to quit have withdrawal symptoms. So to me..... it seems that smoking is an addiction, another drug..... it's just legal that's all.

Smoking kills, cancer kills.

One time I told someone out of curiousity..... tally up each pack/carton month by month and see how much you spend on cigarettes and then times that by 12 and you'll see how much a year is spent on this habit.

i dont no more tho...

smoke what?

Stupid is as stupid does.

Everyone in my family smoked, as well as all my friends.

To be cool.

I quit back in 99. Have no urge to smoke again.
Actually consider it a detracting feature in a mate.

And I especially hate somebody who gets out of the shower, clean and still dripping wet, and lighting up a cig.

To look/be cool/badass. And the guy I had a crush on (and who eventually became my bf) smoked. I was just starting my rebellious phase of my teens and cigarettes were only one of the first steps.

I still miss them sometimes. But I know I’ll never be a smoker again.

I haven't had a cig in months.




The hookah is a different story though!

I started smoking 24 years ago when I was 17 because I thought it looked cool and bad as hell. Back then, if something was considered wrong, I wanted to do it. I couldn't quit now if I wanted to because you ain't seen a bitch till you see me go a few hours without a cigarette.

nakedpianoplayer said:

would you consider cutting down if those cartons cost you $88? not that i've looked lately but i'm pretty sure it's up in that range here. heavily taxed in order to prompt people to quit.

I have a friend who started at 27. What is the point of starting outside of peer pressure?

Taxes on cigarettes recently went up in my state. It was either that or doubling the car tags. I would rather have my car tag doubled because it would cost me a lot less a year than my money spent on cigarettes per year.

I'm fine with nonsmokers but some of them can't mind their own damn business and want to control everyone else's lives. I knew when smoking sections in places started that they wouldn't be happy until smoking was banned completely. Then they weren't even happy with that, they want people to not even be on the premises on the outdoors. A few weeks ago, I heard this crazy bitch say that the smell of smoke in a smoker's clothes was just as bad as actually smoking and that smokers should have to change clothes and bathe after each cigarette before going into the public. This is just going too damn far. But as far as the taxes going up on cigarettes, I would be perfectly fine with it if smokers could smoke wherever they damn well please. I would gladly pay the higher price just to be able to smoke wherever I wanted and pissing those off that opposed it would be just a fringe benefit. Well, I'm not really that mean and lowdown but it just pisses me off that they want to place a higher tax on a group of people and then take more and more of their rights away at the same time.
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[Edited 5/5/09 10:11am]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I was thinking the same thing. It's difficult to understand anyone picking up this habit after high school...

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Trying it, realizing you like the nicotine buzz and how it feels, and getting hooked?

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Yah my cousin started smoking at 32 years old, she moved to India last year and since then picked up the habit. I couldn't believe it and it's ironic she was always that annoying non smoker type of chick that would use her snapperhead to make crude comments about it.

FunkMistress said:

But what is the reason outside peer pressure to start?

JerseyKRS said:

isn't that a little awkward in public though??