Hi, I'm a high school senior doing a research paper on teen smoking.  What was the teens' common  attitute towards smoking 15 years ago (around 1995).  What groups of high school students was smoking more popular with? and for what reasons?  Do you think teen smoking was more or less common than today? 
As far as today at my school I don't think smoking is too common, and not to any particular group.  I happen to be a teen smoker (I know it was a bad thing to start and I will stop, especially since my girlfriend wants me to quit, plus last year I almost got kicked off my baseball team for smoking on school grounds before a game).  So any thoughts on smoking in the 90's will help.
Thanks
-Tyler 

From The Bodies Exibit...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/29/89901746_4ef87ad289_o.jpg

http://www.krisabel.ctv.ca/image.axd?picture=2009%2F10%2Fbodyworldsh7.jpg

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/photogalleries/cadavers_exhibition_museum/images/primary/BODIES_smokers_lungs.jpg



Dan

Hi, I'm a high school senior doing a research paper on teen smoking.  What was the teens' common  attitute towards smoking 15 years ago (around 1995).  What groups of high school students was smoking more popular with? and for what reasons?  Do you think teen smoking was more or less common than today? 
As far as today at my school I don't think smoking is too common, and not to any particular group.  I happen to be a teen smoker (I know it was a bad thing to start and I will stop, especially since my girlfriend wants me to quit, plus last year I almost got kicked off my baseball team for smoking on school grounds before a game).  So any thoughts on smoking in the 90's will help.
Thanks
-Tyler   


I think it's less common, for many reasons but one of the biggest reasons is that they've made it too damned expensive anymore. I think name-brand cigarettes (Marlboro, Camel, etc.) were around $2.50 a pack back in the mid 90's but now they're $5 and up.

I'd just like to add that I smoked for 19 years and finally kicked the habit a little over 2 years ago, and I don't want to tell you how to live your life or anything but I can tell you that the sooner you quit the easier it will be. Trust me, it's a habit you don't want to get hooked on, because nicotine is a hell of a drug.

Thanks for the comments.  I asked someone who was a teen in the 90s and he said teen smoking was far more common in the 90's then now.  He said he smoked just because some of his cool friends did, and he got hooked and just recently quit.  He also said the late 90's was when more smoking bans went into effect, so there were fewer places to smoke, plus schools have been getting more strict about smoking around the school.  Now if I'm at the mall smoking too close to the doors security comes out and tells me to move away from the doors.  I just thought of smoking as part of my image I guess, I thought it was cool (for some reason) but I figured I can just smoke when I want, I knew it was addictive but I didn't think it would happen to be, but it did.  I'm a "star athlete" and I know others look up to me, so I try to let my peers know that smoking was a mistake, and I try not so smoke in front of small kids who look up to me.  I guess the pressure makes it more difficult to quit, but I think I will quit soon.
-Tyler   

I'm a "star athlete" and I know others look up to me, so I try to let my peers know that smoking was a mistake, and I try not so smoke in front of small kids who look up to me.  I guess the pressure makes it more difficult to quit, but I think I will quit soon.
-Tyler     


Its good to see that you are trying to be responsible.  Good luck quitting!
I started smoking when I was 15.  I was in college in the mid 90's and I can say teen smoking was far more common then even though we all were tought about the dangers of smoking.  Between classes I went outside and smoked, we even had smoking floors in the dorms in the mid 90's.  I smoked about 1/2 a pack a day, my girlfriend smoked even more.  I guess smoking was more "cool" then then it is now.  We probably all did it for the look, and peer pressure, but we easily got addicted.  I recently went back to that same college with my nephew who now attends there.  I only seen a few kids who were smoking.  I recently quit, it was hard, I know the longer you smoke the harder it will be to quit, I hope you quit soon.   

Thanks for the comments.  As I did some research at my school I found that out of 90 students that I asked only 10% said that they smoke.  The smokers were spread across all various groups of kids, no one particular group were all the smokers.  As far as me I just thought of smoking as part of my image, just like how I wear my hat to the side, driving a cool car, etc.
I can certainly loose the smoking, my girlfriend doesn't think there is anything cool about it, and her opinion is the most important.  It turned into a habit, I hope to quit before the end of the year. 
Thanks,
-Tyler

If you look at magazines in the '90s compared to now, you'll see far more Smoking ads as well. But people who grew up then may have noticed those bold Surgeon General's Warnings and realized the dangers of smoking more readily. The public bans plus inflated prices have really led many to not try smoking. But there was still quite a bit less smokers before the '90s compared to the '90s.

I had my first cigarette at the age of 12.  :o :o :o Yeah, I thought it was cool because my sister smoked (in fact, she gave me that first cig). At that time, a pack was under a dollar. I think the first pack I bought was about 40 cents and I remember being horrified when they went up to 60 cents. I smoked on & off (only because I hid it from my parents) until I was about 18 and then I smoked full-time. I quit at the age of 19 for about 2 and 1/2 years until I got drunk one night.  :-[ At the time I smoked only once in a while and before I knew it, I was smoking full-time once again. By this time, a pack was up to about $1.20 and I thought that was outrageous but I still paid it.

We used to be able to smoke just about everywhere-airplanes, restaurants, bars, I even remember smoking in a class in college. I noticed in the 90s, things started to change for smokers. We became second-class citizens. First we couldn't smoke in some restaurants and then ALL of them. Then we couldn't smoke in bars. We were banished outside in the cold. As time went on, it got worse & worse & worse. And prices went up & up & up.

I'm not even going to go into the health issues.

I quit again 3 years ago. It was SUPER hard-still is. I still have cravings and I probably always will. I think I will always be in danger of starting back up again. Once that nicotine gets a hold of you, it doesn't want to let go. The easiest (and least expensive) thing to do is to NEVER let it get a hold of you. 



Cat

I had my first cigarette at the age of 12.  :o :o :o Yeah, I thought it was cool because my sister smoked (in fact, she gave me that first cig). At that time, a pack was under a dollar. I think the first pack I bought was about 40 cents and I remember being horrified when they went up to 60 cents. I smoked on & off (only because I hid it from my parents) until I was about 18 and then I smoked full-time. I quit at the age of 19 for about 2 and 1/2 years until I got drunk one night.  :-[ At the time I smoked only once in a while and before I knew it, I was smoking full-time once again. By this time, a pack was up to about $1.20 and I thought that was outrageous but I still paid it.

We used to be able to smoke just about everywhere-airplanes, restaurants, bars, I even remember smoking in a class in college. I noticed in the 90s, things started to change for smokers. We became second-class citizens. First we couldn't smoke in some restaurants and then ALL of them. Then we couldn't smoke in bars. We were banished outside in the cold. As time went on, it got worse & worse & worse. And prices went up & up & up.

I'm not even going to go into the health issues.

I quit again 3 years ago. It was SUPER hard-still is. I still have cravings and I probably always will. I think I will always be in danger of starting back up again. Once that nicotine gets a hold of you, it doesn't want to let go. The easiest (and least expensive) thing to do is to NEVER let it get a hold of you. 



Cat


Cat...

As much as smoking is bad for you...I support my fellow smoker. I lived with my parents who smoked very often and a brother who now smokes! I tried smoking a cigar, but it was TOO damn hard. I also have many friends in my life and in my church who would smoke.

In the 90's, people were making a big fuss about Joe Camel smoking cigarettes and promoting kids to smoke. I really don't know if that was the case, because in the 50's many cartoon characters would light-up such as Tom and Jerry, Sylvester, Bugs Bunny, Joe Carioca (Donald Duck's friend from "The Three Caballeros"), The Pink Panther, and The Flinstones.

These days are gone, because if you now had a cartoon character smoke...the film would be Rated PG and in 2006, all the cartoons in the U.K. were edited so that the kids wouldn't see a cartoon character smoke at all! 

I saw my mother's cousin David die a horrible death from lung cancer at the age of 42 because he smoked about four packs a day.  That was 1979, IIRC.  More than anything, that turned me off to smoking for life.  So, when I was a teenager in the '80s, my peers were starting to smoke.  I guess they thought it looked cool and grownup.  All I could see was David with his hair all fallen out, face pallid and pinched, and his body alternately bloated and emaciated from all the chemo and radiation therapy.  So I never started.

In the '90s, my friends who had started in '80s were trying to quit and trying to quit again.

I saw fewer college students smoking in the '90s than in the '80s and I'm now surprised when I see one smoking today. 

Cigs in Massachusetts run anywhere from $6 to $8 a pack.  It's cheaper to smoke weed for chrissakes!
::)

I saw my mother's cousin David die a horrible death from lung cancer at the age of 42 because he smoked about four packs a day.  That was 1979, IIRC.  More than anything, that turned me off to smoking for life.  So, when I was a teenager in the '80s, my peers were starting to smoke.  I guess they thought it looked cool and grownup.  All I could see was David with his hair all fallen out, face pallid and pinched, and his body alternately bloated and emaciated from all the chemo and radiation therapy.  So I never started.

In the '90s, my friends who had started in '80s were trying to quit and trying to quit again.

I saw fewer college students smoking in the '90s than in the '80s and I'm now surprised when I see one smoking today. 

Cigs in Massachusetts run anywhere from $6 to $8 a pack.  It's cheaper to smoke weed for chrissakes!
::)


Or as Dave Chappelle would say Cigarettes are being sold at Crack Money ($6-$8)! Soon, you'll have to blow things for a pack of smokes!

And now...you can't smoke in most places in California!

Smoking is stupid.
It is the cause for cancer, and 2nd hand causes cancer.
Our country must not permit smoking anywhere. 100% ban.

So, I know this is an ancient thread, but I thought it'd be ok to share a response.

Teen Smoking in the mid 90s was certianly alot more common than it seems to day - both in the number of places you see it, and apparently in the number of cigarettes people might smoke in a day. I imagine there was even more teen smoking in the 80s or 70s, but as for the mid 90s, there was still alot.

I started smoking when I was about 11, at or around the same time a few other girls my age did, right around the end of elementry school and begining of middle school. At first it was maybe only two or three cigarettes a day, either before school or after school or both. But I got to where I was smoking more and more over time. I guess I thought it was cool, and it probably was back then, but I remember almost wanting to get addicted to smoking, as stupid as that sounds. Middle School girls can be foolish in that way I suppose.

By the time I was a freshman in high school in 1994 I was probably smoking between a pack to a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. That was on the high side for other teenage girls, but it wasn't uncommon at all. 

For one thing, there were alot more places people could smoke. Like, all kinds of restruants, even fast food restruants. I remember smoking in Taco Bell and Arbys and Jack in the Box, but really you could smoke anywhere and everywhere. I also remember sitting in the smoking section at the Pizza Hut near my house, and thinking I was so cool for it. I remember the first time I sat in the smoking section at a Wendys when I was a freshman in high school. Also, the food court at the mall used to have a smoking section. Seriously, we'd just hang out in the mall all the time, like teenage girls do, and smoke cigarettes in the food court because it seemed fun.

Secondly, cigarettes seemed alot easier for teens to get back then. There used to be cigarette vending machines everywhere. Summer before middle school, once I started looking for where I could start buying my own packs of cigarettes, because I looked way underaged, I eventually found the student union building for the community college near my neighborhood had cigarette vending machines right next to the coke machines. That was probably the main place I got my cigarettes in middle school in the early 90s. I remember riding my bicycle up there every other day to buy another pack of cigarettes. But by 94-95, when some of my friends had cars, there were lots of other places that had cigarette vending machines, like certian restruants/diners or stores.

Lastly, there were alot more random places where it just didn't seem unusual for people to smoke. Friends of mine used to hang out in bowling alleys, and like, everyone there was smoking cigarettes all the time. They had ashtrays built in to the seats and cigarette vending machines for whoever right next to the coke machines too. This one bowling alley was funny because they didn't care if clearly underaged teenage kids were smoking or buying cigarettes in their vending machines, but they didn't sell or rent socks, so I was always having to put my bare feet into nasty rented bowling shoes without socks, because I was always wearing either my all white Keds without socks or my Dr. Martens shoes without socks in HS, like all the time. Looking back, it seems weird to sell teenage girls cigarettes but not socks.   
    Anyways, other places let you smoke too. Like arcades. I had a boyfriend who totally loved arcades, even in the mid 90s, when they seemed to be starting to be less cool. But you could still smoke in arcades, and I'd usually sit in some chair in the arcade, just chainsmoking away while my bf pumped quarters into Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter II or whatever. But there were loads of just random places people smoked, even teenagers. Like mini-golf places, and amusement parks, or swimming clubs, and like rollerskate rinks. Not that I was wild about roller skating in the mid 90s, but some of my friends thought it'd be cool, so I'd go with them, and these places looked frozen in the late 70s or early 80s, but had ashtrays everywhere, and let people smoke anywhere so I didn't mind going because they also had a cigarette vending machine in the back so I'd usually just hang out at the tables near the concession stand and smoke one cigarette after another pretending to be cool; you know, the way bored, insecure teenage girls like to do sometimes.
    In the summer, as a teenager in the mid 90s I was always just hanging out at this neighborhood Swim and Tennis club near where I lived, just laying out and looking at cute lifeguard guys, or whatever. They were supposed to crack down on teenage smoking, but never really did. They would sometimes fuss at you at the club house if you were smoking, but if you were out on one of the covered tables, especially on the far side of the second pool by the tennis courts, then you could pretty much smoke as much as you wanted and no one would bother you. Naturally, that was what I did just like alot of the other girls I hung out with.

  In retrospect, I think I can say I probably smoked more cigarettes in an average day than most other teenage girls my own age, because by the time I was a sophomore or junior in high school, I had a pretty serious two pack a day habit on regular weekdays, and more like a two and a half to three packs a day habit on weekends or holidays. But cigarettes were crazy cheap back then. Like $2.50 for a pack of Marlboros. Most girls I smoked Marlboro Lights, and I did sometimes, but I prefered Marlboro Reds. Most of the "smoker" girls I knew in high school, only "really" smoked about half a pack to maybe a pack a day. The guys were about the same I guess. There weren't just a ton of high school girls I knew who smoked more than a pack a day, but there were a few who'd admit to smoking "upto a pack and a half a day" when asked about it. But that was maybe like me and two other girls. I used to downplay how much I smoked too, and I'd always say "oh like a pack or pack and a half a day I guess", because one time when I told a guy on a date I smoked just under three packs a day, he thought I was crazy. I was maybe 17, and had been smoking for years and didn't have any plans on ever quitting, but seeing his reaction was probably the first time I remembered anyone who was a teenager every saying anything negative about my smoking, at least anyone that I liked.

  Lastly, I think its hard to put a really accurate estimate on how many girls or guys at my high school smoked in the 90s, but I'd guess it was probably pretty close to between 25% to 33% on average, with probably 1 out of 3 juniors or seniors smoking when I was a freshman or sophomore, and probably only 1 out of 4 sophomores, maybe only 1 out of 5 freshman smoked before they came to high school.  And there definitely was a noticable decline in teen smoking, at least in public in the 97-98 range, my senior year of high school. Like, there was smoking everyehere in 94-95, 95-96, and still just about everywhere in 96-97, although random places started banning smoking around then. I remember lighting up at the other Pizza place we'd all go to, first weekend of school after New Years my senior year, and the clerk guy telling me I wasn't supposed to be smoking there anymore. I was so mad I just finished my cigarette and left without paying, like a typically teenage brat. I also remember when I was dating this older guy that worked part time at a comic book store, that I had always liked hanging out there, not only because being a girl at that kinda nerdy store gets you alot of extra attention, but also because they let you smoke pretty much anywhere in the store which I thought was great;  but then one day out of the blue when I came in smoking like I usually did and hanging out at the front counter, they asked me to finish my cigarette outside or in the back room, because their building owner who they rented the store space from had just made a new rule of not allowing smoking in the main areas, only in the back office type areas. So when it was raining outside, Id go to the back office area to smoke, and yeah, in a stuff little room it made every cigarette a virtual chainsmoking event; just like the sealed off smoking sections in certian airports in the late 90s would be like; but when the weather was nicer, Id just step out in front of the store and smoke out there. Funny, I think that was maybe late 1997, but that was the first time I remember having to go outside to smoke a cigarette someplace, at least of the places I'd smoked. Maybe because the movie theaters where I lived had already banned smoking inside theatres in maybe the 70s or something, I always thought it normal to go outside movie theatres to smoke, but other than that, I think just about every other place I ever went to had a smoking section that you could go to inside and it wasnt until the late 90s that places started making smokers go outside to smoke.

Ok, so thats way way more information than you wanted, and the poor guy is probably in college right now, but I thought it was important history of how things in the mid to late 90s were and I wanted to share.

So, I know this is an ancient thread, but I thought it'd be ok to share a response.

Teen Smoking in the mid 90s was certianly alot more common than it seems to day - both in the number of places you see it, and apparently in the number of cigarettes people might smoke in a day. I imagine there was even more teen smoking in the 80s or 70s, but as for the mid 90s, there was still alot.

I started smoking when I was about 11, at or around the same time a few other girls my age did, right around the end of elementry school and begining of middle school. At first it was maybe only two or three cigarettes a day, either before school or after school or both. But I got to where I was smoking more and more over time. I guess I thought it was cool, and it probably was back then, but I remember almost wanting to get addicted to smoking, as stupid as that sounds. Middle School girls can be foolish in that way I suppose.

By the time I was a freshman in high school in 1994 I was probably smoking between a pack to a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. That was on the high side for other teenage girls, but it wasn't uncommon at all. 

For one thing, there were alot more places people could smoke. Like, all kinds of restruants, even fast food restruants. I remember smoking in Taco Bell and Arbys and Jack in the Box, but really you could smoke anywhere and everywhere. I also remember sitting in the smoking section at the Pizza Hut near my house, and thinking I was so cool for it. I remember the first time I sat in the smoking section at a Wendys when I was a freshman in high school. Also, the food court at the mall used to have a smoking section. Seriously, we'd just hang out in the mall all the time, like teenage girls do, and smoke cigarettes in the food court because it seemed fun.

Secondly, cigarettes seemed alot easier for teens to get back then. There used to be cigarette vending machines everywhere. Summer before middle school, once I started looking for where I could start buying my own packs of cigarettes, because I looked way underaged, I eventually found the student union building for the community college near my neighborhood had cigarette vending machines right next to the coke machines. That was probably the main place I got my cigarettes in middle school in the early 90s. I remember riding my bicycle up there every other day to buy another pack of cigarettes. But by 94-95, when some of my friends had cars, there were lots of other places that had cigarette vending machines, like certian restruants/diners or stores.

Lastly, there were alot more random places where it just didn't seem unusual for people to smoke. Friends of mine used to hang out in bowling alleys, and like, everyone there was smoking cigarettes all the time. They had ashtrays built in to the seats and cigarette vending machines for whoever right next to the coke machines too. This one bowling alley was funny because they didn't care if clearly underaged teenage kids were smoking or buying cigarettes in their vending machines, but they didn't sell or rent socks, so I was always having to put my bare feet into nasty rented bowling shoes without socks, because I was always wearing either my all white Keds without socks or my Dr. Martens shoes without socks in HS, like all the time. Looking back, it seems weird to sell teenage girls cigarettes but not socks.   
    Anyways, other places let you smoke too. Like arcades. I had a boyfriend who totally loved arcades, even in the mid 90s, when they seemed to be starting to be less cool. But you could still smoke in arcades, and I'd usually sit in some chair in the arcade, just chainsmoking away while my bf pumped quarters into Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter II or whatever. But there were loads of just random places people smoked, even teenagers. Like mini-golf places, and amusement parks, or swimming clubs, and like rollerskate rinks. Not that I was wild about roller skating in the mid 90s, but some of my friends thought it'd be cool, so I'd go with them, and these places looked frozen in the late 70s or early 80s, but had ashtrays everywhere, and let people smoke anywhere so I didn't mind going because they also had a cigarette vending machine in the back so I'd usually just hang out at the tables near the concession stand and smoke one cigarette after another pretending to be cool; you know, the way bored, insecure teenage girls like to do sometimes.
    In the summer, as a teenager in the mid 90s I was always just hanging out at this neighborhood Swim and Tennis club near where I lived, just laying out and looking at cute lifeguard guys, or whatever. They were supposed to crack down on teenage smoking, but never really did. They would sometimes fuss at you at the club house if you were smoking, but if you were out on one of the covered tables, especially on the far side of the second pool by the tennis courts, then you could pretty much smoke as much as you wanted and no one would bother you. Naturally, that was what I did just like alot of the other girls I hung out with.

  In retrospect, I think I can say I probably smoked more cigarettes in an average day than most other teenage girls my own age, because by the time I was a sophomore or junior in high school, I had a pretty serious two pack a day habit on regular weekdays, and more like a two and a half to three packs a day habit on weekends or holidays. But cigarettes were crazy cheap back then. Like $2.50 for a pack of Marlboros. Most girls I smoked Marlboro Lights, and I did sometimes, but I prefered Marlboro Reds. Most of the "smoker" girls I knew in high school, only "really" smoked about half a pack to maybe a pack a day. The guys were about the same I guess. There weren't just a ton of high school girls I knew who smoked more than a pack a day, but there were a few who'd admit to smoking "upto a pack and a half a day" when asked about it. But that was maybe like me and two other girls. I used to downplay how much I smoked too, and I'd always say "oh like a pack or pack and a half a day I guess", because one time when I told a guy on a date I smoked just under three packs a day, he thought I was crazy. I was maybe 17, and had been smoking for years and didn't have any plans on ever quitting, but seeing his reaction was probably the first time I remembered anyone who was a teenager every saying anything negative about my smoking, at least anyone that I liked.

  Lastly, I think its hard to put a really accurate estimate on how many girls or guys at my high school smoked in the 90s, but I'd guess it was probably pretty close to between 25% to 33% on average, with probably 1 out of 3 juniors or seniors smoking when I was a freshman or sophomore, and probably only 1 out of 4 sophomores, maybe only 1 out of 5 freshman smoked before they came to high school.  And there definitely was a noticable decline in teen smoking, at least in public in the 97-98 range, my senior year of high school. Like, there was smoking everyehere in 94-95, 95-96, and still just about everywhere in 96-97, although random places started banning smoking around then. I remember lighting up at the other Pizza place we'd all go to, first weekend of school after New Years my senior year, and the clerk guy telling me I wasn't supposed to be smoking there anymore. I was so mad I just finished my cigarette and left without paying, like a typically teenage brat. I also remember when I was dating this older guy that worked part time at a comic book store, that I had always liked hanging out there, not only because being a girl at that kinda nerdy store gets you alot of extra attention, but also because they let you smoke pretty much anywhere in the store which I thought was great;  but then one day out of the blue when I came in smoking like I usually did and hanging out at the front counter, they asked me to finish my cigarette outside or in the back room, because their building owner who they rented the store space from had just made a new rule of not allowing smoking in the main areas, only in the back office type areas. So when it was raining outside, Id go to the back office area to smoke, and yeah, in a stuff little room it made every cigarette a virtual chainsmoking event; just like the sealed off smoking sections in certian airports in the late 90s would be like; but when the weather was nicer, Id just step out in front of the store and smoke out there. Funny, I think that was maybe late 1997, but that was the first time I remember having to go outside to smoke a cigarette someplace, at least of the places I'd smoked. Maybe because the movie theaters where I lived had already banned smoking inside theatres in maybe the 70s or something, I always thought it normal to go outside movie theatres to smoke, but other than that, I think just about every other place I ever went to had a smoking section that you could go to inside and it wasnt until the late 90s that places started making smokers go outside to smoke.

Ok, so thats way way more information than you wanted, and the poor guy is probably in college right now, but I thought it was important history of how things in the mid to late 90s were and I wanted to share.



Question: Are you still smoking?



Cat

Question: Are you still smoking?



Cat



Yes, I'm still smoking. About 3 packs a day, truth be told. I used to fib and say "only about a pack and a half a day, give or take" but when I always finish my second pack and always get at least half way through my third pack of the day, finishing it more often than not; I figure I better call a spade a spade, and just own up to smoking three packs a day.

I know its awful that Im still smoking roughly 23 years after I started when I was about 11 years old, but it is what it is.  I've tried to accept the fact that I'm hopelessly addicted and will never quit, but when I look in the mirror and see a gaunt, weathered face that looks more like a 45+ year old woman to me, its hard to believe I'm still only 33 years old.

It seems like I still smoke all the time, just like when I was a teenager, in part because I work either from home or in my car, where I can still chain smoke like its going out of style; and in part because I'm so dependant on my cigarettes I really don't know what I'd do without them. But I sure feel awful when Im coughing up the brown stuff out of my lungs every morning for almost half and hour, and its depressing when Im wheezing and practically gasping for air after walking up two flights of stairs. Sad thing is, although I heard alot about lung cancer growing up the 80s or 90s, I never remember hearing much about COPD or emphysema; now I'm probably too far down the road as a likely candidate for undiagnosed early stage emphesyma in my thirties to make much of a difference now. Now that I fool myself into thinking that I'd ever have any prayer of quitting smoking, no matter how hard I might try, I know me, and I know I'll always come back to it. I'm just glad I never ended up doing hard drugs, because with my addictive personality, there no way I would make it.

Anyways, yeah, I started smoking as a teenager in the 90s, and Im still puffing away, even as I write, even when I should know better.

Becky Did you ever think about going "cold turkey"?  ???

Yes, I'm still smoking. About 3 packs a day, truth be told. I used to fib and say "only about a pack and a half a day, give or take" but when I always finish my second pack and always get at least half way through my third pack of the day, finishing it more often than not; I figure I better call a spade a spade, and just own up to smoking three packs a day.

I know its awful that Im still smoking roughly 23 years after I started when I was about 11 years old, but it is what it is.  I've tried to accept the fact that I'm hopelessly addicted and will never quit, but when I look in the mirror and see a gaunt, weathered face that looks more like a 45+ year old woman to me, its hard to believe I'm still only 33 years old.

It seems like I still smoke all the time, just like when I was a teenager, in part because I work either from home or in my car, where I can still chain smoke like its going out of style; and in part because I'm so dependant on my cigarettes I really don't know what I'd do without them. But I sure feel awful when Im coughing up the brown stuff out of my lungs every morning for almost half and hour, and its depressing when Im wheezing and practically gasping for air after walking up two flights of stairs. Sad thing is, although I heard alot about lung cancer growing up the 80s or 90s, I never remember hearing much about COPD or emphysema; now I'm probably too far down the road as a likely candidate for undiagnosed early stage emphesyma in my thirties to make much of a difference now. Now that I fool myself into thinking that I'd ever have any prayer of quitting smoking, no matter how hard I might try, I know me, and I know I'll always come back to it. I'm just glad I never ended up doing hard drugs, because with my addictive personality, there no way I would make it.

Anyways, yeah, I started smoking as a teenager in the 90s, and Im still puffing away, even as I write, even when I should know better.



I totally understand.

The question is do you WANT to quit? When I quit, it wasn't that I WANTED to because I really enjoyed smoking. But, I felt that I NEEDED to. I was getting pains in my chest a lot. I always said that smoking wasn't going to give me cancer, it was going to give me heart problems because I have a family history of heart problems. And I felt it coming on so I thought that I HAD to.

Even though I have quit, I still "cheat" and have one once in a while.  :-
Becky Did you ever think about going "cold turkey"?  ???



Howard, that is the hardest way to quit. Quitting is hard enough as it is. Since you never smoked, you really don't know. I know you are only trying to help but if you don't really know about it, maybe you leave it to people who DO KNOW about it to give advice.




Cat

Smoking was very common in my city among the youth back in the 90s (I don't really see it now whenever I visit). Back then it seemed like most of the cool kids were smoking along with celebrities who would not hide the habit so I was curious what the big hype was all about.

Eventually I started taking drags off of people, and then started buying my own packs because I had a crush that was a regular smoker, and thought I would try to do the same thing.  ::)  I started off with Players but switched to Marlboro because they seemed much gentler. I would usually smoke when I was out drinking or when I would be waiting for a bus or a friend, but fortunately I was never a regular smoker. I did feel pretty vogue when I would smoke, but I remember when I had my last full cigarette, I was imagining the smoke destroying my throat, which caused me to freak out a little. That was in '98 and I did have a small relapse back in '04 when I was having a bad day at work, but I was so disgusted that I couldn't even finish my cigarette.

I was lucky enough to get hooked on smoking, but I've heard that it can be extremely difficult to quit. Somebody mentioned about quitting cold turkey, but that's all too easy. Take me with my coffee for instance. I've been trying to switch to green tea, but sometimes I have a strong craving for some java so I can only imagine that cigarette cravings are even worse! 

I never once considered trying to quit smoking "cold turkey", Howard.  I'm amazed that there even are people who could do that.

Im glad that someone else understands where Im coming from on this, Catwoman.

Its so true though that smoking becomes some intimately linked to thing things you do, its hard to really get away from it. Alot of people have talked about how smoking and drinking go together, and thats why its so hard to quit, which I totally agree with. But besides that, For me, its not just when I see other people smoke that I want a cigarette, its just about anytime I step outside of a building - any building - whether at work, or at home, or out shopping, or anywhere. I also feel the need to smoke just about anytime Im riding in a car or driving, and just about anytime Im sitting down to watch tv. I'm also bad about wanting to smoke both before and after a meal, and can get to where Im absent mindedly chain smoking either when Im talking on the phone or when driving down the road for work. There have been days where I was just going and blowing and by the end of the day I looked up and was already on my third pack of cigarettes, and was wondering when it was that I smoked the first two packs without noticing.

Anyways, yeah, I can't imagine going all the way through with quitting smoking, because then I can't think of what I would do when sitting in front of a tv or computer, or when riding or driving in a car, or talking on the phone, or when I first get up, or before and after every meal, or when I step outside in the morning, or run errands during the day, or just about any other time I might need a cigarette.

Becky

I never once considered trying to quit smoking "cold turkey", Howard.  I'm amazed that there even are people who could do that.

So you're a "chain smoker"?  ???

Sorry, for the delay, I thought I had replied a while ago, but apparently the stupid iphone didnt sent it, or I had bad reception or whatever. Then I was looking at something else on here, ran across my failure to write, and then felt bad.

So for what its worth, um, yeah, I guess chainsmoker would probably accurately describe me. I think it was maybe a little more common back in the 90's for people to smoke more, or at least it seems like I knew more pack-and-a-half or two pack a day smokers back then, so I didn't feel like such an outcast for smoking all the time. When I was around even just a few people smoking almost two packs a day, it didn't make my three packs a day habit seem nearly as bad as it does now. Oh well, Too late now. #smokingoutcast

Sorry, for the delay, I thought I had replied a while ago, but apparently the stupid iphone didnt sent it, or I had bad reception or whatever. Then I was looking at something else on here, ran across my failure to write, and then felt bad.

So for what its worth, um, yeah, I guess chainsmoker would probably accurately describe me. I think it was maybe a little more common back in the 90's for people to smoke more, or at least it seems like I knew more pack-and-a-half or two pack a day smokers back then, so I didn't feel like such an outcast for smoking all the time. When I was around even just a few people smoking almost two packs a day, it didn't make my three packs a day habit seem nearly as bad as it does now. Oh well, Too late now. #smokingoutcast


Have you considered switching to e-cigarettes?

Have you considered switching to e-cigarettes?


I see a lot of those being advertised on television.

Smoking was very popular amongst high school students in the mid 1990's. it wasn't reserved for one group. At my school smoking was allowed freshman and sophomore year, however beginning junior year '96 it was banned on school property. No more smoking at football games. I also said the same thing as you as far a quitting and 18 years later I'm still doing it, SO QUIT NOW!