55 replies to this topic

[mgi11a]

With 15 Feb '12  marking the 23rd anniversary of me giving the dreaded bungers away, it got me thinking how many other CR have pertaken in the stinking habit.

Also in light of comments on another thread, if you were or are a smoker how do you feel about being labeled "stupid"

Personally I don't have a problem, when I smoked I was stupid.

Cheers

mgilla

[Eagle]

Never smoked but 'enjoyed' another addition for a while. Thankfully that passes 15years ago. Yes I was stupid stupid stupid ......

[YEKRUT]

Just over 6 years for me after 24+ years of stupidity.

I have no objection to being labelled stupid for every element of my former habit.

There is NO better lifestyle than a smoke free one

[Quinkin]

I smoked for a two week period in high school.

[chops]

I smoked for eighteen years, I vaguely remember my mother calling me stupid.

[johnnyboyrun]

Smoked a pack a day from ages 13 to 28 and other substances (now 32)

[maryclaire]

I smoked for about 5 years and quit on 1/1/89.

I tell my kids all the time that anyone who smokes is "stupid".

[cjr]

I smoked for quite a few years (at uni and when I first started work) and gave up about 15 years ago

I must confess though i still don't mind walking beind a smoker on a cold day and whilst i would never proactively seek out one if I am havimg a beer and someone offers (which doesn't happen very often) I have been known to partake.

I figure with all the polution and radiation in the air and all the chemicals in everythign we eat and drink we are all slowly poisining ourselves anyway....

[loubee]

I was a smoker. I was stupid. Nothing more to say really.

[Broom]

I was a smoker but I was crazy. Not stupid. Call it denial but that's how I see it

[shortstuff]

Guilty too. 8 years.... & 7 years smoke-free (but still get cravings)

I must say, it's a dreadful shame that it's smelly, disgusting, deadly & addictive- because it really is enjoyable.

Oooh, and watching Mad Men makes me crave cigarettes

[lactatehead]

I smoked from about 15 until was was 22. Tobacco was the least of my worries when I think of the other rubbish I was injesting and some of the trouble I was getting myself into. luckily, I saw the potential in running to sort my life out.

[knoddie]

My last ever cigarette was straight after my first ever 5k race six years ago. After that decided I either needed to give up running or the smokes...couldn't do both.  Man my lungs hurt.

[walshy2]

I smoked from teens until quitting in Feb 2001......one of the best things I ever did for sure. (quitting that is)

never feel like one at all and can't believe how stupid I was to do it for so long

[whatsinthebox]

another reformed smoker here.
i smoked for about 17 years (cant really remember when i quit). for the majority of that time i knew that what i was doing was stupid....for the rest of the time i was just too stupid to realise it

[toolittletoolate]

smoked on and off for about 10 years, kept giving up but then after a few beers someone would offer me one and I wpuld be back on it again.  Gave up about 9 years ago and am now a typicall anti ex smoker.  I have no problem being labelled stupid and even very stupid for every time I went back on them....idiot.

[OurDogScruff]

Smoked 20 - 40+ a day from age 13 to 30.  Stupid?  Of course.  But I enjoyed it, loved it.  

Lots of enjoyable things we do are 'stupid'.

Been 6 years since I gave up now.  Still very occasionally fancy a smoke and a cup of tea.

Edited by OurDogScruff, 13 February 2012 - 12:01 PM.

[Vilante]

I smoked a pack a day for 13 years and quit 5.5 years ago.

Not sure I have cravings but when I see someone really enjoying one I do remember that it could be an enjoyable habit at times. Then I recall how awful it could be and how much I enjoy being active and I come back to reality

[richardegg]

I still smoke. I may have upwards of 2 social cigarettes a week, and a good quality cigar a couple of times a week. Cigars don't get inhaled though (as in the way a good quality cigar should be enjoyed). And I can still cover 10k at 4:50-5:00 pace, and run 65-70km/week in training for canberra marathon. Indeed I save a very good quality cigar for the completion of every significant running event. However, I certainly do NOT smoke the way I used to smoke (1/3 pack a day), buying cigarettes myself regularly (social ciggies are always bummed). Menthol was my poison, saving marlboro reds for really sh*t days.

I feel that smokers are increasingly being unfairly marginalised; 'unfair' in that obesity - which is more dangerous - gets off scott free in the eyes of society. A couple of times people have hectored me about it; more often than not they were fat people.

Nicotine gum just can't match the relaxation a lit tobacco product can give.

Edited by c2105026, 16 February 2012 - 12:40 PM.

[johnnyboyrun]

c2105026, on 16 February 2012 - 12:38 PM, said:

I still smoke. I may have upwards of 2 social cigarettes a week, and a good quality cigar a couple of times a week. Cigars don't get inhaled though (as in the way a good quality cigar should be enjoyed). And I can still cover 10k at 4:50-5:00 pace, and run 65-70km/week in training for canberra marathon. Indeed I save a very good quality cigar for the completion of every significant running event. However, I certainly do NOT smoke the way I used to smoke (1/3 pack a day), buying cigarettes myself regularly (social ciggies are always bummed). Menthol was my poison, saving marlboro reds for really sh*t days.

I feel that smokers are increasingly being unfairly marginalised; 'unfair' in that obesity - which is more dangerous - gets off scott free in the eyes of society. A couple of times people have hectored me about it; more often than not they were fat people.

Nicotine gum just can't match the relaxation a lit tobacco product can give.

I dont think  its "unfair". As a previous pack a day smoker. I have no problem with people smoking and if you smoke one a day or one a month you are still a smoker anyhow.
What pisses me off is if im sitting outside having a meal somewhere and someone lights up a cigarette. Someone that is obese doesnt give me an il health effects as they cant blow there obesity all over me.

[slowmo]

johnnyboyrun, on 16 February 2012 - 01:35 PM, said:

What pisses me off is if im sitting outside having a meal somewhere and someone lights up a cigarette.

slowmo

[shortstuff]

johnnyboyrun, on 16 February 2012 - 01:35 PM, said:

Someone that is obese doesnt give me an il health effects as they cant blow there obesity all over me.

No, but they are a collective drain on our shared medical system.

Ah, diseases of affluence- a 'first' world dilemma

[BEN-HUR]

slowmo, on 16 February 2012 - 02:06 PM, said:

johnnyboyrun, on 16 February 2012 - 01:35 PM, said:

What pisses me off is if im sitting outside having a meal somewhere and someone lights up a cigarette.

slowmo

  Now that would be an entertaining solution. Reminds me slowmo of a video I once saw. Check this out...

[undercover brother]

c2105026, on 16 February 2012 - 12:38 PM, said:

I feel that smokers are increasingly being unfairly marginalised.

they are being increasingly fairly marginalised.
and this is a good thing.

[johnnyboyrun]

hahaha!!

[chrisso]

c2105026, on 16 February 2012 - 12:38 PM, said:

I feel that smokers are increasingly being unfairly marginalised; 'unfair' in that obesity - which is more dangerous - gets off scott free in the eyes of society.

Not sure if death  from obesity is greater than the combined deaths from smoking relating illnesses, but the only reason that smoking isnt the outright leader in the death count is probably because of the anti-smoking campaigns of the last 20-30 years... If there was no pressure on people to quit there wouldnt be a decline in deaths from smoking.

causes of death in australia

Edited by chrisso, 16 February 2012 - 04:12 PM.

[richardegg]

When I was saying 'unfair' it is perfectly legit to harraunge (probably sic), make fun of, lecture or otherwise marginalise smokers by ever increasing restrictions etc. but ever critisise people about their weight, have skinny models on magazines, or suggest someone looks fat in a dress - heaven forfend! Wash you mouth out you monster! I think all health issues should be treated the same, that is all.

BTW obese people can blow their obesity all over you (to a degree) via sabotaging your weight management efforts through a variety of concious and subconcious sabotaging behaviours. Many family friends who are obese always tell me I'm too skinny, as does my father. Same people offer me junk food all the fecking time. gives me the sh*ts.

[johnnyboyrun]

Will Power... Peoples choice to shove a smoke in the mouth, In the same way it is for someone to gorge on burgers...

[undercover brother]

c2105026, on 16 February 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

I think all health issues should be treated the same, that is all.

i would suggest all health issues be treated on their merits.

[richardegg]

ok, that is fine; obesity is societies most costly health issues (according to recent govt report has overtaken smoking); we do not treat obesity on its merits. where are the warning labels on junk food like there is on alcohol and tobacco? The shock and awe ads that show the impact of junk food, lack of exercise and obesity on one's body? Where is the regulation/banning of advertising of fast food? We have a society where most people are obese or overweight; the highest smoking pentration was about 45% in the 1960s. Indeed simply just being a bit overweight will not have the same mortality as cigarette smoking (on a regular basis - but interestingly it has the same mortality as cigar smoking) but morbid obesity does. Any effort to combat obesity is seen as un-PC.

BTW overcoming obesity, smoking alcohol/drug abuse is not just willpower - it is a very complex web that takes into account psychology, genetics, and environment.

[johnnyboyrun]

I used to smoke a pack a day, drink and god knows what else and party hard for many years... people have to make a choice about what they are going to do and not worry about govt regulation, advertising...People like to make excuses for everything, if you dont want to do something 99% of the time you have a choice. I still go out with my mates to pubs and most of them still smoke and drink, but it doesnt mean i do....I find the this whole nanny state path we seem to be going stupid to say the least,........

[richardegg]

yeh which is sort of my point; if we aren't going to do it for bad food why do it for bad smokes? A good tobbacconist will show you what products they have; so not sure what the point is in having it all sealed up tight behind the counter. Plain packeting is a restraint of trade; despite my generally Left leanings I am with the conservatives on that one.

[undercover brother]

c2105026, on 16 February 2012 - 08:46 PM, said:

yeh which is sort of my point; if we aren't going to do it for bad food why do it for bad smokes? A good tobbacconist will show you what products they have; so not sure what the point is in having it all sealed up tight behind the counter. Plain packeting is a restraint of trade; despite my generally Left leanings I am with the conservatives on that one.

how do you define 'bad food' and 'bad smokes'?
how much 'bad food' and 'bad smokes' should people be allowed and how do you propose society discourages their use?
how close is the link between the 'bad food' of which you speak and obesity related disease compared to 'bad smokes' and smoking related disease?
and restraint of trade? ...good. i thought that was the idea.

Edited by undercover brother, 16 February 2012 - 09:10 PM.

[mgi11a]

c2105026 just so you know, my motivation for starting this thread was not to find someone who smokes so we could bash them.

I think you are way off with your comparison of bad food and bad smokes. I regularly eat bad food, but I know with the exercise I do I get rid of it and thats the end of it.

It's not like you can have a bunger then go for a run to get rid of the effects.

Cheers

mgilla

[Ponytail]

I am a reformed smoker who still gets the urge every time I am stuck in traffic with another smoking individual nearby at the lights.  I gave up with each pregnancy and stayed given up after the birth of my twins 51/2 years ago.  I will not judge smokers as stupid to an extent (as I've been there, done that) but where they put others at risk, I despise them!  I never smoked in public (too ashamed, because  I always knew it was a revolting habit) and most certainly never smoked anywhere near my kids.  I hate it when I see a parent (or parents) who continue to drive a car with children (despite the laws) while they smoke!  I never even did that when I was a smoker before the current laws.  Not that there is a responsible smoker - they're all vile!

[richardegg]

Well it is obvious the govt doesn't want us to smoke. Hence all the controls/regulations limiting tobacco consumption and promotion. (Bad smokes = all tobacco products). If it is indeed that bad then why not just ban it like they do for, say, pot? My defenition of 'bad food' is anything that is fried, battered, creamy, has processed meats, is confectionary-based and so on; there are some guidelines over what diabetics should/shouldn't eat; if junk food were to be regulated it could be a starting point but would, yes need investigation.

My point is that a sedentary lifestyle of nil exercise and too much junk food has a similar effect on mortality as smoking does, yet society focuses on smoking, and bashing smokers is far more acceptable than bashing obese folk. In the morning will find links for reports/data I am talking about....

I know for a fact that my cigar smoking has never caused weight gain nor has it  negatively affected my running. OTOH, if I go and eat crap for a week and not exercise it makes my return to training so much harder. BTW just having one lousy bunger will not do anything to your body - its having 10 a day over a 30 year period (i.e. ~100,000 in total) that may have an effect. If I eat, say, a pizza, my chances of an enjoyable run after hat are nil.

But I agree we are getting off track as to the purpose of this thread.

I used to smoke cigarettes regularly 1/3 pack a day, on and off for 2 years (started at 26 mind you; a younger 'friend' offered me one on a camping trip, I thought 'what the hey?'), this stopped in about may 2011, had a couple of packs during a rough patch in sept 2011, but none since on a daily, regular basis. This summer break I have been smoking 1-2-3 cigars a day to break up the day; once uni starts again this will probably drop back due to money (and you thought cigarettes were dear; try cigars!!) and more stimulation in my life.

For the record if/when I do smoke I do it outside when at home, alone in my classic 1970s vehicle that had already been smoked in (not my 2000s model that almost still has new car smell lol...), in designated smoking areas at pubs and clubs and when outdoors in groups of people I move away downwind of others.

I certainly do not think of smokers as stupid, having been there/done that. (or..am still doing it and can 100% relate to the underlying rationale). OTOH some folks (non-smokers) out there reckon you inhale cigars. Bugger me. you did that you would NOT be very happy or well!! LOL.....

Edited by c2105026, 16 February 2012 - 10:45 PM.

[undercover brother]

in terms of the questions you raise in the first paragraph there are valid reasons for all of these.
all of this has been looked into extensively by the various health groups and regulators for decades.
and they will continue to do so.
in simple terms it is much easier to define and easier and more effective to regulate against smoking than 'obesity'.
one simple example would be cigarette taxation (much more effective) compared to a fast food tax (much less effective).
enjoy your googling.

Edited by undercover brother, 17 February 2012 - 06:58 AM.

[Steve 'The Footman']

c2105026, on 16 February 2012 - 10:39 PM, said:

If it is indeed that bad then why not just ban it

My point is that a sedentary lifestyle of nil exercise and too much junk food has a similar effect on mortality as smoking

I know for a fact that my cigar smoking has never caused weight gain nor has it  negatively affected my running.

OTOH some folks (non-smokers) out there reckon you inhale cigars. Bugger me. you did that you would NOT be very happy or well!! LOL.....

I am sure you would be jumping up and down even more if smoking was banned.  Your suggestion that they just ban it is a hollow suggestion that you obviously do not really believe.  However I believe that within 20 years you will have your wish.

You have been missing the anti-smoking advertisements which say "every cigarette is causing you damage".  The same can not be said of junk food.  A bit of bad food if you are generally healthy and active will have no adverse affect on your health.  There is a dose-response relationship for both cigarettes and junk food but the dose required for cigarettes is one.  You never know which time you inhale toxic chemicals into your lungs will be the time you get cancer.

You know for a fact that smoking has never negatively affected your running?  If that statement is not the definition of delusion then what is?  Have you done physiological testing that shows there is no affect.  No.  If you had then you would have found there would be massive system wide affects on your body that have reduced your capacity for running.  These include destruction of the alveoli in your lungs where oxygen is exchanged with CO2, your arteries are being clogged reducing blood flow to the peripheral muscles, and your body is using energy to fight off inflammation and infection in almost every organ of your body.

So you do not inhale cigars?  Does that mean you just put them to your lips and hold your breath?  Cigars and cigarettes are nicotine delivery systems.  It is only in the alveoli in your lungs that nicotine is delivered.  If some inhalation does not occur then what is the point?

You are in denial about the negative affects of smoking.

Edited by CoolRunning Admin, 17 February 2012 - 07:19 AM.
Personal abuse deleted

[Emrun]

c2105026, on 16 February 2012 - 08:46 PM, said:

yeh which is sort of my point; if we aren't going to do it for bad food why do it for bad smokes? A good tobbacconist will show you what products they have; so not sure what the point is in having it all sealed up tight behind the counter. Plain packeting is a restraint of trade; despite my generally Left leanings I am with the conservatives on that one.

I've never been a smoker, I flirted with it briefly at uni many moons ago but it never took.  I think it's a pretty foul habit and there is nothing I hate more than heading out for a run during my lunch break and inhaling a lungful of second hand smoke from all the office workers crowded out the front of their buildings.

Having said that I agree with you on the packaging thing, total bollocks in my opinion. Unless the goverment has the balls to kiss goodbye to all the sweet sweet taxes they get from tobacco and make the sale and consumption of the product illegal they should butt out (boom tish) and leave it be.

Hell, if they sold Haighs honeycomb block or peanut M&Ms in plain packaging you can be damn sure I'd still be buying them, wouldn't make a blind bit of difference.

They say it will stop new smokers because they won't brand identify & it will make it harder for them to take up the habit if they don't know what they are asking for.  I had my first ciggie when I was about 14, it was stolen from a friends parents package, the brand? NFI, did it stop me buying my own some years later? No.

"Give me a pack of Cigarettes"
"Which brand?"
"Don't care, whichever is cheapest I suppose"

[Vilante]

Emrun, on 17 February 2012 - 08:19 AM, said:

..snip

The only time the brand matters is after you've been smoking for a while and find a brand and strength you like. By then you're already hooked and know what you're asking for and so it doesn't matter anymore.

[undercover brother]

Emrun, on 17 February 2012 - 08:19 AM, said:

Having said that I agree with you on the packaging thing, total bollocks in my opinion.

it matters little what you or i as individuals think or believe.
it matters more what the evidence shows.

[Bellthorpe]

undercover brother, on 17 February 2012 - 09:52 AM, said:

Emrun, on 17 February 2012 - 08:19 AM, said:

Having said that I agree with you on the packaging thing, total bollocks in my opinion.

it matters little what you or i as individuals think or believe.
it matters more what the evidence shows.

Would that be the evidence that the Government has released to support its case for plain packaging?

Steve, on 17 February 2012 - 07:09 AM, said:

So you do not inhale cigars?  Does that mean you just put them to your lips and hold your breath?  Cigars and cigarettes are nicotine delivery systems.  It is only in the alveoli in your lungs that nicotine is delivered.  If some inhalation does not occur then what is the point?

The point is that the nicotine is delivered to the blood through the lining of the mouth rather than through the lungs.

[richardegg]

Steve;

Pardon my flippancy re: banning. Was rhetorical question; indeed the taxes are a huge windfall for governmrnt. A reason I smoke sometimes is because its one of the few vices that is still legal. Frankly, banning would be a great idea for it would really force most smokers (inc. myself) to quit. But for now, may as well make hay while the sun still shines.

My CIGAR smoking does not impact my running, (cigarettes, which are inhaled, probably have to an extent, but I largely don't do that anymore, and my sound performance of late suggests a degree of recovery has occurred) I certainly don't inhale cigars, believe me if even the slightest puff of unfiltered cigar tobacco smoke reached your throat you'd know it. Since smoking cigars on a semi-reglular basis my running times have been improving from 5:25 pace down to 4:50-5:00 pace; not saying that cigars are a performace enhancer but have lost ~10kg via eating properly; periods I have not smoked cigars do not correlate with faster running times.

RE: nicotine absorbtion -  nicotine is absorbed thru walls of mouth and toungue. You still get cravings etc. with cigars.

RE: Risk levels - from this document I found (dates from 1998) it suggests cigar smoking has a increased risk of 8% in mortality over a 13 yr period; cigarettes is 60-80% depending on inhalation, as compared to a never smoked baseline (FTR, nil inhalation on cigars is 4% increase. Not even statistically significant.). I should be more worried about running on the shoulders of busy roads in running training, driving 500km to and from uni every week in a car that has only 3 NCAP stars on a very dangerous stretch of highway (over 60km distance averages 2.5 fatal crashes/yr!) .

However I do understand that many in the community don't want my second hand smoke hence I smoke away from non-smokers, and observe all smoking restrictions I see about the place.

RE: Plain packaging - obviously devised by a non-smoker that does not understand the habit - if you want it you'll get it, I don't buy tobacco products for their packaging lol. Imagine if mcdonalds had to take off all the golden arches off their wrapping?

RE: Physiological testing - well not formally but my resting pulse is 48-50, BP 115/70, out of interest got some blood tests done today will see how it all goes. If my cholesterol/blood lipids is up the sh*t then it looks like I may have to give up cigars for good.

[undercover brother]

c2105026, on 17 February 2012 - 11:04 AM, said:

RE: Plain packaging - obviously devised by a non-smoker that does not understand the habit - if you want it you'll get it, I don't buy tobacco products for their packaging lol. Imagine if mcdonalds had to take off all the golden arches off their wrapping?

RE: Physiological testing - well not formally but my resting pulse is 48-50, BP 115/70, out of interest got some blood tests done today will see how it all goes. If my cholesterol/blood lipids is up the sh*t then it looks like I may have to give up cigars for good.

packaging: once again why don't you have a look at the relevant evidence?
google should assist...
resting pulse and bp says little about vascular disease and pulmonary function. 'lol'

[Emrun]

I see a whole new market opening up...

Have a look at any large shopping centre and count the booths selling mobile phone accessories, in particular the dazzling array of covers you can buy for your phone.

Get in on the ground floor of the aftermarket ciggie pack cover now, it's going to go off once the plain packets come in.

I suppose it is odd that a non smoker whose grandparents both died from smoking related illnesses is anti plain packaging but there you go.  It's a slippery slope, first the cigs, then we'll all be on the Victory Gin and down to three square of chocolate a week and no need to ever have to think or be responsible for our own acions ever again, what bliss, pass me my olive green jumpsuit and a copy of the newspeak dictionary please.

[undercover brother]

they have been altering cig packaging for years.
re alcohol are there no current regulations regarding advertising or packaging?
the world is a slippery slope its up to all of us to be educated about these issues and decide what we want ...or not.
we decide which shade of grey we want.
http://www.cancer.or...eEnd_FINAL2.pdf

Edited by undercover brother, 17 February 2012 - 12:12 PM.

[howcanhegosofast]

Take a deep breath everyone. Better still why not get off the computer and go for a run ? This is getting as heated as some of the ipod debates out there.

[mutk]

howcanhegosofast, on 17 February 2012 - 12:13 PM, said:

Take a deep breath everyone. Better still why not get off the computer and go for a run ? This is getting as heated as some of the ipod debates out there.

SO far I see it as a clear case of one person being defensive, the rest totally calm and reasonable


Anyway, my mum died as a result of being a smoker at a relatively young age - she was active and sporty her whole life, never overweight and always had a healthy diet.

Every cigarette has the potential to kill you, and carrying on smoking increases the chances of that happening. That is a simple fact. Why increase your chances?


Cheers

Edited by mutk, 17 February 2012 - 03:01 PM.

[BEN-HUR]

I've posted this before, but in case anyone hasn't seen it... even our friends from a galaxy far far away also have a message on the topic...



... R2 was going through some stress at the time but is now clean (he also abstains from alcohol & other drugs).

[richardegg]

mutk, on 17 February 2012 - 02:57 PM, said:

SO far I see it as a clear case of one person being defensive, the rest totally calm and reasonable

I see this as a case of one or 2 people not having the faintest clue about what they are actually against.

There is also the question of genetics - some will get cancer and some won't purely due to genes. In addition someone who smokes 1 cigarette a day will have a different risk profile as compared to one person having one pack a day. Eg. Linda McCartney was a vegetarian, but died of breast cancer (not smoking related but still an example).

The only way to stay 100% safe is to stay in bed and not do anything - indeed as Undercover Brother has suggested we all choose our shades of grey. Some choose a shade of grey to be fat, thin, smoker, non-smoker; I believe we have a right to choose what we do with our bodies; indeed we have a right to be obese and heavy drinkers should we choose to; but the right to smoke is slowly diminishing. It has since been discovered there is no safe level of alcohol consumption regarding cancer risk - are we going to go to prohibition now?

With my semi-regular indulgence in tobacco products I have thrown a bit of caution into the wind. But, it is MY caution to throw into the wind, not yours. I respect your choice to not smoke; I expect the same in kind.

Have skimmed over plain packaging research as supplied; I note it has not been trialled in the real world, only in clinical settings. I maintain my doubt that it will work but, we'll see

Edited by c2105026, 17 February 2012 - 04:47 PM.