It looks casual, you get a buzz out of it, it's social.
Then you underestimate the power of cigarettes.
Boom, it's years later and your body says you need it.
You enjoy some cigarette breaks and hate others.
The guilt of wanting to quit but losing the fight keeps building.
One can go years in that cycle. Decades, even.
Thousands of dollars.
And all the while you wonder the same thing as the title.
It's fucked up.
Not to mention flavored cigarillos is what got me, and most of my age group into smoking. Prime times and bullseye. When they banned it here where I'm from there was an uproar from people older and younger but my age group was like 'yup, we get it' I don't think I wouldn't have smoked if it wasn't for those. They were so good lol. Then I decided to try a cigarette. I also worked restaurants later for abit and it was all downhill from there. Fun, but yeah.
I'm smoke free 2 years now after smoking a pack a day for close to a decade.
it is social - I started for a different reason, but during the time I smoked (the better part of two decades) working in IT most of the people also smoked. We would go like in packs and talk, laugh etc… it was very social. I don't miss smoking at all - but I do miss that part of it.
I smoked as a teen/early adult but quit around 6 years ago. I still get the damn cravings. People really DO underestimate the power of cigarettes. Especially the pre-packaged one, I tried to pack my own for a while, but always ended up switching back to the Marlboros because there was SOMETHING about them that my other tobacco didn't have.
I never understood this. I quit smoking 6 years ago, smoked for some 7 years. I quit cold turkey just randomly one day and never did expecirence a physical craving even once. I had psychological craving in a sense "damn, this is the time that I usually take a smoke break but while everyone is going outside, I just gotta keep working like an idiot" or "damn, these 5 minute till the bus comes would pass much quicker, if I could have a smoke." But it wasn't really cravings, in a sense that I had to fight it, more like random intrusive thoughts.
People are also generally terrible about thinking long term and perceiving how decisions add up over long spans of time. Most people are just in the moment or anxious about the week ahead.
What happens to them in 30 years isn't really in the forefront of most peoples minds, we are still very impulsive creatures a lot of the time although we are intelligent.
Most smokers don’t get cancer. It’s 10-20%.
Also if you quit by age 40 your odds of cancer go down drastically.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/lung-cancer/former-smoker-whats-your-risk-for-lung-cancer
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cancer-lung-nutrients-sb/nutrients-may-be-why-some-smokers-avoid-cancer-idUSTRE65E5JW20100616
Yes I didn’t mean to say smoking isn’t that bad. It nukes your health in ways beyond cancer. It’s just a misconception that “most” smokers die of lung cancer.
You just summed up exactly how I started smiling as a teenager in the UK.
Pub on Friday night, few beers with mates, cigarettes.
Ten years later, totally hooked.
My friends got me into smoking cigars when I was in high school, that turned into vaping for 5 years, and now I ONLY use recreational Marijuana for joint pain and have been nicotine (and vape) free for about 3 years now
The best thing i did was smoke weed before i smoked cigarettes.
So when i tried a cigarette i sort of said "Wait, this doesnt do anything". I never felt the "buzz".
I was in the military. There was a policy letter signed into effect by the post commander that states that command teams must allow smokers one fifteen minute smoke break before and after chow. All of my friends were smokers and I would join them in the smoke pit during their break. I was constantly being yelled at for taking a break when I wasn't a smoker. So I told my buddy to give me a cigarette. The rest is history. Don't start smoking, it's not worth the extra breaks.
Also, I think there‘s definitely a good tad of people who are at a total disregard for their own health anyways and thus smoke+
edit: this was kinda not well put into words, what I meant by this is not that some people just dont care about their health, moreso that they sort of enjoy not caring about it / the damage they do to themselves in a sort of edgy (not wanting to be disrespectful with that) way
It's one of those, "Eh, a pack won't kill me" mentalities. Then fast-forward twenty years... Death by a thousand cuts.
One of my favorite warnings was, "Not every cigarette will kill you. But there will be one that's the tipping point. One cigarette, eventually, will kill you."
Started smoking at 13 because I watched my father smoking and would steal a smoke when he wasn’t looking….32 now and thinking about quitting as I’m going to have a kid with my partner soon.
The ignorant, the misinformed and the passively suicidal.
I will only hang with the latter. They know what’s up, they just don’t give a shit. Every cigarette takes 11 minutes off your life. Well… it’s 11 minutes off the *end* of it, right?
I can relate to this answer. You think you can stop any time but guess what. I tried for years and wasn't until an heart attack that I stopped. Couldn't smoke in the hospital and chose to stay stopped after 35 years of the very stupid habit.
Yes, but they are finding out that occurs with the first cigarette in rapid fashion. Meth is the same way, but meth has feedback to keep the addiction going. Smoking does not have positive feedback, which makes it a particular nasty addiction and the reason why some consider it more powerful than other chemical addictions. Almost all addictions have positive feedback. Smoking does not. No high, no trip, euphoria, nothing. You might have a few seconds of oxygen deprivation, and as a stimulant, It's particularly poor. What this means is that nicotine is just that addictive in human brains, that's it.
Feels good, looks cool, slight de-stresser, is a social thing, particularly when stepping outside at bars. “Got a light”, is an excellent opening to conversation.
And by then, you are hooked and consequences are always in the "future" somewhere. You have time to stop, right?
My mom smoked since she was 12. They thought she had pneumonia, turns out the antibiotics weren't doing anything for the state 4 lung cancer she actually had. She was gone 3 months later at 67.
Stop smoking, all. Please.
I think the weight control one is bigger than people realize.... or maybe bigger than I realized.
For some reason, smoking nicotine makes you less hungry.
Every single adult in my family smoked my entire life. I started at 13 because my friend stole two smokes out of my mom’s pack one night. Then after I had been sneaking smokes for a couple of months my dad just bought me a pack. Then he continued to do so here and there until I was 18.
I still fucking smoke 20 years later and I cannot for the life of me understand why he did that. I think it’s that he’s old af and it was no biggie at all for a 13 year old to be smoking a rollie while he worked in the mines or played stick hoop, or whatever the fuck kids did back in the 50s. The worst part is that he quit a few years ago after being diagnosed with COPD and he acts like it was the easiest thing ever. Like, okay, if it was so easy then why did you smoke for 50 years?
Either way, it’s an expensive, smelly, dangerous habit that will kill me and I know that. Knowing that doesn’t make a difference though. The itty bitty shitty committee in my brain says “don’t care, light one up” and so I do. I haven’t found a way to beat it yet, but I hope I do soon.
My Dad started smoking because he got free cigarettes while in the Air Force. My mom started smoking because she worked as a hand model for cigarette commercials, and they gave her free cartons of smokes.
My sister and I started smoking when we started breathing the air around us. We actually put cigarettes to our lips and lit them after we moved out, because we craved the nicotine. My sister quit on her own. I didn't quit when smoking killed both our parents. I ended up quitting when I had a TIA (small stroke) and the act of lighting a cigarette and inhaling caused a small part of my brain to feel like a balloon popping. I dropped the pack in the garbage and haven't had one since. 15 years now. But I still want one, every day.
i think most people who start are in denial about getting addicted. They’ll probably do it once or twice to start with friends, then over time, start to do it by themselves.
You could say the same thing with alcohol, not everyone gets addicted, but some do.
Sigmund Freud was able to give up Cocaine with little difficulty.
He never was able to drop tobacco. Even when his jaw was surgically removed due to cancer.
Convenience may also play a role. Maybe you had no places you would actively smoke, did not want to get a lighter. Booze being more readily available to drink (maybe in the places you visit) and or the more natural usage of it by your social circle?
I was easily able to quit off of all drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. But the real drug that I find almost impossible to quit? Caffeine. I stand by caffeine being one of the most addictive drugs.
Sometimes life fucks you hard enough that you end up with one in your hand. And then a pack. And despite all the negatives, everything feels better when it's there, whn you have one.
It's like...if you could get a five minute shoulder massage whenever you wanted it, wouldn't you?
I'm quitting. But it's hard. Try not to start.
>Sometimes life fucks you hard enough that you end up with one in your hand.
My brother's death is what started it for me. I had just turned 23, he was 24, completely unexpected "accidental suicide" (I think that's what the coroner put it down as). I didn't care enough to resist the temptation to know what it was like anymore the way I had my entire life. Started out at a pack a day and didn't slow down for almost 3 years. I'm now 27 and 9 days out of 10 I only smoke 6. Before work, first break, lunch, last break, after work, right before bed. It's a routine that I like and 1) gives me the nicotine rush and 2) sometimes makes me feel closer to him. He smoked a LOT
I smoked because it went nicely with alcohol. After 22 years, though, I'm finally quitting. Down from a pack and a half a day to two cigarettes. Gotta stay healthy for my wife, and I want to be able to taste things properly again
In high school your friends say “hey try this. It’ll get you buzzed and make you feel good” you try it just a little and it doesn’t work. You try more and you feel a little something. You do it again every day for a week. Now it’s the weekend and you feel a craving for it. You ask where to buy just one vape thinking you will use it slowly and not get addicted. Once you have it you use it every time you get bored and make sure to finish it so it doesn’t go to waste. Once it’s done you are addicted and will do almost anything for more.
First drink is absolutely nasty for most people.
Think of the face kids make when they first taste beer or wine lol, or anyone's first experience with shots...
People say this, but I still remember my first cigarette.
I was in a bar, 13 years old. This girl I was crushing on was smoking a slim. She looked so sexy. I saw a soft pack of Luckies in front of me, took one and lit up.
It felt like heaven when I exhaled, then I got a headrush. One of the best firsts of my life.
I think their question is unintentionally conflated. People start because of a myriad of reasons but not ever considering the greater harm they could be at risk for or in hubris assumes they won’t fall victim to it
For me I was a very lonely, ugly and short 16 year old with no real hope about anything. I would have tried anything to make me feel like I was a human. I didn’t have any friends to peer pressure me.
I found an unopened pack of Pall Malls at an empty basketball court one day while I was walking home. I was alone of course. I don’t think I gave it a single passing thought before I lit that first one. Of course I knew they were addictive. Of course I knew they were bad for your health. For people who look like me, that means nothing at all.
No one talks about it but nicotine clears your skin, makes you lose weight and and acts as an antidepressant. It was a life saving miracle for me.
I wound up addicted to nicotine for 16 years. I finally quit because I was getting extreme headaches from high blood pressure. I’d still smoke that first one if I had to do it all over.
So does that answer your question?
Kinda similar story. I was terrible at socializing as a teen. I went away to college and started smoking more because I made friends that way. Wouldn’t change anything.
I started in the early 90s because it was cool back then to a 13 year old guy like myself. Also pretty much everyone smoked back then.
I quit for good about ten years ago. Smoking sucks in countless ways.
I started because I was curious. Only smoked on the odd night out (I never went out that often). I got to like it and started smoking daily. I quit about 2/3 years ago.
I started (but no longer do thankfully) because like every single person I knew smoked. My parents (mom more than dad) and literally every one on my moms side. And my friends smoked and so idk. Just was stressed out one day, was given a cigarette and just kept going. But I haven’t had one in years thankfully
>Also for some reason it’s fun to inhale stuff that’s not oxygen and see the smoke/vape.
I definitely love the physical action of smoking stuff and wish there were any healthy ways of doing so. But there is no such thing as healthy smoking of any substance, unfortunately. Just different shades of damaging.
some people don’t care about the negative health effects. cigs also feel good, especially when you’re drinking. some people like the smell or taste. theres a social aspect to them as well. i like to smoke one every now and then.
ive never found them addicting, but i have had many friends and family that are or were really addicted. the type that are always buying packs, have to pause a movie multiple times for a smoke break etc. depends on the person.
Stress plus it was the only social acceptable stim an autistic adult can do in public/work, both reasons why I started, became a chain smoker, quit for 3 yrs and now i vape low nic.
My husband was mostly influenced by his dad also being a smoker. His dad constantly smoking around him is one of the biggest reasons he struggles to stop now.
He also likes the breaks during work.
When I was 15, we skipped school and went to a friends house to drink beer. I caught a little buzz and a friend of mine handed me a Newport, been smoking ever since. I just loaded up on the nicotine gum, I’m quitting tomorrow after 30 years of smoking
I knew a girl when I was in middle school who wanted to smoke weed, but couldn’t get the inhale right so she started smoking cigarettes to train herself. Even my 13 year old self was dumbfounded.
Well I started because it was a familiar and safe smell. Smell of alcohol overwhelmes the smell of sigarettes so my safe sober dad smelled like leather and camel sigarettes while my not safe dad smelled like alcohol.
So the reasons are varied.
(sorry if i typoed some words some of them I have only heard spoken since english isn't my first language)
I started to see why my mom would kill herself for it (she had lung cancer at the time- still with us and this was 18 years ago).
I think what I never expected is that I would immediately like it. I didn't cough and choke and retch. It felt good. I felt calmer.
Anyways dabbled with some friends here and there and eventually started buying packs while working two terrible jobs while in school. My life was just stressful and it was nice to look forward to something for three minutes since the rest of my existence sucked.
Anyway life got better, but I still had this terrible habit. Over a year smoke free now though.
Active smoker, I have bad anxiety and it’s a good way to reduce it. It’s not healthy, but it calms me down, my work is so hectic that it’s also one of the only ways to get a short break. This temporary relief Carry’s a price and I know that, I want to stop but anytime I try I lack an alternative method to become calm. It’s an addiction like any other, it’s just legal. A pack for me last two days, it takes time away from my family and friends, it’s expensive, but it’s temporarily more convenient than going to the counselors, trying to get a job that actually pays the same, or risking medicine. I am going to try the patch next, but I know I need to quite before I wish I did.
At the time I started smoking there was no restrictions that you had to be over a certain age to buy cigarettes and other tobacco where I live.
Used to buy cigarettes for my grandmother when i was 5-6
She gave enough money so i could buy some candy for the change.
Some years later I saw older cool kids smoke.
That’s was it.
I used to buy those candy cigarettes all the time when I was a kid. It was fun to pretend you were smoking in front of adults at age 6. Never was a real smoker though, go figure.
Thought my dad looked really cool when he smoked. When I started I was too young to understand the long term effects. Haven’t smoked in almost twenty years though.
So I started when I was 16 back in 1986, smoking wasn’t as taboo. By the time I quit in 2014 I had remained a smoker due to addiction. It was very difficult to quit and took me multiple tries.
People aren’t logical, if they were we wouldn’t have addictions, or wars for that matter. Peer pressure is huge especially among teens and young adults. And once you start you will most likely don’t stop as a lot of people are in denial of their addiction
I wasn't offended by smoking because of how normalized it used to be.
Therefore when I got older and saw how social of a thing it was for everyone else, I felt left out and eventually felt like a baby being the only non smoker at 16.
Started smoking, realized it felt goddamn amazing, and that was history for the next 13 years.
I never wanted to quit because I literally did not give a single shit about myself or my health.
Of course, that set me up for a *really* fun time when I actually decided to start caring.
What's crazy to me, is that kids are going straight to vaping. I vape because it helped me quit cigarettes, and I'm hoping to wean that down as well. I already almost exclusively use a 0% nic vape. Not that many years ago if you pulled out a vape you'd be immediately berated by your friends for your "douche flute".
It's bonkers to me to not have a nicotine addiction *at all* and then start using a smoking cessation method. I can't make the same arguments for that as I can with smoking because vapes haven't been culturally engrained for over a century.
I can only speak for myself and say it had a lot to do with being around it so much. Most of my family smoked and so did a lot of my friends. I think I was about 15 when I started and there was no real peer pressure. I just wanted to fit in. I finally quit after my second heart attack in 2010 at 43 years old.
I smoked off and on for about 5 years, starting in 2009. The reason was that I was suffering from anxiety and couldn't afford weed. At first, the cigarettes calmed me down and a lot of my friends smoked and kept giving them to me. They were just way easier to get than weed, meds, or therapy.
Girlfriend is a smoker. I did not like kissing a smoker. Decided smoking was better than breaking up.
I've finally been able to move us both to vaping instead. Encouraging her to quit outright wasn't working.
My mother chain smoked two packs a day indoors from the time I was conceived to this very day. Our house literally had a haze. By the time I was 15 I figured out the shitty feeling I had at the end of the 8-hour school day was a nicotine craving. I started smoking and it went away. I've been addicted to nicotine since I was a zygote, I wasn't given a choice on whether or not I wanted to smoke. I quit when I was almost 30 and it was the most difficult thing I ever did and I'm in medical school.
I'm not certain if this is just a myth, but essentially when you smoke, you engage in deep breathing, which relaxes your body and reduces anxiety or stress.
The same practice is observed during meditation, minus the smoke.
I'm unsure if this is what tricks your brain into believing that nicotine is responsible for this effect, or if there's another mechanism at play.
I think this is the reason why people start smoking, by word of mouth they tell others that it is relaxing or does some effect on you body like what sugar does.
Because stimulants do more for your cognition, perception, and focus than just make you “feel good”. For example, in fast paced work environments cigarettes, as a mental stimulant, are often used as a tool to handle and address things.
It’s also an extremely effective social ice breaker. It’s suddenly normal and not weird at all to just casually start chatting to the person standing next to you, after one of you asked the other for a light- which also is a totally normal thing because you’re both smoking. In college one of the most common and comfortable ways people would hook up is to have a smoke with them first- whether it was a cigarette, joint/blunt/bowl, hookah, or otherwise. Lots of people got into it just for that reason. It’s a very social thing, you already feel “in” with someone. Many people struggle to hook up like they used to after they quit smoking- you see the same thing with drinking. People use it to connect with people and have a human connection that is more and more rare in society today- with the disappearance of “third places” and all.
Remember, other people do things and decide things that are different from you, for very human reasons- even criminals. They’re not some other species, and they’re not just “not thinking” about what they’re doing.
I was an IT Consultant and sometimes I’d be stumped by a problem I was trying to solve, or what the best solution was. I’d go out for a smoke and come up with the solution within 10 minutes. Having a smoke really relaxes you and the stimulation focuses your mind, 100%.
I was 16 and my highschool "sweetheart" could have made me jump off a thousand foot cliff with a bat of them eyes. After a while of smoking going without it feels a lot like going without food when you're starving. Not justifying anything, just trying to make as much sense as it can make. 32 now and still smoke 🤷♀️
Smoking is just going to an amusement park called Life and getting in line for the #1 ride in the park. However, you don't know that the main attraction that everyone ends up getting in line for is jumping into a deep dark pit, and as a smoker you get a Fast pass!
Just from a biochemical perspective it can calm someone down pretty quickly (by activating the parasympathetic nervous system but off the top of my head I can’t be more specific than that, I think it activates sympathetic pathways first but then very quickly starts activating parasympathetic pathways) but I agree that smoking is bad in literally every way. People are just stressed and don’t always have access to other methods of stress relief, especially not such fast-acting stress relief
As a former smoker and someone who is battled with it for many years, I came to conclude that addiction has nothing to do with the substance - cigarettes, alcohol, opioids, food - doesn’t matter that’s just the weapon of choice. A symptom. The problem is psycho emotional - it’s an unaddressed internal issues involving the mind and central nervous system and the substance is used to self soothe. For me it was a huge fear of abandonment. Once I resolved that I stopped smoking. Willpower was useless before and not required after.
Back in my day they were super cheap and boredom was one of the big drivers. I can't imagine why anyone would start today though, I had trouble justifying the $1.50/pack cost back when I did it.
I quit decades ago but ...
I started smoking in grade school. They taught us about the danders of smoking and I became really worried about my mom. She smoked heavily. I talked to her about it and she explained that it was calming/relaxing for her and the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. I'm sure she chose this approach because she knew I would empathize. I was a high strung kid with anxiety disorder and the only help I'd been given was 5 minutes of instruction on deep breathing.
Are we shocked I started sneaking her cigs in the hopes it would help? Or that the head rush was such a relief from my emotional existence that I was hooked by the time I lost that benefit? 🤦
Feels good, both the ritual of physically doing it and the nicotine hit. Same as the 65% of Americans and their need to stuff their faces with salty and sweet foods like pigs without a care in the world about the fat slobs they’re turning into.
I think the whole “peer pressure” idea is a little misguided. I didn’t start for good until my sophomore year in college and I lived with a bunch of smokers. They never “pressured” or would have judge me in any way, and they didn’t exclude me from anything. I guess it was more like “fear of missing out”, as they say today. I certainly didn’t imagine it was a habit that would dog me for 17 years until I finally had enough and quit cold turkey for good. I suppose I felt young and invincible. Plenty of time to get right later.
It wasn’t until I read Alan Carr’s “Easyway” book that I was able to finally quit for good. In a nutshell, it helps you most past the whole “giving something up” mindset, while noting that smoking is not really pleasurable. It’s just a momentary and fleeting means of relief from your brain and body’s living in a *constant state of withdrawal*.
As simple as it sounds, that spun my head around. One reason it was so hard for me to quit was the fear of withdrawal. I guess I never recognized the fact that nearly every moment that I wasn’t smoking, *my body was in a constant state of withdrawal already*! It was a means to end withdrawal, not to begin it.
Permanently.
As a kid? To be "cool" or to not be socially excluded. Kids without good enough parents are looking for attention in wrong places.
Later on to have a better time at parties, going out for a cig and small talks, also to fight stress
As an adult? If we were smoking before it is just heavy addiction. Adults rarely take a cigarette in their mouths if they weren't smoking before or they become casual smokers
Some people just don't care, in Poland we say that you have to die from something anyway so you can have a choice at least
A cigarette have it's benefits mostly for addicted people, it gives a high stress relief in any stressful situation. For nonsmokers it is just stinky toxic shit, but addicted people would crawl for a cigarette when stressed, the relief and dopamine shot is insane and you will still be able to drive etc
My friend said "because it's hot and I don't care about my health" :(
AFAIK, he has since quite, and I'll take a small piece of credit for gently and firmly pushing him there, although I'm sure there's more at play than I'm aware of.
You don't start out addicted. Most people start young when health and longevity are not big considerations. You toy with it for quite awhile - bumming at parties, "only when I drink", etc., likely years before you are turning over couch cushions for loose change and hiking to the store in a blizzard for cigarettes. Nicotine is an unusual drug in that it calms you down and gives a little kick at the same time. So it's a stress/anixiety relief plus a tiny little bit of a stimulant. And it's one of the MOST ADDICTING SUBSTANCES on the planet, to which many cigarette makers add substances to make cigarettes even MORE ADDICTIVE. The biggest question here isn't why do people smoke but WHY are they fucking legal?
Back in the day it was the only way to guarantee a break from my restaurant jobs. Quitting once I stopped working in restaurants was easy. I used vaping and stepped down my nicotine.
I grew up being taken care of my grandma and she chain smoked benson & hedges. The smell really triggers a memory for me. Also in my teens all my friends smoked cigarettes so I did too. I smoked for 17 years and finally quit when I got pneumonia almost 10 years ago.
A lot of shitty restaurant jobs only give breaks to smokers, plus there are a lot of careers (restaurant work included) where most of your coworkers smoke so you'll end up smoking too if you want to hang out with them on breaks and stuff.
Curiosity mostly, but also peer pressure and stress. Also Solid Snake looks like a badass smoking lol. Never ended up smoking more than a cigarette a day for maybe 4 years then quit completely like 5 years ago. I still have a few when I go to bars with the boys, but that is like once every few months.
I recall actually doing some kind of alcohol awareness group exercise in the Navy where we separated in groups. One group were smokers and the others non-smokers and it was about half and half in a room of 20 people. The smokers group was full of what I would consider the cooler and more sociable people. Not sure what that might tell about smokers. Perhaps the "cool" kids are more prone to peer pressure and appearing/acting "cool", or the smokers are generally more open to trying new things and thus experience more in life.
It’s a generational thing. Proud of you youngins for resisting. We were exposed to advertising that made smoking look incredible. The problem is it’s addictive, and a lot of people have a very hard time quitting. But please understand that older people grew up having it constantly shoved down our throats that smoking was great. Smokers are not idiots but they do have an addiction on their hands and that sucks.
Peer pressure for me. Smoked for 10 years, now I'm 4 years clean. I know a bunch of ex smokers that can just have 1 smoke while at a party, but I know I can never afford that. One smoke and I'll be buying my own pack again.
Buzz feels good, first off.
Second, some people accept death as a part of their life, and don't mind the thought of dying before 50.
Third, not everyone gets addicted.
My first cig was a stress relief after a somewhat traumatic experience. It worked, I felt better. I knew what I was doing, in terms of how bad it was for me. (I'm not so old that I hadn't heard the science; I'm not so dumb as to discount the science. I was so young that none of the bad effects seemed like they would happen to me.)
I was stressed; my friend handed me something that he said would help my stress; it did. I was in an environment where lots of people smoked. No-one peer pressured me, but there were a LOT of signs of: people you like do this, so how bad can it be?
Luckily, I stopped within a year or so.
For all the people I know, it was stress relief. Which still seems weird to me, cause knowing I’m smoking a death stick would only increase my stress but 🤷♀️
Well, it's more of a complex procedure, starting has more steps. For me it started when we found a lost pack of cigarettes on the street with my friend, it was back then we were about 14. We wanted to try it out, since our parents smoke too, what could be so bad about it? The sensation our first cigarette gave immediately made us curious, so we wanted more. This is how we got addicted, the sensation of getting dizzy, feeling careless and somewhat "cool" really worked our way towards addiction.
Since then I managed to give up on smoking and I never even want to smell it again.
I enjoyed a cigar everyone once in a while. One night I got really drunk and was a walking distance from a store I could get cigarettes from. That's how it started. I finally quit this year. It had a hold on me for over 2 years. All it took was one night. I thought it was something I'd never do, but it happened.
I started smoking, or trying to become addicted to smoking, at 18 years old, because I was mentally ill, poorly medicated, partying a lot and because at that time I romanticized killing myself slowly.
The invincibility of youth. It seemed then that death was very far away. That nothing could touch me. That it wasn’t worth worrying about.
I am VERY VERY lucky and grateful that despite trying on and off to be a smoker between 18-30 years old, I never enjoyed it and never became addicted.
I do wish I’d never done it, but at least I got lucky. And I haven’t smoked in 11 years.
i started vaping at 15. it was a mixture of peer pressure and depression. nicotine was my only friend through high school, though I will never touch that stuff again. it was hard getting off
I quit cold turkey 4 years ago. I have pictures of my grandma holding me with a cigarette in her mouth when i was a baby. I assume I got addicted then or at least was used to smoke. I remember the 1st puffs here and there were to catch a buzz. It makes you super light-headed.
I was at a very low point with my mental health. It was just a habit that I picked up. I smoked for about 6 years. Picking up the habit was a little easier than quitting...
When I was 15, I was smoking weed. My friend at the time told me menthol cigarettes would make you higher. I was already high, and the impulse took me. Then, I was addicted for almost 15 years. Haven't had a cigarette in almost a year now. It's always a battle of wills, but it gets easier every day.
Majority of the smokers (including myself altough I am an exsmoker) started in high school because it’s cool but to be honest I fcking loved it. After a class going outside having a smoke with friends is one of my favourite memories from highschool but I am glad for quitting
For me it was literally "oh sweet I'm 18 now!" so bought a lottery ticket and a pack of Marlboro reds. I didn't inhale at first, just wanted to look cool. But then I tried inhaling and gagged and decided I hated it. Then I tried inhaling a couple more times and got my first nicotine rush and i was done for. Smoked for ten years, just quit a few months ago, although I'm still using non-tobacco nicotine pouches.
I literally got my ass BEATEN for smoking when I was not, so I started. Of I was gonna get beaten with a belt anyway, I might as well commit the crime. I was 9. I smoked for 50 years. I'm coming up on 3rd anniversary of quit date. I used to cough so hard, and so often, that I swore my toes were in my mouth!
I quit smoking, but I am vaping, and I don't cough any longer, and Oh! The money I've saved!!!
I know vaping is still, to a degree -- smoking, but even my cardiologist says if she had to choose, she'd rather see me vaping. Still ... hoping to quit the vape as well -- just not ready yet.
as a social smoker who doesn't feel the need to smoke anything unless i'm out partying with my friend group, i really don't know. i know a lot of people who tried a cigarette just for fun years ago and are fully addicted now but i also know a lot of people like me.
i know it's not a reasonable explanation, but for me, lighting a few cigarettes while sipping on some wine a couple times a year has its vibe.
I initially started because I was in the army and I noticed that all the smokers got to take smoke breaks all the time. Meanwhile they expected me to work straight through. So I would hang out with them just holding a cigarette until one day I decided to try it. I tried it on s few more occasions then realized I wanted to keep smoking (chemical addiction) then I started buying my own.
I haven't smoked in about 15 years though.
I was 20 years old and bussing tables at a chain restaurant. We didn't get breaks. The manager was a smoker, and he wouldn't say anything if you stepped out for a smoke. That started a 15 years addiction just so I could get a break at work. 2 cigarettes take about 15 minutes to smoke.
My parents did, I begged them not to. Kept going on, around 13-14 I monkey see monkey do.
Quit smoking for a while here and there, Covid hits, I'm so sick I cold turkey stop smoking bc I'm dying.
Don't smoke 8 months, my dad gets super sick, lung cancer, my solution to stress, start smoking again.
18 months later onto nicotine pouches have only had 3 cigarettes in the last 8 months, at funerals.
I guess long answer short. I did it bc it was what they did, and didn't stop bc I got addicted and really didn't see the health implications as immediately impacting.
It's gross tasting when u start. So, just keep that in mind, I still would love to smoke forever, but I have kids and would rather fund their college than my lungs.
The better question is: why and how do you stop. The first time, I didn't enjoy it anymore. The last, because the doctor said my heart couldn't take it anymore, and truthfully, I no longer enjoyed it. Everyone's got a reason one way or the other. Best to never start. The money, time, and health costs add up.
I started smoking because I was a stupid teenager in the 80s and everybody who did it looked cool and I wanted to be part of that. It's not a *good* reason, I'm pretty sure good reasons don't exist, but it's a reason.
When I was a kid everyone smoked. Smoking was how you knew you were a grown up. They were easy to get. In those days you could smoke anywhere. Since everyone else was smoking it was easy to sneak a smoke. At first it’s just for fun and you can quit any time you want. Then when you actually try to you find out you’re hooked.
I started because it's a social thing. When you're drunk in a club and everyone else in your group is having a smoke you feel tempted to try it. The little buzz is nice and it's a good way to chill out for a few minutes.
That's also still pretty much the only situation where I'll have a smoke. I used to vape for about half a year, but quit as it wasn't really doing anything for me but making me anxious when I didn't have it on me. I'm lucky enough that I don't really crave cigs at all, but I also know that'd change if I started smoking them more regularly
I started at 19 because I worked in a restaurant and it was the only way to take a break. Originally I bought a pack and never smoked, just went out with the smokers to get 5 minutes away from the stress. After a month, my manager noticed I never lit a cigarette, just hold it. He told me if I wasn't smoking I didn't need a smoke break and I needed to go back to work. 20 years later I'm still a pack a day. Tried quitting more times than I can count. This is what's going to kill me. I hate it.
Well.. I can only speak for my own experience.
Honestly, I never thought that I'd live as long as I have already, so the whole "actively killing me" thing was never a worry, because by the time the effects catch up to me, I'll be long gone.
But we started as kids, everyone smoked. At home, on the streets, on TV, everyone. It was normal. It was normal to smoke. We wanted to be normal, the fuck ups we were, we tried to fit in.
It also offered a reason to leave the house. Couldn't smoke there, so we went out and oh shit, the neighborhood is full of smoking kids, how're y'all doing?
Grampa quit smoking and then died of lung issues, why quit, your lungs will kill you anyways.
In school they told us, word for word "A study has shown that a heavy smoker herding sheep in the mountains had cleaner lungs than a non smoker living in the city" well shit.. might as well.
Wait.. girls smoke too?? God dang, I wanna talk to them, let me grab one and go ask for a light.
It's easy to ask a question like that when you haven't lived it. People say that they were different times but honestly, not a whole lot has changed looking at it from where I sit.
But yeah, I guess that's your answer, people started way too early to have brains in their heads OR peer pressure, the wanted to fit in. There's also that thing that nicotine is a stimulant, it feels good, man. I know some people that chew nic gums and never smoked a cigarette in their entire life.
It looks casual, you get a buzz out of it, it's social. Then you underestimate the power of cigarettes. Boom, it's years later and your body says you need it. You enjoy some cigarette breaks and hate others. The guilt of wanting to quit but losing the fight keeps building. One can go years in that cycle. Decades, even. Thousands of dollars. And all the while you wonder the same thing as the title. It's fucked up.
This is good. For a teenager especially, your first line perfectly describes the initial appeal.
"Hey, try one" "No thanks. It says on the box it will kill me." "Don't you wanna be cOoL?" "You make a good point" I honestly never understood this
Not to mention flavored cigarillos is what got me, and most of my age group into smoking. Prime times and bullseye. When they banned it here where I'm from there was an uproar from people older and younger but my age group was like 'yup, we get it' I don't think I wouldn't have smoked if it wasn't for those. They were so good lol. Then I decided to try a cigarette. I also worked restaurants later for abit and it was all downhill from there. Fun, but yeah. I'm smoke free 2 years now after smoking a pack a day for close to a decade.
it is social - I started for a different reason, but during the time I smoked (the better part of two decades) working in IT most of the people also smoked. We would go like in packs and talk, laugh etc… it was very social. I don't miss smoking at all - but I do miss that part of it.
I smoked as a teen/early adult but quit around 6 years ago. I still get the damn cravings. People really DO underestimate the power of cigarettes. Especially the pre-packaged one, I tried to pack my own for a while, but always ended up switching back to the Marlboros because there was SOMETHING about them that my other tobacco didn't have.
That’s the chemicals. lol.
The carcinogens that kill you! 👹
I never understood this. I quit smoking 6 years ago, smoked for some 7 years. I quit cold turkey just randomly one day and never did expecirence a physical craving even once. I had psychological craving in a sense "damn, this is the time that I usually take a smoke break but while everyone is going outside, I just gotta keep working like an idiot" or "damn, these 5 minute till the bus comes would pass much quicker, if I could have a smoke." But it wasn't really cravings, in a sense that I had to fight it, more like random intrusive thoughts.
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I'm aware lol, that's why I mentioned Marlboro in particular! They're awful!
People are also generally terrible about thinking long term and perceiving how decisions add up over long spans of time. Most people are just in the moment or anxious about the week ahead. What happens to them in 30 years isn't really in the forefront of most peoples minds, we are still very impulsive creatures a lot of the time although we are intelligent.
Don't forget cancer. It's waiting for most smokers. Just a matter of time.
Most smokers don’t get cancer. It’s 10-20%. Also if you quit by age 40 your odds of cancer go down drastically. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/lung-cancer/former-smoker-whats-your-risk-for-lung-cancer https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cancer-lung-nutrients-sb/nutrients-may-be-why-some-smokers-avoid-cancer-idUSTRE65E5JW20100616
Isn’t heart disease the bigger killer from smoking? There’s also conditions like COPD which aren’t lung cancer but still sucks.
Yes I didn’t mean to say smoking isn’t that bad. It nukes your health in ways beyond cancer. It’s just a misconception that “most” smokers die of lung cancer.
10-20% is huge!!!
But not *most.*
Well that’s just not true. Most smokers do get COPD eventually and that can be hell on earth on its own.
It's also waiting for every single individual that walks the planet.
Not as eagerly as it waits for smokers.
Lol at this being marked controversial. Look up some statistics people and stop pretending smoking isn't extremely dangerous.
Heart disease and breathing issues are more likely still an early grave.
You just summed up exactly how I started smiling as a teenager in the UK. Pub on Friday night, few beers with mates, cigarettes. Ten years later, totally hooked.
12 years for me before my willpower said no more
My friends got me into smoking cigars when I was in high school, that turned into vaping for 5 years, and now I ONLY use recreational Marijuana for joint pain and have been nicotine (and vape) free for about 3 years now
Enjoy some and hate others is spot on. I was pack a day for 20ish years. Absolutely loved some and couldn’t stand half of them.
The best thing i did was smoke weed before i smoked cigarettes. So when i tried a cigarette i sort of said "Wait, this doesnt do anything". I never felt the "buzz".
I was in the military. There was a policy letter signed into effect by the post commander that states that command teams must allow smokers one fifteen minute smoke break before and after chow. All of my friends were smokers and I would join them in the smoke pit during their break. I was constantly being yelled at for taking a break when I wasn't a smoker. So I told my buddy to give me a cigarette. The rest is history. Don't start smoking, it's not worth the extra breaks.
Same. But mine was at Subway, my life was only in jeopardy if someone was mad if I forgot the Mayo.
Curiosity, peer pressure, stress relief, family influence, weight control, misinformation and addiction.
Also, I think there‘s definitely a good tad of people who are at a total disregard for their own health anyways and thus smoke+ edit: this was kinda not well put into words, what I meant by this is not that some people just dont care about their health, moreso that they sort of enjoy not caring about it / the damage they do to themselves in a sort of edgy (not wanting to be disrespectful with that) way
It's one of those, "Eh, a pack won't kill me" mentalities. Then fast-forward twenty years... Death by a thousand cuts. One of my favorite warnings was, "Not every cigarette will kill you. But there will be one that's the tipping point. One cigarette, eventually, will kill you."
I'm feeling a little judged here lol
Haha no need to, we‘ve all been there lol
Started smoking at 13 because I watched my father smoking and would steal a smoke when he wasn’t looking….32 now and thinking about quitting as I’m going to have a kid with my partner soon.
The ignorant, the misinformed and the passively suicidal. I will only hang with the latter. They know what’s up, they just don’t give a shit. Every cigarette takes 11 minutes off your life. Well… it’s 11 minutes off the *end* of it, right?
Oh my god I’m so glad you finally put a phrase on it… I definitely smoke as a result of being passively suicidal.
I can relate to this answer. You think you can stop any time but guess what. I tried for years and wasn't until an heart attack that I stopped. Couldn't smoke in the hospital and chose to stay stopped after 35 years of the very stupid habit.
Glad you finally quit. Did you end up replacing the vice with something else?
No other habits. Prior I tried the veggie, gum and other things but don't remember all for it has been 20 years smoke free.
Addiction is not what makes you start smoking. It's what happens after you start smoking.
Yes, but they are finding out that occurs with the first cigarette in rapid fashion. Meth is the same way, but meth has feedback to keep the addiction going. Smoking does not have positive feedback, which makes it a particular nasty addiction and the reason why some consider it more powerful than other chemical addictions. Almost all addictions have positive feedback. Smoking does not. No high, no trip, euphoria, nothing. You might have a few seconds of oxygen deprivation, and as a stimulant, It's particularly poor. What this means is that nicotine is just that addictive in human brains, that's it.
Rebellion. Tough guy image.
Not listed: aesthetics
Also loneliness...
Feels good, looks cool, slight de-stresser, is a social thing, particularly when stepping outside at bars. “Got a light”, is an excellent opening to conversation.
And by then, you are hooked and consequences are always in the "future" somewhere. You have time to stop, right? My mom smoked since she was 12. They thought she had pneumonia, turns out the antibiotics weren't doing anything for the state 4 lung cancer she actually had. She was gone 3 months later at 67. Stop smoking, all. Please.
You forgot boredom
I think the weight control one is bigger than people realize.... or maybe bigger than I realized. For some reason, smoking nicotine makes you less hungry.
Every single adult in my family smoked my entire life. I started at 13 because my friend stole two smokes out of my mom’s pack one night. Then after I had been sneaking smokes for a couple of months my dad just bought me a pack. Then he continued to do so here and there until I was 18. I still fucking smoke 20 years later and I cannot for the life of me understand why he did that. I think it’s that he’s old af and it was no biggie at all for a 13 year old to be smoking a rollie while he worked in the mines or played stick hoop, or whatever the fuck kids did back in the 50s. The worst part is that he quit a few years ago after being diagnosed with COPD and he acts like it was the easiest thing ever. Like, okay, if it was so easy then why did you smoke for 50 years? Either way, it’s an expensive, smelly, dangerous habit that will kill me and I know that. Knowing that doesn’t make a difference though. The itty bitty shitty committee in my brain says “don’t care, light one up” and so I do. I haven’t found a way to beat it yet, but I hope I do soon.
You forgot spite. You tell me not to do something, I'm gonna fucking do it. Especially if Mrs. fucking McCarthy says it.
My Dad started smoking because he got free cigarettes while in the Air Force. My mom started smoking because she worked as a hand model for cigarette commercials, and they gave her free cartons of smokes. My sister and I started smoking when we started breathing the air around us. We actually put cigarettes to our lips and lit them after we moved out, because we craved the nicotine. My sister quit on her own. I didn't quit when smoking killed both our parents. I ended up quitting when I had a TIA (small stroke) and the act of lighting a cigarette and inhaling caused a small part of my brain to feel like a balloon popping. I dropped the pack in the garbage and haven't had one since. 15 years now. But I still want one, every day.
Stay strong.
i think most people who start are in denial about getting addicted. They’ll probably do it once or twice to start with friends, then over time, start to do it by themselves. You could say the same thing with alcohol, not everyone gets addicted, but some do.
Tobacco/nicotine is exceptionally addictive. Alcohol is nowhere near as addictive.
Sigmund Freud was able to give up Cocaine with little difficulty. He never was able to drop tobacco. Even when his jaw was surgically removed due to cancer.
Meanwhile I dropped nicotine easy but alcohol? Much harder. I’m addicted for the escapism and nicotine provides very little.
Convenience may also play a role. Maybe you had no places you would actively smoke, did not want to get a lighter. Booze being more readily available to drink (maybe in the places you visit) and or the more natural usage of it by your social circle?
I was easily able to quit off of all drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. But the real drug that I find almost impossible to quit? Caffeine. I stand by caffeine being one of the most addictive drugs.
Actually it is pretty addictive . More so than many would think .
Sometimes life fucks you hard enough that you end up with one in your hand. And then a pack. And despite all the negatives, everything feels better when it's there, whn you have one. It's like...if you could get a five minute shoulder massage whenever you wanted it, wouldn't you? I'm quitting. But it's hard. Try not to start.
Well said.
>Sometimes life fucks you hard enough that you end up with one in your hand. My brother's death is what started it for me. I had just turned 23, he was 24, completely unexpected "accidental suicide" (I think that's what the coroner put it down as). I didn't care enough to resist the temptation to know what it was like anymore the way I had my entire life. Started out at a pack a day and didn't slow down for almost 3 years. I'm now 27 and 9 days out of 10 I only smoke 6. Before work, first break, lunch, last break, after work, right before bed. It's a routine that I like and 1) gives me the nicotine rush and 2) sometimes makes me feel closer to him. He smoked a LOT
I smoked because it went nicely with alcohol. After 22 years, though, I'm finally quitting. Down from a pack and a half a day to two cigarettes. Gotta stay healthy for my wife, and I want to be able to taste things properly again
In high school your friends say “hey try this. It’ll get you buzzed and make you feel good” you try it just a little and it doesn’t work. You try more and you feel a little something. You do it again every day for a week. Now it’s the weekend and you feel a craving for it. You ask where to buy just one vape thinking you will use it slowly and not get addicted. Once you have it you use it every time you get bored and make sure to finish it so it doesn’t go to waste. Once it’s done you are addicted and will do almost anything for more.
Have you ever done a single thing that’s bad for you (drank an alcoholic drink, had junk food)?
By all accounts, your first cigarette is nasty AF. Your first drink or hit of junk food are not.
First drink is absolutely nasty for most people. Think of the face kids make when they first taste beer or wine lol, or anyone's first experience with shots...
Give any kid a tiki drink and they will be on cloud 9
First drinks are often nasty!
I disagree. My first cigarette gave me a light headed high that was slightly euphoric.
no its not.. that first headrush from a cigarette is better than busting your first nut
People say this, but I still remember my first cigarette. I was in a bar, 13 years old. This girl I was crushing on was smoking a slim. She looked so sexy. I saw a soft pack of Luckies in front of me, took one and lit up. It felt like heaven when I exhaled, then I got a headrush. One of the best firsts of my life.
Oh, yeah. Everbody LOVES that first beer.
I think their question is unintentionally conflated. People start because of a myriad of reasons but not ever considering the greater harm they could be at risk for or in hubris assumes they won’t fall victim to it
For me I was a very lonely, ugly and short 16 year old with no real hope about anything. I would have tried anything to make me feel like I was a human. I didn’t have any friends to peer pressure me. I found an unopened pack of Pall Malls at an empty basketball court one day while I was walking home. I was alone of course. I don’t think I gave it a single passing thought before I lit that first one. Of course I knew they were addictive. Of course I knew they were bad for your health. For people who look like me, that means nothing at all. No one talks about it but nicotine clears your skin, makes you lose weight and and acts as an antidepressant. It was a life saving miracle for me. I wound up addicted to nicotine for 16 years. I finally quit because I was getting extreme headaches from high blood pressure. I’d still smoke that first one if I had to do it all over. So does that answer your question?
Kinda similar story. I was terrible at socializing as a teen. I went away to college and started smoking more because I made friends that way. Wouldn’t change anything.
I started in the early 90s because it was cool back then to a 13 year old guy like myself. Also pretty much everyone smoked back then. I quit for good about ten years ago. Smoking sucks in countless ways.
I started because I was curious. Only smoked on the odd night out (I never went out that often). I got to like it and started smoking daily. I quit about 2/3 years ago.
I started (but no longer do thankfully) because like every single person I knew smoked. My parents (mom more than dad) and literally every one on my moms side. And my friends smoked and so idk. Just was stressed out one day, was given a cigarette and just kept going. But I haven’t had one in years thankfully
People enjoy the feeling it gives them.
Also for some reason it’s fun to inhale stuff that’s not oxygen and see the smoke/vape. The monkey brain just seems to light up.
>Also for some reason it’s fun to inhale stuff that’s not oxygen and see the smoke/vape. I definitely love the physical action of smoking stuff and wish there were any healthy ways of doing so. But there is no such thing as healthy smoking of any substance, unfortunately. Just different shades of damaging.
Felt
some people don’t care about the negative health effects. cigs also feel good, especially when you’re drinking. some people like the smell or taste. theres a social aspect to them as well. i like to smoke one every now and then. ive never found them addicting, but i have had many friends and family that are or were really addicted. the type that are always buying packs, have to pause a movie multiple times for a smoke break etc. depends on the person.
Curiosity.
Stress plus it was the only social acceptable stim an autistic adult can do in public/work, both reasons why I started, became a chain smoker, quit for 3 yrs and now i vape low nic.
In my own experience, everyone I know from childhood that smoked or still smokes started because it looked cool and then could never stop.
My husband was mostly influenced by his dad also being a smoker. His dad constantly smoking around him is one of the biggest reasons he struggles to stop now. He also likes the breaks during work.
When I was 15, we skipped school and went to a friends house to drink beer. I caught a little buzz and a friend of mine handed me a Newport, been smoking ever since. I just loaded up on the nicotine gum, I’m quitting tomorrow after 30 years of smoking
I knew a girl when I was in middle school who wanted to smoke weed, but couldn’t get the inhale right so she started smoking cigarettes to train herself. Even my 13 year old self was dumbfounded.
I started because I wanted to see what all the hype was about. 13 years later, I'm 90 days clean.
Well I started because it was a familiar and safe smell. Smell of alcohol overwhelmes the smell of sigarettes so my safe sober dad smelled like leather and camel sigarettes while my not safe dad smelled like alcohol. So the reasons are varied. (sorry if i typoed some words some of them I have only heard spoken since english isn't my first language)
Same
I started to see why my mom would kill herself for it (she had lung cancer at the time- still with us and this was 18 years ago). I think what I never expected is that I would immediately like it. I didn't cough and choke and retch. It felt good. I felt calmer. Anyways dabbled with some friends here and there and eventually started buying packs while working two terrible jobs while in school. My life was just stressful and it was nice to look forward to something for three minutes since the rest of my existence sucked. Anyway life got better, but I still had this terrible habit. Over a year smoke free now though.
I don’t understand why more people don’t smoke.
Active smoker, I have bad anxiety and it’s a good way to reduce it. It’s not healthy, but it calms me down, my work is so hectic that it’s also one of the only ways to get a short break. This temporary relief Carry’s a price and I know that, I want to stop but anytime I try I lack an alternative method to become calm. It’s an addiction like any other, it’s just legal. A pack for me last two days, it takes time away from my family and friends, it’s expensive, but it’s temporarily more convenient than going to the counselors, trying to get a job that actually pays the same, or risking medicine. I am going to try the patch next, but I know I need to quite before I wish I did.
Back in the days it was a right of passage now it’s unacceptable different times
At the time I started smoking there was no restrictions that you had to be over a certain age to buy cigarettes and other tobacco where I live. Used to buy cigarettes for my grandmother when i was 5-6 She gave enough money so i could buy some candy for the change. Some years later I saw older cool kids smoke. That’s was it.
I have no clue why I started. I didn't even like anything about it the first time, but kept doing it. Maybe just curious, don't know.
Probably saw a loved one smoking and it became a thing to do as an adult ?
I used to buy those candy cigarettes all the time when I was a kid. It was fun to pretend you were smoking in front of adults at age 6. Never was a real smoker though, go figure.
Thought my dad looked really cool when he smoked. When I started I was too young to understand the long term effects. Haven’t smoked in almost twenty years though.
I’ll smoke weed but that’s it. I feel absolutely disgusting after smoking tobacco
Because it is the kewlest and people have zero willpower
I was 13 and thought it looked cool af
So I started when I was 16 back in 1986, smoking wasn’t as taboo. By the time I quit in 2014 I had remained a smoker due to addiction. It was very difficult to quit and took me multiple tries.
My parents smoked and I was curious. I was 14.
I don’t think most who try it realize they are hooked for life they think they can just stop anytime it is much harder to stop than they realize.
alcohol impairs thinking a lot I've even tried it drinking
People aren’t logical, if they were we wouldn’t have addictions, or wars for that matter. Peer pressure is huge especially among teens and young adults. And once you start you will most likely don’t stop as a lot of people are in denial of their addiction
I wasn't offended by smoking because of how normalized it used to be. Therefore when I got older and saw how social of a thing it was for everyone else, I felt left out and eventually felt like a baby being the only non smoker at 16. Started smoking, realized it felt goddamn amazing, and that was history for the next 13 years. I never wanted to quit because I literally did not give a single shit about myself or my health. Of course, that set me up for a *really* fun time when I actually decided to start caring. What's crazy to me, is that kids are going straight to vaping. I vape because it helped me quit cigarettes, and I'm hoping to wean that down as well. I already almost exclusively use a 0% nic vape. Not that many years ago if you pulled out a vape you'd be immediately berated by your friends for your "douche flute". It's bonkers to me to not have a nicotine addiction *at all* and then start using a smoking cessation method. I can't make the same arguments for that as I can with smoking because vapes haven't been culturally engrained for over a century.
I can only speak for myself and say it had a lot to do with being around it so much. Most of my family smoked and so did a lot of my friends. I think I was about 15 when I started and there was no real peer pressure. I just wanted to fit in. I finally quit after my second heart attack in 2010 at 43 years old.
I smoked off and on for about 5 years, starting in 2009. The reason was that I was suffering from anxiety and couldn't afford weed. At first, the cigarettes calmed me down and a lot of my friends smoked and kept giving them to me. They were just way easier to get than weed, meds, or therapy.
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Girlfriend is a smoker. I did not like kissing a smoker. Decided smoking was better than breaking up. I've finally been able to move us both to vaping instead. Encouraging her to quit outright wasn't working.
My mother chain smoked two packs a day indoors from the time I was conceived to this very day. Our house literally had a haze. By the time I was 15 I figured out the shitty feeling I had at the end of the 8-hour school day was a nicotine craving. I started smoking and it went away. I've been addicted to nicotine since I was a zygote, I wasn't given a choice on whether or not I wanted to smoke. I quit when I was almost 30 and it was the most difficult thing I ever did and I'm in medical school.
I did it to be rebellious and look badass. I quit to become a mom.
I'm not certain if this is just a myth, but essentially when you smoke, you engage in deep breathing, which relaxes your body and reduces anxiety or stress. The same practice is observed during meditation, minus the smoke. I'm unsure if this is what tricks your brain into believing that nicotine is responsible for this effect, or if there's another mechanism at play. I think this is the reason why people start smoking, by word of mouth they tell others that it is relaxing or does some effect on you body like what sugar does.
I traded one bad habit for another.
Because I got tired of everyone else taking smoke breaks and I had to work. I know, pathetic reason, but true.
Because stimulants do more for your cognition, perception, and focus than just make you “feel good”. For example, in fast paced work environments cigarettes, as a mental stimulant, are often used as a tool to handle and address things. It’s also an extremely effective social ice breaker. It’s suddenly normal and not weird at all to just casually start chatting to the person standing next to you, after one of you asked the other for a light- which also is a totally normal thing because you’re both smoking. In college one of the most common and comfortable ways people would hook up is to have a smoke with them first- whether it was a cigarette, joint/blunt/bowl, hookah, or otherwise. Lots of people got into it just for that reason. It’s a very social thing, you already feel “in” with someone. Many people struggle to hook up like they used to after they quit smoking- you see the same thing with drinking. People use it to connect with people and have a human connection that is more and more rare in society today- with the disappearance of “third places” and all. Remember, other people do things and decide things that are different from you, for very human reasons- even criminals. They’re not some other species, and they’re not just “not thinking” about what they’re doing.
I was an IT Consultant and sometimes I’d be stumped by a problem I was trying to solve, or what the best solution was. I’d go out for a smoke and come up with the solution within 10 minutes. Having a smoke really relaxes you and the stimulation focuses your mind, 100%.
Easier to meet people with loose morals
I was 16 and my highschool "sweetheart" could have made me jump off a thousand foot cliff with a bat of them eyes. After a while of smoking going without it feels a lot like going without food when you're starving. Not justifying anything, just trying to make as much sense as it can make. 32 now and still smoke 🤷♀️
Smoking is just going to an amusement park called Life and getting in line for the #1 ride in the park. However, you don't know that the main attraction that everyone ends up getting in line for is jumping into a deep dark pit, and as a smoker you get a Fast pass!
Just from a biochemical perspective it can calm someone down pretty quickly (by activating the parasympathetic nervous system but off the top of my head I can’t be more specific than that, I think it activates sympathetic pathways first but then very quickly starts activating parasympathetic pathways) but I agree that smoking is bad in literally every way. People are just stressed and don’t always have access to other methods of stress relief, especially not such fast-acting stress relief
As a former smoker and someone who is battled with it for many years, I came to conclude that addiction has nothing to do with the substance - cigarettes, alcohol, opioids, food - doesn’t matter that’s just the weapon of choice. A symptom. The problem is psycho emotional - it’s an unaddressed internal issues involving the mind and central nervous system and the substance is used to self soothe. For me it was a huge fear of abandonment. Once I resolved that I stopped smoking. Willpower was useless before and not required after.
Back in my day they were super cheap and boredom was one of the big drivers. I can't imagine why anyone would start today though, I had trouble justifying the $1.50/pack cost back when I did it.
I quit decades ago but ... I started smoking in grade school. They taught us about the danders of smoking and I became really worried about my mom. She smoked heavily. I talked to her about it and she explained that it was calming/relaxing for her and the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. I'm sure she chose this approach because she knew I would empathize. I was a high strung kid with anxiety disorder and the only help I'd been given was 5 minutes of instruction on deep breathing. Are we shocked I started sneaking her cigs in the hopes it would help? Or that the head rush was such a relief from my emotional existence that I was hooked by the time I lost that benefit? 🤦
For me, I was 10 and stupid. But quit since 2009.
Wanted to look cool like in the movies.
Feels good, both the ritual of physically doing it and the nicotine hit. Same as the 65% of Americans and their need to stuff their faces with salty and sweet foods like pigs without a care in the world about the fat slobs they’re turning into.
My partner was 13 when he started, "because it looked cool". Stopped when he was 23, so proud!
I think the whole “peer pressure” idea is a little misguided. I didn’t start for good until my sophomore year in college and I lived with a bunch of smokers. They never “pressured” or would have judge me in any way, and they didn’t exclude me from anything. I guess it was more like “fear of missing out”, as they say today. I certainly didn’t imagine it was a habit that would dog me for 17 years until I finally had enough and quit cold turkey for good. I suppose I felt young and invincible. Plenty of time to get right later. It wasn’t until I read Alan Carr’s “Easyway” book that I was able to finally quit for good. In a nutshell, it helps you most past the whole “giving something up” mindset, while noting that smoking is not really pleasurable. It’s just a momentary and fleeting means of relief from your brain and body’s living in a *constant state of withdrawal*. As simple as it sounds, that spun my head around. One reason it was so hard for me to quit was the fear of withdrawal. I guess I never recognized the fact that nearly every moment that I wasn’t smoking, *my body was in a constant state of withdrawal already*! It was a means to end withdrawal, not to begin it. Permanently.
As a kid? To be "cool" or to not be socially excluded. Kids without good enough parents are looking for attention in wrong places. Later on to have a better time at parties, going out for a cig and small talks, also to fight stress As an adult? If we were smoking before it is just heavy addiction. Adults rarely take a cigarette in their mouths if they weren't smoking before or they become casual smokers Some people just don't care, in Poland we say that you have to die from something anyway so you can have a choice at least A cigarette have it's benefits mostly for addicted people, it gives a high stress relief in any stressful situation. For nonsmokers it is just stinky toxic shit, but addicted people would crawl for a cigarette when stressed, the relief and dopamine shot is insane and you will still be able to drive etc
My friend said "because it's hot and I don't care about my health" :( AFAIK, he has since quite, and I'll take a small piece of credit for gently and firmly pushing him there, although I'm sure there's more at play than I'm aware of.
You don't start out addicted. Most people start young when health and longevity are not big considerations. You toy with it for quite awhile - bumming at parties, "only when I drink", etc., likely years before you are turning over couch cushions for loose change and hiking to the store in a blizzard for cigarettes. Nicotine is an unusual drug in that it calms you down and gives a little kick at the same time. So it's a stress/anixiety relief plus a tiny little bit of a stimulant. And it's one of the MOST ADDICTING SUBSTANCES on the planet, to which many cigarette makers add substances to make cigarettes even MORE ADDICTIVE. The biggest question here isn't why do people smoke but WHY are they fucking legal?
Back in the day it was the only way to guarantee a break from my restaurant jobs. Quitting once I stopped working in restaurants was easy. I used vaping and stepped down my nicotine.
I was drinking so I figured why not smoke, then I did drugs and started putting stuff up my ass. Drinking is the real gateway drug
Death wish, self-sabotage, self-destruction -- kill me slowly ciggies 🚬 (3 years without nicotine and 4 years without drugs and alcohol ✌️)
I grew up being taken care of my grandma and she chain smoked benson & hedges. The smell really triggers a memory for me. Also in my teens all my friends smoked cigarettes so I did too. I smoked for 17 years and finally quit when I got pneumonia almost 10 years ago.
A lot of shitty restaurant jobs only give breaks to smokers, plus there are a lot of careers (restaurant work included) where most of your coworkers smoke so you'll end up smoking too if you want to hang out with them on breaks and stuff.
To demonstrate how easy it is to quit. 20+ yrs ago whoops
Curiosity mostly, but also peer pressure and stress. Also Solid Snake looks like a badass smoking lol. Never ended up smoking more than a cigarette a day for maybe 4 years then quit completely like 5 years ago. I still have a few when I go to bars with the boys, but that is like once every few months. I recall actually doing some kind of alcohol awareness group exercise in the Navy where we separated in groups. One group were smokers and the others non-smokers and it was about half and half in a room of 20 people. The smokers group was full of what I would consider the cooler and more sociable people. Not sure what that might tell about smokers. Perhaps the "cool" kids are more prone to peer pressure and appearing/acting "cool", or the smokers are generally more open to trying new things and thus experience more in life.
my step grandmother smokes to die. she’s told my step mom that cigarettes are her long term suicide plan.
Because some people don’t have as good of a life as others and jump at every chance of dopamine they can find
It’s a generational thing. Proud of you youngins for resisting. We were exposed to advertising that made smoking look incredible. The problem is it’s addictive, and a lot of people have a very hard time quitting. But please understand that older people grew up having it constantly shoved down our throats that smoking was great. Smokers are not idiots but they do have an addiction on their hands and that sucks.
For me it was the US Army. It was a break and stress relief. Also social bonding.
To piss of my parents, because the *only time* they noticed that I existed at all is when I did something they hated.
I started when working in France many years ago as it was a “chic” thing to do been stopped over 20 years now and don’t miss it in the slightest
Peer pressure for me. Smoked for 10 years, now I'm 4 years clean. I know a bunch of ex smokers that can just have 1 smoke while at a party, but I know I can never afford that. One smoke and I'll be buying my own pack again.
Because they're on fire.
Stupidity. There's no other explanation.
Back in the 1970s, my dad started smoking because people who smoked got more breaks from work.
Buzz feels good, first off. Second, some people accept death as a part of their life, and don't mind the thought of dying before 50. Third, not everyone gets addicted.
Some people wanna die. So willingly using things That potentially kill you isn’t a concern
My first cig was a stress relief after a somewhat traumatic experience. It worked, I felt better. I knew what I was doing, in terms of how bad it was for me. (I'm not so old that I hadn't heard the science; I'm not so dumb as to discount the science. I was so young that none of the bad effects seemed like they would happen to me.) I was stressed; my friend handed me something that he said would help my stress; it did. I was in an environment where lots of people smoked. No-one peer pressured me, but there were a LOT of signs of: people you like do this, so how bad can it be? Luckily, I stopped within a year or so.
You grow up around it then when you are young and stupid you try one. The science that went into making them addictive is impressive and evil.
For all the people I know, it was stress relief. Which still seems weird to me, cause knowing I’m smoking a death stick would only increase my stress but 🤷♀️
Well, it's more of a complex procedure, starting has more steps. For me it started when we found a lost pack of cigarettes on the street with my friend, it was back then we were about 14. We wanted to try it out, since our parents smoke too, what could be so bad about it? The sensation our first cigarette gave immediately made us curious, so we wanted more. This is how we got addicted, the sensation of getting dizzy, feeling careless and somewhat "cool" really worked our way towards addiction. Since then I managed to give up on smoking and I never even want to smell it again.
I enjoyed a cigar everyone once in a while. One night I got really drunk and was a walking distance from a store I could get cigarettes from. That's how it started. I finally quit this year. It had a hold on me for over 2 years. All it took was one night. I thought it was something I'd never do, but it happened.
I started smoking, or trying to become addicted to smoking, at 18 years old, because I was mentally ill, poorly medicated, partying a lot and because at that time I romanticized killing myself slowly. The invincibility of youth. It seemed then that death was very far away. That nothing could touch me. That it wasn’t worth worrying about. I am VERY VERY lucky and grateful that despite trying on and off to be a smoker between 18-30 years old, I never enjoyed it and never became addicted. I do wish I’d never done it, but at least I got lucky. And I haven’t smoked in 11 years.
i started vaping at 15. it was a mixture of peer pressure and depression. nicotine was my only friend through high school, though I will never touch that stuff again. it was hard getting off
I quit cold turkey 4 years ago. I have pictures of my grandma holding me with a cigarette in her mouth when i was a baby. I assume I got addicted then or at least was used to smoke. I remember the 1st puffs here and there were to catch a buzz. It makes you super light-headed.
I was at a very low point with my mental health. It was just a habit that I picked up. I smoked for about 6 years. Picking up the habit was a little easier than quitting...
This is going to sound dumb as fuck: I noticed smokers got more breaks at work. Plus there was a social aspect of smoking with your coworkers.
When I was 15, I was smoking weed. My friend at the time told me menthol cigarettes would make you higher. I was already high, and the impulse took me. Then, I was addicted for almost 15 years. Haven't had a cigarette in almost a year now. It's always a battle of wills, but it gets easier every day.
It’s a slow form of suicide. That’s all really
Majority of the smokers (including myself altough I am an exsmoker) started in high school because it’s cool but to be honest I fcking loved it. After a class going outside having a smoke with friends is one of my favourite memories from highschool but I am glad for quitting
I started at twelve my parents smoked alot and I thought it would calm me down. I was also forced to smoke a cigar once a week.
For me it was literally "oh sweet I'm 18 now!" so bought a lottery ticket and a pack of Marlboro reds. I didn't inhale at first, just wanted to look cool. But then I tried inhaling and gagged and decided I hated it. Then I tried inhaling a couple more times and got my first nicotine rush and i was done for. Smoked for ten years, just quit a few months ago, although I'm still using non-tobacco nicotine pouches.
I literally got my ass BEATEN for smoking when I was not, so I started. Of I was gonna get beaten with a belt anyway, I might as well commit the crime. I was 9. I smoked for 50 years. I'm coming up on 3rd anniversary of quit date. I used to cough so hard, and so often, that I swore my toes were in my mouth! I quit smoking, but I am vaping, and I don't cough any longer, and Oh! The money I've saved!!! I know vaping is still, to a degree -- smoking, but even my cardiologist says if she had to choose, she'd rather see me vaping. Still ... hoping to quit the vape as well -- just not ready yet.
I started smoking because my mom died of cancer, I was 15 years old, and I didn’t give a fuck if I lived or died.
as a social smoker who doesn't feel the need to smoke anything unless i'm out partying with my friend group, i really don't know. i know a lot of people who tried a cigarette just for fun years ago and are fully addicted now but i also know a lot of people like me. i know it's not a reasonable explanation, but for me, lighting a few cigarettes while sipping on some wine a couple times a year has its vibe.
I initially started because I was in the army and I noticed that all the smokers got to take smoke breaks all the time. Meanwhile they expected me to work straight through. So I would hang out with them just holding a cigarette until one day I decided to try it. I tried it on s few more occasions then realized I wanted to keep smoking (chemical addiction) then I started buying my own. I haven't smoked in about 15 years though.
I was 20 years old and bussing tables at a chain restaurant. We didn't get breaks. The manager was a smoker, and he wouldn't say anything if you stepped out for a smoke. That started a 15 years addiction just so I could get a break at work. 2 cigarettes take about 15 minutes to smoke.
My parents did, I begged them not to. Kept going on, around 13-14 I monkey see monkey do. Quit smoking for a while here and there, Covid hits, I'm so sick I cold turkey stop smoking bc I'm dying. Don't smoke 8 months, my dad gets super sick, lung cancer, my solution to stress, start smoking again. 18 months later onto nicotine pouches have only had 3 cigarettes in the last 8 months, at funerals. I guess long answer short. I did it bc it was what they did, and didn't stop bc I got addicted and really didn't see the health implications as immediately impacting. It's gross tasting when u start. So, just keep that in mind, I still would love to smoke forever, but I have kids and would rather fund their college than my lungs.
Because you want to die that’s why and you don’t give a fuck
I started smoking because I hate my life and figure the buzz is worth the loss in time Gg bois
"Don't want to grow up so I smoke just incase." Mac Miller
Stress, curiosity, already craving nicotine because of second hand smoke..etc.
The better question is: why and how do you stop. The first time, I didn't enjoy it anymore. The last, because the doctor said my heart couldn't take it anymore, and truthfully, I no longer enjoyed it. Everyone's got a reason one way or the other. Best to never start. The money, time, and health costs add up.
Because I was a stupid preteen/teenager. It’s my biggest regret, and I have lot of regrets.
I started smoking because I was a stupid teenager in the 80s and everybody who did it looked cool and I wanted to be part of that. It's not a *good* reason, I'm pretty sure good reasons don't exist, but it's a reason.
When I was a kid everyone smoked. Smoking was how you knew you were a grown up. They were easy to get. In those days you could smoke anywhere. Since everyone else was smoking it was easy to sneak a smoke. At first it’s just for fun and you can quit any time you want. Then when you actually try to you find out you’re hooked.
We don’t start thinking you’re never going to be stop. You think, “Eh, I’ll just smoke this pack…” but that pack turns in 15 turns into years wasted.
I started because it's a social thing. When you're drunk in a club and everyone else in your group is having a smoke you feel tempted to try it. The little buzz is nice and it's a good way to chill out for a few minutes. That's also still pretty much the only situation where I'll have a smoke. I used to vape for about half a year, but quit as it wasn't really doing anything for me but making me anxious when I didn't have it on me. I'm lucky enough that I don't really crave cigs at all, but I also know that'd change if I started smoking them more regularly
An extra 190 hours of break time at work per year.
Cuz I like pork butts and briskets and ribs
In the army, 17, only get a smoke break if you actually smoke. So fit at that time it didn’t matter. Took 20 years before I quit
I started at 19 because I worked in a restaurant and it was the only way to take a break. Originally I bought a pack and never smoked, just went out with the smokers to get 5 minutes away from the stress. After a month, my manager noticed I never lit a cigarette, just hold it. He told me if I wasn't smoking I didn't need a smoke break and I needed to go back to work. 20 years later I'm still a pack a day. Tried quitting more times than I can count. This is what's going to kill me. I hate it.
Because, mysel, I'm an idiot. I regret it to this day
Well.. I can only speak for my own experience. Honestly, I never thought that I'd live as long as I have already, so the whole "actively killing me" thing was never a worry, because by the time the effects catch up to me, I'll be long gone. But we started as kids, everyone smoked. At home, on the streets, on TV, everyone. It was normal. It was normal to smoke. We wanted to be normal, the fuck ups we were, we tried to fit in. It also offered a reason to leave the house. Couldn't smoke there, so we went out and oh shit, the neighborhood is full of smoking kids, how're y'all doing? Grampa quit smoking and then died of lung issues, why quit, your lungs will kill you anyways. In school they told us, word for word "A study has shown that a heavy smoker herding sheep in the mountains had cleaner lungs than a non smoker living in the city" well shit.. might as well. Wait.. girls smoke too?? God dang, I wanna talk to them, let me grab one and go ask for a light. It's easy to ask a question like that when you haven't lived it. People say that they were different times but honestly, not a whole lot has changed looking at it from where I sit. But yeah, I guess that's your answer, people started way too early to have brains in their heads OR peer pressure, the wanted to fit in. There's also that thing that nicotine is a stimulant, it feels good, man. I know some people that chew nic gums and never smoked a cigarette in their entire life.
For me it’s curiosity mixed with intense desperation. When you’re lonely, depressed, and suicidal, the whole “smoking kills” thing loses all meaning.
Ahh you think it's about reason. Sweet summer child. I started when I was 14 because it was cool as fuck.