Do you smoke?

[Jo498]

Never smoked (I found it quite repulsive when I tried for fun, very late, already in my mid-twenties and I am glad because the nervous and fidgety type I am I would probably have made a "great smoker") and I am generally happy about more smoke free environments.
Although I think that it has been exaggerated a little by making most pubs completely smoke free. Germany was late in this respect compared to the US. When I studied in the US in 1996 I was stunned at the smoke-free clubs and pubs. But Germany has become considerably more smoke free in the last 20 years. In my childhood in the 1980s it was disgusting, in hindsight. Virtually all restaurants were smoke-filled. People smoked in their cars when taking children of friends home from school etc. It was just a normal thing to do (although I think the percentage of smokers had been falling already since the 1970s).

What I am still wondering about, though, is whether the rise of overweight and obesity rates (both in the US and Germany) is connected to less smoking. Smokers often tend to be slim and if one looks at pictures from the 1970s it is amazing how slim the *average* person is. Even fat people apparently were not as massive as one frequently encounters today. Sure, there are a lot of factors involved but I think less smoking could be one of them.

[Todd]

What I am still wondering about, though, is whether the rise of overweight and obesity rates (both in the US and Germany) is connected to less smoking.

Almost certainly not.  In the US, the cheap food policy begun under Nixon (ie, increased subsidies for certain calorie-dense commodity crops like corn) is more commonly cited as a/the major contributor.  Also, obesity levels were not so much of a problem before tobacco products became popular (ca, WWI) and while food was still comparatively expensive.  Policies that alter prices for foodstuffs (ie, increase junk food prices and decrease fresh fruit/vegetable/lean meat prices) on a systemic basis would almost certainly reduce obesity levels in the regions affected by such policies.

[BasilValentine]

I smoked off and on in my youth. In my 20s I lost half a lung for reasons unrelated to smoking and decided I should take care of the remaining lung tissue. No desire to smoke since.

[nodogen]

Non-smoker. Here in the UK it has declined a great deal in recent years, no doubt helped by the ban on smoking in public places (including pubs). Apart from the obvious health benefits and resource saving to the health service, it's good that one can come back from a pub, club or concert and not have to put all your clothes in the wash and probably need a shower so you don't stink of stale smoke next morning.

Recently I've started noticing more people smoking and they are invariably Eastern European, usually Polish. Presumably they have different sorts of lungs.

[NikF]

I'm a former smoker. And as usual I have a story.

I grew up in an environment where almost everyone was addicted to some sort of drug. When I was 14 at the end of the school day I'd walk out the gates with my friends and into the newsagent across the road, where for the sum of five pence we'd buy one cigarette and two matches. It would get smoked on the walk home, sometimes shared (including the coughing and spluttering) which often led to accusations of "You gie'd it a coo's lick!" if anyone committed the crime of making the filter wet and soggy. One year passed and I was out of school for good and away from such peer pressure temptation. But many years later I was in a period of life where I started to smoke again in a misguided attempt to deal with stress.

This too will pass. That stressful period eventually ended but the smoking continued. I'd been away from the boxing for a couple of years but even when I returned to it I still smoked (and I wasn't the only one in that gym who did) and trained hard. But worst of all was when I was working. My job involved a lot of 'hurry up and wait' which meant I'd light a cigarette and put it down as soon as we were ready to start, but then there would be the first of many short breaks for a makeup touch up or wardrobe adjustment and I'd light another cigarette and smoke half of it and so on. In total I must have been smoking at least forty a day.

Eventually I quit smoking after going to speak to my doctor about it and having a brief meeting with a nurse who was their stop smoking practitioner. But I found that all I had to do was in a way almost exactly the opposite of what they prescribed. And when I did quit, that was it. No relapses, no setbacks. No more. I just quit.

[Spineur]

Just saw today that diagnosed cancers have been coming down (for men) at a rate of 1.5% a year for the past 5 years.  While there are probably many reasons for this, it matches the decrease of the number of smokers in western countries.

[North Star]

Just saw today that diagnosed cancers have been coming down (for men) at a rate of 1.5% a year for the past 5 years.  While there are probably many reasons for this, it matches the decrease of the number of smokers in western countries.

That's indeed the reason - and since the trend of women smoking has been pretty much the reverse, women's cancers not show the drop. Obviously alcohol and obesity are significant carcinogens too, but smoking is far more potent.

As for me, yes, yes I do smoke. Salmon, perch, ham, and other stuff, in the wood/brick cabin.

[Ken B]

"Do you smoke after sex?"
"I don't know, I've never looked."

[Crudblud]

I used to enjoy smoking a lot, these days either my tastes have changed or the cigarettes have, but I don't find it pleasant any more. I was never particularly into the nicotine rush, only the sensation of the smoke itself, so it has always been quite easy for me to stop, and I have for several lengthy periods, only taking it back up as I felt like it. I feel quite lucky to have never really had a problem with addiction, but I feel for those who do and wish them the best in trying to stop. I have not smoked since around October 2016 and I probably won't take it up again, but I don't think I will ever not be nostalgic for the days when I could sit back and relax of an evening with a pack of Luckies and a Manhattan.

[Turner]

As for me, yes, yes I do smoke. Salmon, perch, ham, and other stuff, in the wood/brick cabin.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Can't stand the stench of it. Whenever I come across a smoker I tend to keep my distance, particularly when the smoke is being blown about everywhere. Thankfully anyone I know who does smoke is very respectful towards others about where they do it, away from non-smokers and more often on private property with friends. People who smoke in public, walking down a busy street in the city, that seems extraordinarily disrespectful to everyone else who is breathing the same air as them.

[NikF]

Although I no longer smoke I still carry a cigarette lighter, because I find they're useful. And quite often when walking down the street shop girls or office ladies will stop me and ask if I'll give them a light. Usually all they want is to get their cigarette lit, but occasionally a woman will be forward enough to grab your hand and pull it closer and hold eye contact while you light her. It's cool as hell, because out of nowhere you can know right away where you stand. 

Sometimes at a concert or ballet during the interval I'll stretch my legs outside. I was doing so when a 'staff only' door burst open and a dude dressed in tails flew out, spied me, held an unlit cigarette up and said one word "Gasping!" 

[Karl Henning]

They know whom to turn to!

[drogulus]

    Not as much as I'd like, sadly.

    It's kind of like Cronenberg's The Fly, where our hero vomits on his food to digest it and on seeing the reaction says something like "Oh, that's...disgusting" in a half questioning manner. It's a heartwarming moment.

    There are more nonsmokers than ever, and as the numbers continue to shift I expect the idea that smokers might have rights will come to seem ridiculous. So I'm a fossil.

    By the way I should report that it's still legal not to smoke in Paris.

[aleazk]

NO.

I mean, a bit of self-destruction is ok I guess, we are going to die anyway... but being unable to breathe... lung transplants... awful cancers... it's kinda a bit too much!<sup>*

*</sup>To this individual, of course. To each, its lung!