Theories on Smoking

[Narz]

Cigarette smoking is probably the most disgusting habit that is legal & tolerated. It's repulsivity & unhealthfulness is beyond a shadow of a doubt, and yet many people still do it. Why?

Well obviously it's highly addictive both physically & psychologically but why do people start at all?

My theory is that it's a dominance strategy. By ruining the air quality of anyone within 20 feet of you essentially you are committing a subtle form of assault on them. If they don't resist it shows you have at least some dominance. Think about the form of smoking even more repulsive than cigarette smoking, of course I'm talking about cigars. What are the classic memes that come to mind when one thinks of cigar smoking (cigarettes ruin rooms, cigars ruin whole houses)? Che, Scarface, fat cats, right? Usually feet kicked up on a desk, classic dominance pose.

Agree/disagree, got your own theory? Obviously there are many reasons to smoke (excuse to take a break from work being high up there as well) but I'm curious as to what you think to the underlying root cause of starting to do so.

Note : I haven't really thought about this as relates to marijuana smoking, usually MJ is smoked in a social setting where everyone is smoking & it's not noxious & cancerous like cigarettes so I don't think my theory would apply to that.

 

[Berzerker]

Is it physically addictive? Well, it is to the point of being desirable once the brain has accepted the new drugs and tough to quit cold turkey. But its not like I'd call the craving a withdrawal. Some people are allergic to smoke and get sick, even perfumes can trigger migraines in people.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The obvious corollary is self-defense. The smoker can't dominate you if you are also smoking.

 

[Ryika]

I believe the trend of teen smoking began in metropolises, where smoking burning tabacco does increase the quality of the air that you breathe in. Kids are just very much focused on their health.

It's been scientifically proven.

 

[sophie]

The most disgusting habit is actually confusing its and it's

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The most disgusting habit is actually confusing its and it's

Linguists have glass stomachs.

 

[Perfection]

Well obviously it's highly addictive both physically & psychologically but why do people start at all?

Because it feels good.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Because it feels good.

You don't know that until you start though.

 

[Perfection]

I enjoy the very occasional cigar.

 

[sophie]

Because it feels good.

Because you hang around a group of friends who all smoke and when they step out of the club for a smoke you go with them, and it's super awkward to be the one dude in a group of friends not smoking.

 

[Perfection]

Because you hang around a group of friends who all smoke and when they step out of the club for a smoke you go with them, and it's super awkward to be the one dude in a group of friends not smoking.

This is true.

 

[Lohrenswald]

I might've said just "to be a jerk" rather than dominance strategy, but this theory sounds plausible

Like if you have to deal with someone smoking, there's perhaps kind of "subconciously" implied you have to deal with everything else they do

 

[Narz]

Because it feels good.

Breathing toxic crap into your lungs doesn't feel good. People learn to associate it with pleasure somehow.

Because you hang around a group of friends who all smoke and when they step out of the club for a smoke you go with them, and it's super awkward to be the one dude in a group of friends not smoking.

Not if you care about yourself more than caring about fitting in. Anyway, I've never known people to judge me for not smoking, I think of myself as a good influence.

 

[Commodore]

This is true.

Not really. I was surrounded by people who smoke in the Army. On days when we had nothing to do, we'd just be standing around with the smokers smoking and just talking. Never once did I feel pressured to start smoking just to fit in. A person who picks up unhealthy habits just to fit in is a weak-willed person to begin with.

 

[Tahuti]

As a smoker, my guess would be lung automutilation.

 

[Perfection]

Not really. I was surrounded by people who smoke in the Army. On days when we had nothing to do, we'd just be standing around with the smokers smoking and just talking. Never once did I feel pressured to start smoking just to fit in. A person who picks up unhealthy habits just to fit in is a weak-willed person to begin with.

Most smokers start early teens though, not military age. Immaturity probably has a lot more to do with it than weak-will.

 

[Bootstoots]

The biggest reason people start and keep smoking in the early stages is the social aspect - groups of smokers stand around outside buildings and chat, and lots of friendships are made this way, as are lots of random encounters with people who you would never normally encounter in everyday life. The smell repulses other people but forms a tight bond within the smoker groups. Humans love to form tribes, and smokers are a heterogeneous lot of folks with something in common. Humans are such social creatures that many are perfectly willing to die for the group of people they fall in among.

I used to hang out with smokers in college, and found them to be some of the most interesting and open-minded people I've met. I never picked up smoking tobacco - I've never minded the smell of secondhand smoke (until it reaches eye-watering concentrations), but smoking a cigarette is just not appealing; way too harsh. I have to be very drunk to enjoy one. Still, they never minded me joining them for a smoke break without actually smoking. There's also a cool little gift economy that has developed among smokers bumming and offering cigarettes, and it's one of the few strong gift economies left in today's world.

Thanks to a visit to two of these friends, I picked up e-cigs a few months ago, because I'm the sort of person who likes drugs, especially legal ones. Nicotone+propylene glycol+glycerol+flavorings is so much more appealing than tobacco combustion products. As someone who has tried a number of drugs, I find nicotine to be a weird one. It's very pleasurable at first, and actually more of a depressant than a stimulant at high doses. But the addiction kicks in quickly, and pretty soon I feel the need to vape most of the time when I'm at home. Besides the first few hits of the day, there's not much obvious psychoactivity anymore. But I still crave it. It's really good at hitting dopamine receptors in ways that make you feel you need it, and it has a weird cholinergic effect as well that is uncommon in drugs and that I don't totally understand.

An aside - something like 75% of schizophrenics smoke, and that's not an accident. Nicotine is apparently a mild antipsychotic in addition to its other pharmacological weirdness.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

You don't know that until you start though.

We've heard the rumors.


Nicotine is a potent anti-depressant. Many people who take up the habit (as opposed to trying it) are self-medicating whether consciously or unconsciously. It just makes many people feel good - which is a powerful motivator even without depression or addiction.

I do not believe OPs argument at all.

 

[Perfection]

Breathing toxic crap into your lungs doesn't feel good.

Totally does.

 

[Tahuti]

An aside - something like 75% of schizophrenics smoke, and that's not an accident. Nicotine is apparently a mild antipsychotic in addition to its other pharmacological weirdness.

The relationship between psychosis and smoking is unclear. Native American tribes used tabacco for religious rites as a hallucinant. And since psychosis is an overflow of your dopamine receptors in your brain and smoking is likely to trigger your reward-system, it is not unlikely that smoking can actually trigger psychosis.

Then again, smoking and psychosis can both reactions to a hostile environment. Go figure.