Theories on Smoking

[Perfection]

Are you really so far from home/work during these walks that you can't hold it until you get to a toilet?

I probably could but it would be needlessly uncomfortable.

EDIT: Plus, public urination in a residential area is a sure-fire way to end up on a sex-offender list. You know, because children.

Pretty sure that's not gonna happen.

 

[Zack]

Not in public though. Ina modern society, one is never so far from a toilet to justify urinating on the street like a stray dog.

What if you're in one of those socialist dystopias that make you pay for the privilege to use a public toilet?

 

[Commodore]

What if you're in one of those socialist dystopias that make you pay for the privilege to use a public toilet?

Start a revolution?

 

[Borachio]

I think that a not-unreasonable theory on smoking is the obvious Freudian one. (I never liked Freud, but never mind that.)

People who smoke are (let's say, "often" or "sometimes" or "occasionally", so as not offend) stuck in the oral phase.

They'd really like to be sucking on a teat. But in public, and for an adult, this wouldn't do.

So a cigarette combines the comfort of a dummy with the added danger of a potential arson attack. What's not to like?

Moreover, it's not a totally outrageous proposition that the human world is becoming more and more infantilised.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Start a revolution?

Free the toilets!

 

[Narz]

I have found cigar smoking to be a pleasant and enjoyable sensation.

First time was pleasant?

What if you're in one of those socialist dystopias that make you pay for the privilege to use a public toilet?

Why would you have to pay in a socialist utopia?

 

[sophie]

First time was pleasant?

For me it was.

 

[Disgustipated]

I notice Hollywood still portrays smoking as cool, and people who smoke are generally thought of cooler people by the rest of society as well. I'm with the OP, I see it as a form of assault. In my opinion, they are committing attempted murder on me, and I should be able to have them arrested. But I admit my views might be considered a little extreme.

I say this even though my dad smoked. But it did seem different back in those days. These days there is no excuse to be poisoning other people with your disgusting habits.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

My belief is correct, smoking is gross.

There certainly are occasions where it is objectively gross. The classic is having a smoke on a cold day outside, then sitting right next to you - that can stink pretty badly. But from my experience it is not like smokers stink terribly all the time, which some appear to be suggesting. It is more like something that can happen, from time to time. With the smokers I deal with regularly I rarely notice something and others don't seem too, as well. So you can see my alienation towards contrary depictions in this thread.
For what it is worth, an ex of mine thought that warm smoke smelled actually kinda nice (but not cold smoke). That is not my opinion, but there you go.

 

[bernie14]

all sorts of people have all sorts of reasons to fill all sorts of their holes with all sorts of disgusting things...

 

[Perfection]

First time was pleasant?

Totally was.

all sorts of people have all sorts of reasons to fill all sorts of their holes with all sorts of disgusting things...

You totally won the thread.

 

[Farm Boy]

It's been two years since I quit. I hit a pack a day, every day. Up to two if I was drinking heavily. Up to three on a road trip. I don't remember why I started, but I can tell you what I've noticed since I quit. I smoked that way for a little over 10 years.

I no longer wake up choking on my phlegm in the middle of the night when I have a mild cold, unable to get back to sleep for the suffocating nightmare that was invariably happening. I get less mild colds too. That's nice. Constantly waking up partially suffocating is unpleasant. I breathe better during the day too. It's like an invisible anchor that was dragging behind me making everything just a little heavier than it should be is just kinda not there anymore. I need about two less hours of sleep every day.

I lose track of time all the time, now. I could tell you exactly when it was when I was smoking. A cigarette every hour, approximately, put a chemical rhythm in the day. A beat, as it were. My focus is much worse. I'm much hungrier. I gained forty pounds(~18kg or 2.8 stones). Only manged to lose about 15 of them off max, thus far. Those are an anchor too. I hate work alot more. Every hour before I got a quick win. Quick win, go get something done, quick win, go get something done. And Boots is right, the quick wins involved checking in with co-smokers. We got a lot of crap done during those breaks. Networking across functional departments at a university, learning institutional breadth, building relationships that worked and were fun. Those atrophied and died when I quit. Then the campus smoking ban rolled in and the rest of them atrophied as well. I have no idea what it would be, but I would put money on real productivity and job satisfaction having been lost with the extinguishing of the smoking nooks. I go outside less, I leave the house less, I don't chat up people at the store where I would pick up my daily ration. Socially speaking? Quitting smoking hurt my brain significantly.

Just don't start. If you don't need it, great. It's terrible for you even if you vape. If you do need it, I feel you. Not feeling like I'm going to die all the time was worth quitting. My son having forgotten that I smoked was worth quitting. But I do definitely know what I'm missing, and that sucks.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

campus smoking ban

I was so glad when smoking was finally banned on the campus of my college. It meant I no longer had to take the back stairs to get to the hallway where some of my classes were. It meant that in one of the main hallways, I no longer had to hold my breath and push people aside as I maneuvered down that very long hallway, because half the people around me were smoking and I just could not breathe without coughing my insides out, eyes watering, and getting an instant headache. That's how bad second-hand smoke is for me. Depending on the brand being smoked, sometimes the reaction would be that I'd also lose whatever I'd eaten recently.

I dropped a night class because the instructor said he wanted to smoke. Apparently he didn't give a damn that the class was in the same wing as the biology and chemistry labs and that wing was a no-smoking zone.


I remember one time during finals, when I was taking one of my geography courses. That instructor allowed us a break halfway through the test, to go get a drink or use the washroom (we were on the honor system not to run to our lockers and look up any answers; our instructor trusted us on this and I don't think many people betrayed that trust). So I headed for the pop machine to get a coke. I drank some of it and then headed back to the classroom... and had no choice but to go through a cloud of cigarette smoke.

My doctor had prescribed ventolin pills to help me breathe, and the way the conditions were then, I took one... and found out something that nobody had bothered to warn me about.

Caffeine and ventolin Do. Not. Mix. The reaction hit me almost immediately, and I got the worst case of jitters I've had in my life. I was shaky, uncoordinated, had trouble holding my pen properly, and my thoughts became scattered. To this day I have no idea how I finished that exam and pulled off a B. If I'd been thinking straight at all, I should have gone to the instructor and told him I was sick.

So when you complain about your social contacts becoming atrophied, I have zero sympathy. Absolutely none. Your social contacts and networking are not worth more than the health of the students attending that institution.

 

[civvver]

I mean did anyone like liquor the first time they tried it? It's really gross if you think about it. It's an acquired taste, though one with a lot more health risks than many other activities. Most people start drinking because it's social. Smoking is same way. You smoke cus your friends smoke.

Thing is smoking among teens is down drastically. It's not cool like it once was, probably all the anti smoking campaigns and bans and stuff got into kids heads or something. I don't know.

As far as smoking bans, it should be banned in most public places where people don't have a lot of choices to go like schools, hospitals, parks, public transportation etc, but private bars and restaurants I think you could have just let the market decide. I for one wouldn't go to bars where smoking was heavy, and I'm sure a lot of other people made the same choice. A business could advertise as smoke free and get more business, eventually that financial pressure would lead some bars to ban it on their own.

 

[metalhead]

Smoking is awesome. I miss it almost every day.

 

[Farm Boy]

So when you complain about your social contacts becoming atrophied, I have zero sympathy. Absolutely none. Your social contacts and networking are not worth more than the health of the students attending that institution.

I didn't ask your sympathy or expect it. I don't desire it in this situation, so you can keep it. I do want people to know what one person has experienced should they, and I hope they do, quit. I would like people who don't smoke to understand at least a little bit about why people do.

Regarding the campus smoking ban this did not happen decades ago. It happened less than two years ago. The smokers were already funneled far from high traffic areas and out of the way, smoking near doors was and is rude and classless, as you say. Now the ones still smoking congregate along a city(ie not campus) road right in the middle of things or in their cars, both next to where non-smokers walk and travel. It's where they can without breaking the rules. The ban is stupid in effect if the desire is to move smokers away from non-smokers, though I would guess there's a "we got 'em!" catharsis that's real even if it's dumb. Same thing derailed my first half-successful quit-smoking effort. Illinois shoved everyone smoking in the bars, which I could avoid, out onto the sidewalk, which I could not. But whatever, go get 'em tigers!

 

[metalhead]

I always thought banning smoking on all areas of a college campus was a dumb idea. Banning it in building and near building entrances, even by walkways is fine. But are some benches and ashtrays an appropriate distance away from unwitting passersby really that terrible an accommodation?

 

[sophie]

I always thought banning smoking on all areas of a college campus was a dumb idea. Banning it in building and near building entrances, even by walkways is fine. But are some benches and ashtrays an appropriate distance away from unwitting passersby really that terrible an accommodation?

Yeah, I felt the same way. Particularly as my University was up on a mountain away from everything else, meaning that anybody wishing (read: needing, due to addiction) to smoke and not be in violation of the student code would have to take a 15-20 minute bus ride to get off campus just to get their fix, which is outrageous. I understand that secondhand smoke is dangerous, and I get that most people don't like the smell of tobacco, and that's fine. But I just never really understood why simply limiting smoking to designated benches/tents wasn't good enough as it was.

 

[Borachio]

But I do definitely know what I'm missing, and that sucks.

It definitely gets better and better with the passing years, but I fear the memory of it never entirely leaves you. It's 17 years since I finally stopped smoking (after more than 20 years of trying to), yet I still dream about it from time to time.

Nowadays, if I learn that someone smokes, I have to stop myself from asking "Oh, do people still do that then?" It really is a mad thing to do. And always was.

 

[Narz]

but I would put money on real productivity and job satisfaction having been lost with the extinguishing of the smoking nooks. I go outside less, I leave the house less, I don't chat up people at the store where I would pick up my daily ration. Socially speaking? Quitting smoking hurt my brain significantly.

Find a replacement, if your main social outlet is tandem suicide that's sad. Doing heroin or being in a war zone with people is also intensely bonding.

Also, I don't know what year you quit but its well documented that society in general has become less social/more isolated in the past decades. So don't be so quick to blame clean living.