POLL: Do you smoke?

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None of those for me

I practically don't smoke. I've never bought any cigs for myself, nor do I normally take when offered. However, it doesn't mean I never smoke, though to say that I smoke socially would be an overstatement.

Europe here.

 

I started smoking when I was around 12/13. I tried giving up, I lasted 4 days. It is very difficult. I think in the UK there are far more smokers then non smokers, it is the same everywhere I am sure.

 

I don't smoke.

I don't dislike smokers. That would be stupid. But I do hate being in a room full of smokers. The smoke hurts my eyes and I can't be doing with it.

 

I definitely noticed that smoking was far more prevalent in England than in New Zealand. After a night at the pub in England all your clothes smell of tobacco smoke. Plus, if you walk down a London city street during the day you will see a perpetual bunch of people huddled outside every building having a cigarette break.

I am not sure of the reason for why smoking should be so much more pervasive in England than in New Zealand. In New Zealand, smokers are certainly in the minority, but in England, it felt like non-smokers were the minority.

 

Though I hate smoking and pity pack-a-day smokers, I do like cigarrette smoke. Sounds goofy, but I do have a good reason.

When I was a wee one, my favorite place on earth was Grandma and Grandpa's house. Fresh baked cookies, granny buying me toys, grandpa's "got your nose!" that never got old, etc. Very, very happy time for me. Both granny and gramps smoked like chimneys. So now whenever I smell smoke from a Marlboro Red, or a particular brand of pipe tobacco, I get this unshakable rush of nostalgia. Every time.

It's funny how humans can associate certain smells or sounds with memories and specific times in their lives. I'll propbably have that association with me my whole life.

 

@ Death Rabbit:

Yeah, my granddad used to smoke pipe, too, and I will never forget that sweet smell. Cigarettes, however, seem to smell all the same.

 

I love the smell of pipe tobacco smoke (in small doses). Or even just the tobacco itself. Actually, I could have easily been a pipe smoker in my younger days if it weren't for the fact that nobody else did it and it was decidedly "uncool".

 

Can't stand cigarettes. They stink out everything. Come home from the pub and you just reek of smoke.

 

Scandinavian, and never even tried. Several of my relatives smoke, though.

Their loss.

 

North American/ Social smoker.

Though by "social"; I mean "drunk". Therefore: I smoke when I drink.

That's cigarettes though...I love the smell of pipesmoke, and I've even got myself a pipe. All I'm waiting for is a chance to start buying myself some tobacco for it and I'll probably smoke it more often.

 

North American here, and I ticked the "never smoke" category. That's not entirely true however. I did take three puffs off of one at the age of ten, hated it, and never tried it again. I developed an allergy to cigarrettes as a teenager, so that further solidified my hatred of cigarrettes.
I do like the smell of good raw tobacco, though.

 

No. However, I do chew nicotine gum from time to timel; usually during deadlines. The funny thing is, unless I over-do it (>2.0mg/4hours), I'm still hypotensive.

Caffeine also has less effect than I would care for it to have, but such is life...

 

When I was 13, I started to smoke. Quitted in January last year, so that makes me a quitter for 1.5 years and a smoker for, let's see, 3 years.

However, whenever my girlfriend is out of town, and she is a lot, I smoke at parties my dudes have. She knows that I smoke at parties, and have no problem with it, but herself doesn't like the taste of ciggarettes in my mouth( ) and are alllergic to ciggarette smoke herself.

However, I do not agree on Joacquin's comment. Where I live, which IIRC, is about 350-450 kilometres north of where he lives, the Swedes smoke like ovens. Most people smoke here, and you can hardly stick your nose out the window without smelling cigarrette smoke from someone nearby.

EDIT: Oops, I forgot to add my location, but if you don't know where Sweden lies, you truly should study a bit more.

 

Non-European here - Aussie and proud - who smokes regularly. Tried quitting briefly but failed quite quickly, even when I had my Wisdon Teeth taken out and was told I was not to smoke for 10 days in case I did some damage to my still-raw gums, I managed to last 3. Not yet ready to quit for real though.

 

I only smoke when I'm out of snus (or snuff or whatever it is in english. The stuff you put under your lip). It's very hard to get your hands on in Finland, since selling it is illegal. So you have to go to sweden to get it.

Oh, and I am european.

 

well i guess i smoke social, at least when i get drunk enough. I know it sounds a little weird, but when i get drunk I find smoke really funny to look at, so sometimes I have a cigaret or two, when I'm drunk. but since it's not something i do at every social event, I don't think it really counts as social smoking, I mean i don't get that drunk every time. there should have bin the option "I'm European and have tried smokes, but didn't like them". That would be me, i mean, i can't even inhale smoke without getting real sick, so my weird obsession with smoke when I'm drunk, isn't very social.

 

@Frostmage - They don't sell snuff in Finland??? What is the rationale? Obviously they don't ban tobacco products entirely, or they wouldn't have cigarettes either. It seems like they would have to have a good reason to ban some tobacco products but not others.

As far as the confusion with the choices on the poll, I admit that they are a bit vague. The first set of options should have said, "I never or very rarely smoke". That would have made it more appropriate. I assumed if you tried a cigarette or two, you would still say you were a non-smoker, and not a social smoker. I consider a social smoker someone who is likely to have a cigarette if they go to a party, bar, pub, club, etc., but most likely would not have a cigarette if they stayed in that night.

 

My Dad smokes, and I hate it. Thing that has put me off though, was that my uncle got in a terrible state because of them.

 

Not only does no one in my household smoke, my 4-year-old son is quite the anti-smoking advocate. There's no such thing as a "cigarette;" they're all "nasty cigarettes." Ever since our local grocery burnt down from a carelessly-tossed butt, he thinks every fire has been caused by a "nasty cigarette."

Splunge, I've wondered for quite some time why cigarettes are so popular with people who can barely afford to eat. That angle was brought out in a series of radio commercials a few years ago. The "lead" was going to take the money she saved by not smoking for a year and go on a vacation.

 

Rally, it’s not that I couldn’t afford it; it’s just that, as a teenager, I was a penny-pinching miser (probably explains why I became an accountant ). Actually, by the time I graduated from high school, I had a fairly decent-sized bank account (relative to my peers).

But assuming you were using my comments more as a segue to your point, I agree that many smokers seem to be those who can least afford it; in some cases, they’d rather puff on a cancer stick than pay the rent or put groceries on the table. And in Canada, I think it’s worse than in the States. Cigarettes here are taxed very heavily, and the price of a pack of 25 cigarettes I think runs somewhere in the neighbourhood of $10 Cdn. ($7.50 US) or more (although it varies province-to-province).