Part time smokers

[tokengirl]

You all know the type, the kind who has one cig every day after dinner... or only smokes when at the bar once a week, or only has a cig with the girls on the weekends, or whatever... the kind who can put the habit down as easily as they pick it up.

Considering we all are former or current smokers, I thought I'd just ask...

What's up with people like this???

How do they do it? I've always been jealous of that ability , to smoke once in awhile but not all the time. I just don't understand how its possible to control the addiction and not have it control you. It's like these people are super-human or something.

Another thought, might the part time smoker be inclined to vape? And if they did would they do it all the time like we do? Or would they vape same as they smoke, once in awhile? I'm inclined to think they would if they tried it and sooner or later, without the negative side effects present they'd be vaping on a regular basis.

 

[DC2]

I smoked, on average, about 3-10 cigarettes per day.
My average was probably about 5 per day.
And that was for 27 years!!

I could go go all day without wanting or needing one.
Until I saw someone smoking anyway.
Or if I was drinking.

So I think I am one of the people you refer to.
And I can't tell you how I did it.

I just never needed it, only wanted it.

But it was never the nicotine that held me hostage.
It was the process of smoking, the escape it offered me.

I smoked because I used it to get away from it all...
Sometimes that meant getting away from work to think through problems.
Sometimes that meant getting away from social situations I didn't want to be in.
Sometimes that meant getting away from an argument with my wife.

The break from life, for 10 minutes, is why I smoked.
And I know this probably puts me in some kind of minority as a smoker.

But the electronic cigarette works just as well for me as everyone else.
And I have been over 13 months now as a non-smoker.

 

[Phil510]

The part time smokers.. They're just posers Not even addicted !

 

[Automaton]

I did that for a couple years, and never had an issue with it.

I actually made a conscious decision to start smoking (as in more than I was, and enough that I knew I would become addicted), for reasons that are long and difficult to explain. Basically, I did it for my mental health when I was in a position where I had no other resources. And it worked very well. I know that sounds incredibly dumb, but you're gunna have to take my word for it - even when I was a heavy smoker with no hope of quitting, I didn't regret that decision. I still don't.

But, at any rate, I had no problems being a part-time smoker. I did it for ages, and never felt a real desire to have a cigarette. I just enjoyed having them in certain circumstances.

Perhaps I just have a high threshold for addiction. Once I am addicted, it's all over. But it seemed like I was able to maintain that with no problems. I respected the potential for tobacco to be addictive - and I was very aware of how much I smoked.

If I were still a part-time smoker, no, I wouldn't be inclined to vape. Smoking a couple of cigs on the weekend, or when you're out at the pub, is not going to have any significant effect on your health. The initial cost of starting up with e-cigs would have cost me 10 times more than what I spent on smoking in a month at that point, even if I just got a kit and a 20ml bottle of juice and nothing else. Not worth it.

 

[jj2]

Hubby was, is, like that. For years he'd light one up and then not have another for months. Then for awhile, he played pool on Tuesday night and smoke and wouldn't have another until the next Tuesday.
I was happy he could do this but it was a bit irritating.

 

[CaptJay]

my ex boyfriend ONLY smoked while we were in Europe on holiday and he could buy cigs duty free. Then he smoked a pack a day or more (more when drinking booze). Once we got back to the UK, he stopped cold and didnt smoke another until his next holiday.
I hated that he could do this lol but also I never understood how he COULD do it.
We went to pubs n clubs in the UK where he drank alcohol and he didnt so much as twitch for a cig; I just didn't get it.

 

[tokengirl]

There must be a nicotine addict gene like they have located for alcoholism. I know it isn't linked because I can drink like some people smoke; few times a year, with zero interest in touching a drop in between.

But nicotine is a different story completely.

 

[potholerepairman]

Vaped a total of 46 days out of this year so far,each and every one of those were going out nights. Been doing the same habit for the last couple decades with smokes instead of vape of course.The idea of a vape/smoke at any other time doesn't interest me in anyway.I think that is just pure blind luck,if it could be tapped I would redirect it to my trough like eating habits.It has nothing to do with will power for me there is no want.One downside to this is not addressing the vaping/smoking habit because you are not full time so the years go by and you still do this bad habit thinking its a little problem when in reality it is not a great choice at any level.

 

[Automaton]

There must be a nicotine addict gene like they have located for alcoholism. I know it isn't linked because I can drink like some people smoke; few times a year, with zero interest in touching a drop in between.

But nicotine is a different story completely.

There is a genetic component to addiction, but different substances also have varying levels of addictiveness.

Nobody has ever had their first night of drinking, and become an alcoholic right out the gate. Addiction to alcohol is a vicious one indeed - withdrawal from it is one of only a couple withdrawals that can actually kill you.

But it has a high threshold for addiction. Even with alcoholism in my family, I could drink pretty often for a while (and have in the past - like many people do at some point in their youths) and not be addicted.

If it were that easy to become addicted to alcohol, every college co-ed in the country would be an alcoholic.

Cigarettes are a bit different.

It doesn't have the highest threshold for addiction out there, by any means. But it does have an ability to make you addicted fairly quickly - we're talking a couple weeks of regular use. But it takes a year or so for the addiction to really cement.

And of course, it's not as bad if you start when you're older. Most people don't, obviously - by the time they're older they know better. But introducing a chemical into a fully-matured brain is not going to be as devastating as introducing it into a non-mature brain.

Particularly, it seems, nicotine. Since the chemicals its playing with are some of the most fundamental to your mental health. It's not uncommon for people to NEVER fully recover their previous level of emotional stability after they quit smoking - even years or decades later.

How long, how hard, and how life-threatening addicted someone is to something is not just contingent on their genetics and use, but on the substance itself.

 

[Sierra]

Oh man I know how this is. My husband and I both smoke but he would smoke for like 3 months and then be like ok well I'm done with this for now lets quit. He would just drop them and expect me to as well. I did one or two times but he would start smoking again only for 2-3 months and by the end of that I would be smoking again as well. Thank god for me vaping and him smoking...now we can both be happy. He doesn't seem to have any interest in vaping though. At least when hes not smoking I don't have to hear about how I smell.

<3 Sierra

 

[tokengirl]

There is a genetic component to addiction, but different substances also have varying levels of addictiveness.

Nobody has ever had their first night of drinking, and become an alcoholic right out the gate. Addiction to alcohol is a vicious one indeed - withdrawal from it is one of only a couple withdrawals that can actually kill you.

But it has a high threshold for addiction. Even with alcoholism in my family, I could drink pretty often for a while (and have in the past - like many people do at some point in their youths) and not be addicted.

If it were that easy to become addicted to alcohol, every college co-ed in the country would be an alcoholic.

Cigarettes are a bit different.

It doesn't have the highest threshold for addiction out there, by any means. But it does have an ability to make you addicted fairly quickly - we're talking a couple weeks of regular use. But it takes a year or so for the addiction to really cement.

And of course, it's not as bad if you start when you're older. Most people don't, obviously - by the time they're older they know better. But introducing a chemical into a fully-matured brain is not going to be as devastating as introducing it into a non-mature brain.

Particularly, it seems, nicotine. Since the chemicals its playing with are some of the most fundamental to your mental health. It's not uncommon for people to NEVER fully recover their previous level of emotional stability after they quit smoking - even years or decades later.

How long, how hard, and how life-threatening addicted someone is to something is not just contingent on their genetics and use, but on the substance itself.

That's really interesting information Misstress Nomad, thanks for posting it.