When did you start smoking?

[angstless]

My mother smoked L&M's..I know the worst of the worst..but I was ingenious..I used to unpack her new packs from the bottom...they were wrapped like a Christmas gifts..I just unpacked them and stole one or two out of the unused pack and put a small piece of tape to reseal and she never noticed.

Until one day when I tried to wash down the .... of the cigarette into the sink and it backed up (why not the bath tub or the toilet?? Heck I was just 13) and it was discovered I SMOKED at age 13!!!!

I was, of course punished, but it did not stop me from smoking....I was discovered many times and when I was 15 my mother/father finally gave up and said...fine smoke...they never bought me cigs..but I was never punished again for smoking.

 

[Mark Anthony]

I started off taking a few of my dads when I was 14.... By 15 I was working at a local bowling alley and buying my own all the time.

 

[angstless]

I started off taking a few of my dads when I was 14.... By 15 I was working at a local bowling alley and buying my own all the time.

Back in my day you could walk into any drug store and put 50 cents into a vending machine and get a pack of Marlboro or Salem cigs

 

[Thunderball]

in 1974 - 75

 

[SimianSteam]

We swiped Virginia Slims from a friend's mom when I was about 12... so I smoked for 18 years. Gah.

 

[EvilZoe]

I was 12. Cig machine cost .35 then .40.


The machine that blew up helium balloons next to it cost .50. Cheaper to smoke than to have a floating balloon for a day. Go figure.

 

[Talyon]

I was 15 and very naive. 1972.

 

[CommaHolly]

1979,,,,,,,,I think Newports were .65 cents a pack,,,,,

I was 14. Before that I'd snitched a few from my mom, but she didn't smoke menthols and I learned real quick that I liked menthols better,,,,

 

[Dave_in_OK]

Started truly smoking when I was 12 or 13.

 

[Jayvaps]

I actually hated smoking as a kid.

Then when I was about 16, a girl I was dating smoked. She talked me into trying a smoke, and then the worst...told me..."you look sexy smoking". Lol. Evil woman!

I still would not call myself a smoker than. I only smoked at parties and stuff. And never bought a pack.

It wasn't until I got to college that I would call myself a smoker. I think I bought my first pack on the second day of college as it seemed like everyone I hung out with smoked. By the end of the first semester I was a pack a day smoker.

 

[WillyZee]

1976 ... I was 12 years old ... quit from 1989 to 1992 ... then smoked until 2 months ago.

Time sure does fly when you're having fun

 

[angstless]

Back in the day before the tobacco companies were called to task..they promoted cigarettes to young people...I wonder what pulls young people now to smoke?

I don't dare say we did not know better and they do..there are all sort of peer pressures on young people...but I wonder why they start smoking today...say at age 13-15?

 

[SilentVapidity]

17, if I remember right. 1988. I thought I'd quit when I was 30....then all of a sudden I was 40 and still smoking. Tried quitting bunches of times. vaping is the only thing that's worked for me.

 

[EvilZoe]

Back in the day before the tobacco companies were called to task..they promoted cigarettes to young people...I wonder what pulls young people now to smoke?

I don't dare say we did not know better and they do..there are all sort of peer pressures on young people...but I wonder why they start smoking today...say at age 13-15?

The same reason they smoked back then....the other kids around them are doing it.

It wasn't a cigarette company that made ME smoke. It was being a misfit amongst other misfits, rebelling against society and trying to be cool and "grown up".

 

[FlamingoTutu]

12 or 13 I think. I don’t really remember starting or what that first one, or twenty, was like. Everybody at school that I knew smoked so I, being an idiot, tried it too. It wasn’t until perhaps 30 years later that I was diagnosed with severe ADHA. What a relief it was to know what was “wrong” with me. Still later I learned that smoking helps with ADHD and all the puzzle pieces fell into place. If any of the numerous doctors my parents had pleaded with to help me since I was about eight had actually tried to help, I probably never would have smoked. Smoking has never been much more than a huge, embarrassing, expensive, self-destructive PITA for me. Naturally I learned to “love” smoking eventually even though I hated it just as much. I’m just so happy I found vaping and, I know it sounds sappy, ECF. Eight months cigarette free and loving every minute of it.

 

[chikkaccino]

I started when I was 14, so sometime in 1991. Stopped in 2005. Picked it up again 2011. Now on my longest quit since I had started again.

 

[timw69]

I started smoking here and there with friends when I was 13 in 1982.By the time I was 15 I was smoking full time and buying my own.

 

[Ryan1888]

Smoked a few occasionally when I was 12 but started smoking regularly at 14.

 

[erikbal]

I started smoking right around 13-14. We used to get them from friend's parents, because my parents had already quit when I was young. Hard to believe I've smoked for like half my life. Sad to think about. Well it's been 6 weeks today since I received my first kit and quit smoking! It feels great!

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

 

[angstless]

The same reason they smoked back then....the other kids around them are doing it.

It wasn't a cigarette company that made ME smoke. It was being a misfit amongst other misfits, rebelling against society and trying to be cool and "grown up".

Yes, of course it is always peer pressure, whether being a misfit or in with the in crowd..

I was the rebel and smoked my first 'non cig' at 15 (trust me it was not an ecig) and wondered what all the hoopla was about...I preferred the 'real' thing...Marlboro!!!