Why did you start smoking in the first place?

[harmony gardens]

My cousin smoked and she offered me one, and I was curious to try it, so I did.

The first pack I bought, was out of a cigarette machine at a gas station. I wanted to take them along on a Boy Scout camping trip at Devil's Lake State Park. They would have a big Boy Scout and Girl Scout weekend in the fall, and there was a dance in the pavillion. A couple friends and I talked to some girls. We told them we had some cigarettes, and they went along with us and we had a great time smoking with them on some big rocks down by the lake. I discovered it was a great way to meet girls.

 

[Kate51]

stress. i liked the sedating effect when taking in long drags. alcohol worked too but sometimes I liked to relax without being impaired.



*WARNING!!! MAJOR DOWNER MOMENT COMING UP----




suffered from anorexia in my early, early teens and for years after. if you could make up a food pyramid of what i ate back then it'd be made up of sugarfreegum, dietcoke and cigarettes. cigs really did calm nerves and especially, reduce appetite, or at least help ignore it.

unfortunately after i got over the worst of it (and doing well with myself now, I'm happy to admit) the nicotine addiction was set in pretty deep. If I could meet whoever invented the first ecig I'd give my right arm and left leg to them. Screw anyone else who says ecigs are anything otherwise than a brilliant lifesaving f'king invention.


*END OF DOWNER RANT

Welcome to the DOWNER RANT club!!
We love this place.

 

[surbitonPete]

45 years ago the word 'addiction' made no sense to my teenage mind...it seemed completely illogical that you can't simply stop doing something whenever you want to.

 

[TheKingOfKool]

i remember i first started smoking by stealing cigars out of the corner store. after that i started smoking cigarettes by getting them in a machine for 95 cents a pack. we had a smoking section at our school too but didn't need a note from our parents. when i was in 9th grade i was sent to an alternative school for being a trouble maker and in this school they actually let us smoke in the classes at our desks.

 

[Kate51]

I think that school was the trouble maker!! That's totally beyond me, smoking in school, my gosh: where are the laws that govern kids' smoking anyway....with school permission yet. At my house you would have had a good kick in the rear and your cigs sticking outta there~!
Sorry, that sounds mean, but that's awful, no wonder you were troubled, you had no discipline to go on. With no discipline there are no boundaries. Just let'er rip, eh? Heck of a way to throw a kid into society. I hope "were" is the right word.

 

[Halfzipp]

I remember my first smoke very well. I was 12 and at the park with some friends.. A Dicky D chick came by and she was super hot and pulled out a pack of smokes.. I walked over to her and offered to light it for her, but like a little ...... I broke the thing. I managed to McGiver the thing back together and lit it up.. by that time she had lit her own and we shared a moment Lol. That was it for me. Got an older budy to buy me a pack the next day and never turned back. I also ended up getting all my budies to join me. I guess you can say I was the corrupter in that crew, heh. ahh, the memories =p

 

[vaporize me]

I also started when I was 12. It was the cool thing to do. Smokes, back in those days, '72, were only $.42/pack and readily available in cig machines everywhere. Those damn commercials on TV...I wanted to be like the Marlboro man, lol.

 

[Vapinginjapan]

Started smoking after a horrible relationship fallout. Girl I was going to propose to broke up with me, started dating my best friend/new room mate, about 2 months later. Needed some oblivion. First pipe, then cigarettes. Cigarettes gave me much more oblivion.

That was about a year ago.

I was lucky I found e-cigs before half a year had past on my smoking habits. Now I smoke less. however, when things from my past come to haunt me, I still immediatley seek that oblivion. Cigarettes are still part of my life that way.

E-cigs just don't provide that oblivion. Probably the CO in them. My brain can feel the oxygen cut off and starts concentrating on the sensation, away from those unpleasent thoughts..

 

[Vapaway]

I started smoking at the age of 14, I thought it was cool with a cigarette in your hand trying to pick up girls........ Never thought that it would be addicting. young and stupid............. But now I found e-cigs which it change my world!



Vapaway

 

[sbuck]

I started because of a bet. I wanted my then best friend and my then boyfriend to quit smoking. They bet that if I started and smoked at least 5 cigs a day for 2 weeks AND INHALED, that after 2 weeks I could not quit. If I could, they would quit also. Welllll. Bet was on, no problem, RIGHT?? So after coughing, choking, making myself sick for nearly 2 weeks, I showed them!!! I showed them that I could NOT quit. I tried to fool them. Threw away the pack of cigs and said, "there, I quit". I made it until the next morning and thought I was going to die without that puff. Their smoke actually smelled good. So what did I do?? I snuck off and bought a pack. And savored every moment of that cig. I could only hide it from them for a couple of days. But at 21, we all had a good laugh over it.

Fast forward 20 years. I am now 41. I JUST quit almost 3 months ago thanks to the ECIGs. An amazingly wonderful invention. I occassionally see the old best friend and old boyfriend. Maybe once a year or so. I found it ironic that the friend quit smoking 10 years ago and the old boyfriend quit 6 years ago. We no longer laugh about the bet. They were shocked that up until now, I was still smoking and they had quit. Their comment was "I guess we won the bet after all". If I could remember what the payback was, I would probably have to pay up. I am now a very happy vaper..

Just wanted to share.

 

[Richie G]

Anybody else find the irony here? The most common motif being that folks started smoking because it was the thing to do. Now, look at us. We're the odd balls sucking on items that look like Bic pens, screwdrivers and AA battery cases.

<looking skyward>

Good one, God. You are one funny dude.

 

[leaford]

I started using a pipe to help me stop smoking, um, other stuff. From there I ended up trying a frend's cigarette, and the rest is predictable.

 

[Zaxx]

I used to be a deputy sheriff. Usually, quickest and easiest way to calm a PO'd drunk is to offer them a smoke, so I carried a pack of MB reds.

Eventually, I just started to fire up with them. The habit stuck, not because I felt cool or anything but because I enjoy it.

 

[JustJulie]

I was 16 when I started, and I'm 46 now. You know, I'm still not exactly sure why I started.

I think it was probably me trying to be a bit of a rebel. I was quite the "good girl," never in trouble, good grades, etc., and I think smoking was a way for me to express my wild side.

I figured that I wouldn't smoke when I was old because old people smoking was just gross. Of course, "old" back then was 30.

Aside from e-cigs, the only time I was able to quit was when I was pregnant, and the entire freaking time I missed my cigarettes. I'd even dream about them. As soon as I was done breast feeding, I'd come up with an excuse to start again.

I was just so stupid. Thank God my kids (16 and 20) seems smarter than I was.

 

[asidrave]

since i was a kid...i always liked the smell of cigarettes...especially menthol. i used to always take an unlit cigarette from my aunt and hold it under my nose...i loved that smell.

started smoking when i was 16..i think...been soo long ago

 

[Elwin]

I had skipped 2 grades in school, so everyone in my class were 2 years older than me.
I decided I'd start smoking to look older and more sophisticated - hoping to fit in.
And since my parents and their friends all smoked, it was easy for me to hide it from them.
In those days, even people who didn't smoke had ashtrays in their homes to accomodate those neighbors and friends who did.

By the time I was 14 I already had a pack and a half a day habit...

 

[BBanshee]

Wow I started smoking when I was 12 (I am 26 now). I had a couple older friends who were getting into the punk and goth scene and they were taking me with them lol. I had my first cigarette and clove around that time. The only reason I decided to try the e-cig was on my 26th birthday and I figured out I had been smoking for 14 years. More then half my life.

 

[Bad Newz Blare]

Smoke rings, donuts or O's as they are called sucked me into smoking. As a kid, I watched my uncles shoot smoke rings clear across the room while they drank and played cards. I always thought to myself "thats hella fresh! I wish i could do that!" So when my friends started smoking in middle school, I was on a mission to learn the art of the rings. One time I literally smoked myself sick trying to learn how to do em, I must have inhaled 5 cigs in 3 minutes, I was cooked.

Look at me now... A master in the art of smoke rings, the lord of the rings if you will. I can't run the length of car.... but I can shoot out the olympic symbol with half a drag.

 

[Vicks Vap-oh-Yeah]

Loong story here...

I was 13, my much older sister (18) had just started openly smoking in the house. My dad, also a smoker, had just left my mother, his family, the state, etc. I picked up my sister's cig from the ashtray, sucked, and hocked up a lung.

Fast forward a couple of months.... new school, new people to impress. A bunch of kids I knew (insert, want to know 'cause they were cool) smoked. I bought a pack out of a vending machine to fit in. No inhaling at this point, just light, suck and blow. That pack lasted me a couple of months before I got another.

Fast forward again - a few years. Now I've moved in with my dad & stepmother - both smokers. I sneak cigs out of their packs, and get off the bus a stop early so I can walk the rest of the way and smoke. Still no inhaling, but there's the hand to mouth - that fixation is firmly rooted.

Another year, more freedom. I've got a car, now, and some friends in a band. Smoking (cigs along with other things) is the ONLY way to fit in. I've learned how to inhale, now.

18. Now I've learned that I'm an adult, and can make my own choices. Mine was always to smoke, and the cloud has followed me ever since.

I've stopped for both children's pregnancies, but lit up as soon as possible afterwords. I've quit for months (my record is 10) dozens of times, but always have 1 simple event that pushes me back to cigs.

The PV is my holy grail - the thing I've been looking for since that first insane drag off my sister's cig in 1980.

 

[gep]

12 years old, most of the kids on the block were a couple of years older and smoked.
Would cop a Kool or two from the parents, but then started buying them out of the machines and at 7-11, 50 cents a pack. No laws against minors buying them at the time. Once I got to high school, there was a designated smoking area and that's where we spent our breaks and lunch time.

If I knew then what I know now...(but that applies to sooo many things not just cigs )

BTW: Anyone remember when the Bic lighters first started showing up? (God...I feel so old.)