very interesting topic, i don't smoke and having read some discriptions;scawen's*** won't ever. Just curious what made you guys start??

Peer Pressure when I was 15, behind the bike sheds at school (not the bike sheds we learn to snog behind - the other bike sheds!)

Same for me..

All the cool guys at school did it, which actually... makes me wonder why I did.... oh well

But seriously, I don't think anyone has ever purposly started because it tastes so good, cause all smokers know it takes time to get used to it, hell even inhaling makes you almost throw up at first.

It's peer pressure, 99,99% of times I'd say.
In one form or another.

I smoked a pack a day for twenty years. I haven't had one for over three years now.

There are not enough words to describe how good it feels. Giving up was not easy, but it was so very much worth it. I have a lot more money, my health is better in many many ways, my moods are better too. It's great to have the tiger off my back and not be a slave to cigarettes.

Physically and mentally it is very much worth leaving cigarettes behind. Kill it before it kills you. Your skin, teeth, blood, brain, lungs, liver, eyes etc, deserve better.

You can do it!

I started smoking mostly down to my parents smoking and peer pressure around mates. All seems a bit stupid when you look back on it Started on and off when I was 14, wish I left it at that but when I started college I started smoking more and more. I'm not comfortable around people I don't know so the social aspect helped me deal with it a bit. These days whenever something remotely stressful comes up, when I'm in the car, having a drink, round a mates, out comes the baccy.

Still looking for that motivation to quit..I've got bigger health problems than 10 fags a day which I need to deal with first, I do want to try again this summer though.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Peer Pressure when I was 15, behind the bike sheds at school (not the bike sheds we learn to snog behind - the other bike sheds!)

not familiar with the term "bike shed", enlighten me.

A shed (or small open covered building if you like) where people park their bicycles. A shed for bikes. Bike shed.

Ah, the bike shed (or behind the sports hall for me), where one does all their crimes, kiss the girls, smoke, trade drinks, beat up the geeky kids. Good times.

It was behind the pottery sheds, for us, and I WAS that geeky lad

/me scuttles off to buy the miracle book.

I was the geeky lad being beaten up too! If you can't beat them, smoke with them! Worked a treat Never got invited to the girl kissing shed though, so had to do that out of school without peer pressure, which is probably why I'm a soppy romantic and not a TenaciousD lover.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I don't know what to do instead of smoking. I'm used to having those five minute breaks for a fag every hour or so and now I'm not doing it, so that's a bit weird.

But yeah, the revelation is that I literally don't want a fag, unlike yesterday where I came in here wanting a fag so badly that I bit peoples' faces off for suggesting there was anything wrong with smoking.

A good tip is to say to yourself "If I smoked, I'd have a cigarette right now" every time you feel the need. The intense craving fades, and you're back on track! Keep at it, you'll feel as smug as hell in a few years. I know most people buy their cigarettes off the black market, but £5 a packet! :eek:

Quote from tristancliffe :

I was the geeky lad being beaten up too! If you can't beat them, smoke with them! Worked a treat Never got invited to the girl kissing shed though, so had to do that out of school without peer pressure, which is probably why I'm a soppy romantic and not a TenaciousD lover.

I was a geek in school, but I was usually able to hold my own, so people stopped trying to beat me down. I was in a weird place at school, I could have been a "jock" (for a lack of a better word), but chose to hang around with the geeks/losers/misfits. Which pissed off the staff more than anything because I refused to run in the school cross country team, even though I was the best at it

"You don't always have to F-Word her hard, in fact some times it's not right to do." Hehe.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

The only real issue is that I feel I'm twiddling my thumbs a bit. I don't know what to do instead of smoking. I'm used to having those five minute breaks for a fag every hour or so and now I'm not doing it, so that's a bit weird.

This is what I have heard about everyone that has stopped smoking (quite many from people I know actually), some have gone even so far and got one of those stress balls to play with, but many have it not so bad..

Progress sounds good

I was geek, but I was also one of tallest in class, I was not beaten behind anything, sure some did try, but they just got hurt
I did what I liked how I liked during school time and so I do now, I just don't care much about others, I guess

I have never smoked in my whole life... But I'm thinking about starting. Do you guys have some good ways to become a good smoker?

Quote from Kim Gripping :

I have never smoked in my whole life... But I'm thinking about starting. Do you guys have some good ways to become a good smoker?

Get a €5 note and throw it into the fireplace, do that once a day and you'll get an understanding of the cost, then spend a few days huffing smoke from a burning bit of wood until you stop coughing up your lungs, then you're ready to be a smoker.

Nice idea Psychoman. Makes you think.

I tried a cigarette once, and then only by accident (I didn't realise it was tobacco) and it was one of the most disgusting things I'd ever tried. I only had one drag and it took half a pint to wash the taste from my mouth. A waste of damn fine ale too. How can people drink and smoke? Although it probably adds to the flavour of lager. Anyway back to the point, I'm convinced some people must have persevered to stop it tasting horrid. Which seems to defy logic.

Quote from Kim Gripping :

I have never smoked in my whole life... But I'm thinking about starting. Do you guys have some good ways to become a good smoker?

hang around with some cool guys, cool guys always smoke, we already know that

Quote from herki :

hang around with some cool guys, cool guys always smoke, we already know that

I doubt that this will stay for long. I just wait when some environmentalists green people realizes CO2 emissions caused by billions cigarettes smoking all over world all time, then they lobby some laws that people are no more allowed to smoke.

Quote from Bob Smith :

Nice idea Psychoman. Makes you think.

I tried a cigarette once, and then only by accident (I didn't realise it was tobacco) and it was one of the most disgusting things I'd ever tried. I only had one drag and it took half a pint to wash the taste from my mouth. A waste of damn fine ale too. How can people drink and smoke? Although it probably adds to the flavour of lager. Anyway back to the point, I'm convinced some people must have persevered to stop it tasting horrid. Which seems to defy logic.

I know someone who quit because every time he brought a packet his wife set fire to £5.

I first tried smoking very young (talking single digit age range) and found not being able to breath wasn't very cool, so I stopped. Then in school I tried again, and found not breathing was still not very cool, and the taste wasn't anything to write home about. Though apparently people who smoke menthal (for smokers who don't like the taste) will find kicking the habbit harder as it has more addictive chemicals in it.

Quote from JTbo :

I doubt that this will stay for long. I just wait when some environmentalists green people realizes CO2 emissions caused by billions cigarettes smoking all over world all time, then they lobby some laws that people are no more allowed to smoke.

Cows do more damage by farting than everything manmade can do in a year. Plus governments (more so mine) make heaps of cash from smokers, so they'd never make it illegal, just pretend they care about your health by sticking on huge taxation.

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

I was a geek in school, but I was usually able to hold my own, so people stopped trying to beat me down. I was in a weird place at school, I could have been a "jock" (for a lack of a better word), but chose to hang around with the geeks/losers/misfits. Which pissed off the staff more than anything because I refused to run in the school cross country team, even though I was the best at it

"You don't always have to F-Word her hard, in fact some times it's not right to do." Hehe.

Smoke with the cool guys, and hang out with the geeks. Then the cool guys don't bother your geeky friends, because they have a smoker mate in the pack. I think me smoking saved a lot of people from getting bruised But then I was also really into sports (athletics mainly, but anything outdoors), so I did their events for them when they couldn't be bothered. I think I generally used to do a dozen events on Sports Day (and won, normally, about 8 of them (100m, 200m, 400m, long jump, triple jump, 1500m, relay, shot putt, javelin, discuss, hammer). Could never grasp high jump, discuss or javelin though - I couldn't get my body to do the right things. Triple Jump was my speciality (but I don't remember how far I used to jump )

Good stuff Kev, Keep it up.

Good too hear Kev

Now if I could only get my wife interested in LFS so she would read this thread she's been thinking about quitting for the last two years...

I've never even tried it, never want to either. I'm 100% against it. So much so that when my girlfriend went out with her mates (half of them smoke) she tried it from peer pressure i guess, although she denies it was, just before she came to meet me (bad move), she didn't like it at all, mainly because as soon as i smelt it on her breath i actually turned around and walked away from her, then as if she didn't get the point then, I went out to meet her mates with her the following week, and she took a drag from someones fag, so I just stood up and walked off and didn't even speak to her until the following day despite her best attempts at chasing after me and talking to me, I just kept walking... That's when she got the point how much I hate it.

Infact, I'm so much against it I'm all for a 100% ban, and the public ban that's coming in soon is only a good thing, I may actually start going to the pub when that happens.

Hey! Good for you Kev! Glad to hear you are still sticking with it. Man, I just have such a weak willpower to start the attempt to quit.

I should probably start reading this thread daily.