At what age did you start smoking....

[Kern Dog]

I tried to smoke but wasn't any good at it.
EVERYONE in my family smoked except my Grandmother. Parents, uncles and aunts, siblings too. The guys in movies and TV shows looked so cool with a smoke hanging out of their faces....the Clint Eastwood type squint they had made it even cooler.
I just couldn't get into it although I tried a few times over the years.

Never did..... Only one in my family that didn't....

When I joined the Army, someone of rank said "By the time they're through with you, you'll learn to love cigarettes and coffee."
That didn't happen.
Car rides as a kid...yeah, windows up and both parents smoking. Seeing mom cooking in the kitchen with a long ash on the end of the cigarette many, many times. Since I grew up with it all around me, I was used to it.
Once I moved out, I spent most of my time around non smokers. Not by choice, it was just how society was shifting in the late 80s. I'd go back home to visit and instantly feel and smell the thick smell of smoke in the walls, carpet, furniture, clothes and everything else. When the wife and I were over there for dinner or holiday dinners, she'd have the stink of smoke in her hair and want to shower after we got home.
Cancer has taken several of my family members. You don't have to be Columbo to deduce that smoking was a contributor.
I've already outlived the age of my dad by 4 years. He smoked 3 packs a day for many years. I think of that and wonder if he lit a smoke the moment he woke up and just lit each next cigarette with the last one before stomping the old one out. Ash trays were all over the houses of everyone that I knew as a kid.
I remember mom complaining about Airlines banning smoking on flights. By then, dad had quit cold turkey. 3 packs a day to zero....that must have taken some will power.
California gets a bad rap for many things (deservedly so ) but it seems that this state was the first where the trend to smoke was losing steam. Out here, it is not that common to see smokers unless you're in urban areas where immigrants congregate. None of my in laws smoke, none of my friends do, what is left of my family quit smoking years ago.

 

[bandit67]

I started smoking , and buying my own smokes at 15. Soon discovered menthol cigs, and was heavy in to them. Got to smoking Kools pretty quick and ever few weeks would get a pack of Kools, NON filtered. I'd cough blood sometimes and would have to go back to filtered. I got to the point of, I could not , NOT smoke, even when I was sick and didn't want too.
By 19 I could no longer stand having something control me besides my mind, and plotted my stopping. Working out side as a construction worker every day in freezing temps made it difficult. But soon as March came and it warmed up, I went cold turkey. Have not had or wanted one in 48 years.

 

[Dennis H]

I switched temporarily to Belair when I got a cold.

 

[Triplegreen500]

My mother always smoked. In the car was the worst, especially in the winter, the inside of the car was a cloud of stinky smoke. In the summer, with all the widows open, she'd flick her ashes out the window and they'd come in the rear side window and hit us sitting in the back seat.

That was enough for me to never try it.

If I weren't an only child, I'd say we grew up in the same house....

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I have one neighbor who smokes, just turned 40, his wife died three years ago of cancer, Doctor said smoking was a contributing factor.... Every morning I hear this guy hacking up a lung... He just doesn't seem to be able to connect the dots....

My family travelled around the world in a closed up car with two/three people smoking the whole damn time...

My mom wound up in the hospital while I was in boot camp, collapsed lung, emphysema... Doctors got her back to health but told her if she ever went back to smoking she would be on oxygen for the rest of her life.... Two months later she was back in the hospital.... When I came home on leave she was on oxygen....

Something people don't talk about much, when you are on oxygen you're tethered to an oxygen source & that hose that supplies you oxygen can kink rather easily... So when you go across the room if your hose happens to kink you don't immediately realize it... And by the time you do your to weak to do anything about it....

So when someone comes home & finds you blacked out due to oxygen depravation they fix your hose & you wake up... But your brain has been starved for oxygen so you aren't quite as "there" as you were before that little episode...

And this scenario repeats time & again... Hopefully the advent of portable personal oxygen generators and short hoses has reduced this problem...

Even after watching mom go through all that we did my dad, both of my sisters & my brother all continued to smoke...

Dad was one of those who would smoke then put the cannula back on..

My sisters both eventually quit... My brother still smokes, don't see how he could raise his daughter around that...

 

[Triplegreen500]

He just doesn't seem to be able to connect the dots

My uncle was a renowned surgeon. So was my grandfather. Never met granddad but my uncle always said "yeah...I know, but dammit it makes me happy so leave me alone".

Guess what killed him?

 

[68-500]

I was smart enough to wait until I was 18 ya right. Smoke in the morning and evening, dipped Copenhagen at work. I quit shortly after Dad passed, stroke not entirely smoking related but definitely contributing factor to his death. I guess I was 30yrs it was hot summer day I split out a dip, My mouth was nasty and I could smell my own breath I threw away the can and the pack right there and never picked it up again. Ive never even had another craving. My wife continued to smoke a few a day for the last 20 years. Now she has the stupid little vape deal F’ing stupid if you ask me. But hell I never could tell her anything!

 

[Richard Cranium]

For a short time, I dated a girl who was a moderate smoker. She had big boobs and I can remember they even had the taste of cigarette smoke on them. It’s like the smoke had saturated her whole body and it oozed through her skin.

 

[dfrazz]

After growing up with both parents smoking cigs and cigars, I never wanted to try it and am glad I didn't. Can't stand the smell of cigs, cigars, vape, weed or someone who does.

 

[Hey-O]

Smoked on and off for years, a few a day. Would quit for years and then have a few. I'm a clean freak, so that was the real reason I quit for good 5 years ago. Never smoked in the house or my car.

 

[Southbranch]

Age 13 on Sundays, my friend and I both had older brothers by 5 years and they would come home drunk on Saturday night and we go through their cars on Sunday mornings. Being drunk they wouldn't remember and we'd take any cigarettes, joints, liquor or beer and money. We'd get a buzz then a pizza.

 

[68BabyBlue]

Smoked on and off for years, a few a day. Would quit for years and then have a few. I'm a clean freak, so that was the real reason I quit for good 5 years ago. Never smoked in the house or my car.

I did the same, never smoked in the house or the vehicles, started at 14. I was a "positive effect" user. A reward after I made a delivery on schedule, or on the courthouse steps after I got a good result. Quit cold turkey for the last time, 20 years ago. Was on a steady run to Kentucky, cigarette prices there were so low, my consumption started to rise. Came to the conclusion there was no "safe" rate of use, had no problems with withdrawal, highly unusual from everything I've read.

It's a truly disgusting and dangerous habit, by any objective measure, but I totally savored it when I indulged.

 

[DynaBro]

Had to be like 12. Took a friend's mom's Benson & Hedges. It was minty! I grew up in the heyday of cool Marlboro and Camel ads and free stuff. So if you weren't cut out to be a starting varsity football player and still wanted to get laid cigarettes were pretty much the first prop you acquired on your journey to whatever else it was you became. Quit cold turkey around age 24. I still go through one pack per summer though when I'm out riding.

 

[Hey-O]

I did the same, never smoked in the house or the vehicles, started at 14. I was a "positive effect" user. A reward after I made a delivery on schedule, or on the courthouse steps after I got a good result. Quit cold turkey for the last time, 20 years ago. Was on a steady run to Kentucky, cigarette prices there were so low, my consumption started to rise. Came to the conclusion there was no "safe" rate of use, had no problems with withdrawal, highly unusual from everything I've read.

It's a truly disgusting and dangerous habit, by any objective measure, but I totally savored it when I indulged.

I was going to mention that also, I too used it as a relaxing gift after a score. I wasn't addicted, I chose to, not a good choice, but true.

 

[Dennis H]

For a short time, I dated a girl who was a moderate smoker. She had big boobs and I can remember they even had the taste of cigarette smoke on them. It’s like the smoke had saturated her whole body and it oozed through her skin.

How was the taste down below?

 

[WileE]

In the summer, with all the widows open, she'd flick her ashes out the window and they'd come in the rear side window and hit us sitting in the back seat.

 

[Cranky]

I tried to smoke but wasn't any good at it.
EVERYONE in my family smoked except my Grandmother. Parents, uncles and aunts, siblings too. The guys in movies and TV shows looked so cool with a smoke hanging out of their faces....the Clint Eastwood type squint they had made it even cooler.
I just couldn't get into it although I tried a few times over the years.



When I joined the Army, someone of rank said "By the time they're through with you, you'll learn to love cigarettes and coffee."
That didn't happen.
Car rides as a kid...yeah, windows up and both parents smoking. Seeing mom cooking in the kitchen with a long ash on the end of the cigarette many, many times. Since I grew up with it all around me, I was used to it.
Once I moved out, I spent most of my time around non smokers. Not by choice, it was just how society was shifting in the late 80s. I'd go back home to visit and instantly feel and smell the thick smell of smoke in the walls, carpet, furniture, clothes and everything else. When the wife and I were over there for dinner or holiday dinners, she'd have the stink of smoke in her hair and want to shower after we got home.
Cancer has taken several of my family members. You don't have to be Columbo to deduce that smoking was a contributor.
I've already outlived the age of my dad by 4 years. He smoked 3 packs a day for many years. I think of that and wonder if he lit a smoke the moment he woke up and just lit each next cigarette with the last one before stomping the old one out. Ash trays were all over the houses of everyone that I knew as a kid.
I remember mom complaining about Airlines banning smoking on flights. By then, dad had quit cold turkey. 3 packs a day to zero....that must have taken some will power.
California gets a bad rap for many things (deservedly so ) but it seems that this state was the first where the trend to smoke was losing steam. Out here, it is not that common to see smokers unless you're in urban areas where immigrants congregate. None of my in laws smoke, none of my friends do, what is left of my family quit smoking years ago.

My MIL burned over 4 packs a day and lots of times there would be one in the den, another in the kitchen and another in the bathroom....all of them burning. She ended up in assisted living and didn't want to go into any that didn't allow smoking. None that I know of allowed it inside. Then she wanted us (X and I) to supply her with cigs. Told her I couldn't afford that and wouldn't if I could.

For a short time, I dated a girl who was a moderate smoker. She had big boobs and I can remember they even had the taste of cigarette smoke on them. It’s like the smoke had saturated her whole body and it oozed through her skin.

It does....I'm thinking she was a bit more than a moderate smoker.

After growing up with both parents smoking cigs and cigars, I never wanted to try it and am glad I didn't. Can't stand the smell of cigs, cigars, vape, weed or someone who does.

Some years back a friend came over to do some house cleaning and at noon 30 we were going to go eat. I went to the bathroom and she pulled out a vape pen and took a drag thinking I wasn't going to smell it. When I came out I bitched at her about the stink and she thought it was impossible for me to smell it. Doh.

 

[Hey-O]

How was the taste down below?

Like smoked salmon!!

 

[OzCharger69]

Started at 8 and we used to smoke x3 cigarettes a day at school. That became a packet a day until I was 30 when my daughter was born and I quit. I always smoked Marlboro reds. I haven't smoked for 14 years and no plan to!

 

[Dennis H]

Started at 8 and we used to smoke x3 cigarettes a day at school. That became a packet a day until I was 30 when my daughter was born and I quit. I always smoked Marlboro reds. I haven't smoked for 14 years and no plan to!

Marlboro Reds were GOOD. “Flip top box Sir? Yes please.