Smoking

[daqinggregg]

20 a day, never smoke in the car or take cigarette breaks when travelling, including airports; don’t smoke on holiday, usually a couple of months a year. Tried vaping once, didn’t like it.

Previously, didn’t smoke in the day, but now WFM. My job is not particularly stressful. For reference, decent brand cigarettes are £1.50 here, so there is not the financial incentive to give up.

[Skeptisk]

Gave up full time smoking in 1988. I a still a bit of a social smoker but I probably don’t smoke more than 20 a year rather than 20 a day.

Small pubs here in Denmark allow smoking. Really takes me back to my youth.

[blingybongy]

Muzzer79 said:

Stone me

I vowed to quit when they got to a fiver.

Eventually stopped in 2009 - smoking ban came in and sod standing out in the freezing cold just to have a smoke.

I always said I'd quit when 20 Marlboro Red went over a quid a pack. Never quite got round to it.
17 quid now, fk.

[Sheets Tabuer]

Skeptisk said:

Small pubs here in Denmark allow smoking. Really takes me back to my youth.

Same in Germany, quite bizarre being invited out ot a smoking bar especially when no one smoked

Boy did my clothes stink, don't miss that at all.

[Goaty Bill 2]

Skeptisk said:

Gave up full time smoking in 1988. I a still a bit of a social smoker but I probably don’t smoke more than 20 a year rather than 20 a day.

Small pubs here in Denmark allow smoking. Really takes me back to my youth.

I knew there would be another reason to love Denmark.
Really enjoyed the months I spent working in Copenhagen and months afterwards visiting socially.
The beer (lager) is better too.

Sheets Tabuer said:

Same in Germany, quite bizarre being invited out ot a smoking bar especially when no one smoked

Boy did my clothes stink, don't miss that at all.

Good to know that hasn't changed since I last visited.

[Monkeylegend]

I stopped in 1962 when I was 9 after taking one of my Grandmothers cigarettes and inhaling one mouthful of smoke, my first and only suck on a cigarette. It made me feel sick and dizzy.

My Grandmother always had one cigarette a day after her evening meal and never inhaled, bless her .

[Riley Blue]

In 1948 it is reckoned that 82% of men in the UK smoked, in 2022 it was 14.6% (women 11.2%).

Just thought I'd tell ya.

[Slow.Patrol]

I read this week that Spain is banning smoking outside in public shared spaces. That'll be a shock to the ex pats in Benidorm.

I gave up in 1996. I don't know anyone who smokes other than the chavvy BiLand his misses. But they are on benefits so can probably afford it.

[Antony Moxey]

After 20 years of 20 a day I decided to give it up about 15 or so years ago. I figured it would be easier if I did it myself than a doc telling me if I didn’t I’d be dead in a few months. So with willpower alone I just stopped and that was that. I’ve had the odd rollie or cigar when out on the pop, but that’s literally no more than two or three a year so I’m happy with that. Seeing the prices for 20 on here there’s no way I’d ever go back to full time.

[Silvanus]

Just looked up the UK stats, lowest percentage of smokers recorded in 2022 at 12.9%. That still seems like a lot. Cannabis smokers are at 9.5% and on the increase. Vaping looks to be around 7%, I though it would be higher than that.

I suppose smokers can't smoke so much in public now, whereas vapers seem to puff wherever they feel like so looks like there's more of them.

[recordman]

If anyone's looking for smokers, come to the main entrance door of the William Harvey hospital in Ashford Kent.

Despite it being a completely 'smoke free' site there are people there gasping away, some with drips attached to them. Like most, they've come there to get healthy, I just think they're taking the piss out of all the doctors and nurses that work so hard to help them.

[JackJarvis]

I've never been a smoker. I think it's a disgusting habit and I've got no idea why some people still do it... however, weirdly I quite like the smell of it. I think it's a nostalgia thing, memories of relatives smoking when I was a kid.

[Monkeylegend]

recordman said:

If anyone's looking for smokers, come to the main entrance door of the William Harvey hospital in Ashford Kent.

Despite it being a completely 'smoke free' site there are people there gasping away, some with drips attached to them. Like most, they've come there to get healthy, I just think they're taking the piss out of all the doctors and nurses that work so hard to help them.

At our local hospital they are out there with the doctors and nurses.

[RichFN2]

I only know a few people who still smoke, used to be about half of my mates did perhaps 10 years ago.

If you want a culture shock with regards to smoking then go to Albania, I must have been the only non smoker in Tirana as absolutely everyone smokes which is worse in winter as there is no smoking ban anywhere.

The waiter will be decent enough not to smoke while bringing out your food, but will make a brisk walk back to the staff smoking table to chain smoke as many as possible until he has to carry something again

[Cotty]

I used to smoke for many years, switched to vaping and over the years gradually reduced the nicotine level and eventually stopped vaping.

Sigmamark7 said:

I don’t smoke, but I do vape which is probably worse. With a cigarette, you lit it, smoked it and stubbed it out - finished. With vaping, it’s an almost continuous process (if you want it to be) with no natural end point, so my vape is almost a permanent fixture in my hand.

I used to only vape in the evenings with a beer. You can kind of train yourself out of constantly puffing.

[sospan]

When I was about 7 I was staying at a cousin’s. My uncle/aunt ran a newsagent/tobacconist/sweets shop. We took a pack of ciggies down the garden to try them. Capstan Full Strength, because the pack looked nice. Disgusting taste and coughing. Decided smoking was not for me.
When i was about 30 I went to work in a cigar factory running a production section. Outof curiosity I lit up a couple of different brands. None appealed so didn’t get converted. I eventually moved to running the QA and very occasionally lit a cigar up as a test of draw when a test sample showed out of spec flow ( too tight so hard work to smoke, unlike premium cigars). I’d also test smoke experimental cigars flavoured (cherry, chocolate etc).
Never wanted to smoke though.
Vaping now appears to have replaced smoking. Doesn’t appeal to me.

[Cotty]

RichFN2 said:

I only know a few people who still smoke, used to be about half of my mates did perhaps 10 years ago.

I only know one person that smokes.

[dxg]

Tango13 said:

Sheets Tabuer said:

vixen1700 said:

How much is a box of 20 these days?

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/310...

£17 bloody quid for my old poison.

So 20 a day plus a few more at the weekend and you're looking at something like £7,000 a year

When I worked in a petrol station as a kid and used to sell ciggies, they varied between £2.20 to £2.60 for 20...

[MitchT]

Tango13 said:

So 20 a day plus a few more at the weekend and you're looking at something like £7,000 a year

I once worked out how much I'd have saved by 40 if I'd banked the cost a pack of 20 cigs every day from the day I was legally alowed to smoke. With the compounded interest, enough to buy a Ferrari Testarossa at the price you could get one for when I turned 40 ten years ago! That's bearing in mind the price when I was 16 - not an exaggerated figure based on current cigarette prices. Shame I didn't have the foresight at 16 to start doing that, though a blessing for my health that I didn't smoke anyway.

[James6112]

I’ve not tried once.

But, my 83 year old mother, has smoked 50 a day for about 70 years.
I worked out its cost at least 700k at current prices.

Wonders why not many visit her house,, sad really.

Tobacco shares will dive when she keels over.