What age were you when you started smoking and why?
Discussion
Am 24 now and started smoking when I was 12. I found my brother's pack and nicked them the weekend before I started secondary school. Had a few practice ones and went in to school on the first day and found where the older lads were smoking at break and joined them. Thought I was so grown up and cool!! But got caught smoking on my first day at school.
Have been smoking ever since but am going to try and give up after Christmas as am joining the Army in January so maybe its time to quit
Have been smoking ever since but am going to try and give up after Christmas as am joining the Army in January so maybe its time to quit
I'm one of those boring recovered smokers these days but I remember when I was about 10 we had a baby sitter a lad that lived on the street must have been 18 or so obviously a totally inappropriate type as he taught me to roll up and smoke folded up chewing gum wrappers. He would have been arrested these days!
I think I was about 14.
A friend at school took it up - his dad smoked and he started as a result
I didn’t start because of my mate but i guess he sparked an curiousity in it. The first few were rank, but I saw that as a rite of passage; I didn’t like my first beer either but that soon changed
Anyway, I nicked a few from a family member where it wasn’t noticed. Then started buying my own; I looked older so “getting served” was never an issue.
A group of smokers formed at school and we would go off at lunchtime to smoke like the grown-ups we thought we were.
I quit when I was 30. Best thing I did - never looked back. I eventually hated being a slave to nicotine and just couldn’t be arsed once the smoking ban in public places came in.
A friend at school took it up - his dad smoked and he started as a result
I didn’t start because of my mate but i guess he sparked an curiousity in it. The first few were rank, but I saw that as a rite of passage; I didn’t like my first beer either but that soon changed
Anyway, I nicked a few from a family member where it wasn’t noticed. Then started buying my own; I looked older so “getting served” was never an issue.
A group of smokers formed at school and we would go off at lunchtime to smoke like the grown-ups we thought we were.
I quit when I was 30. Best thing I did - never looked back. I eventually hated being a slave to nicotine and just couldn’t be arsed once the smoking ban in public places came in.
Had my first puff when I was about 6. My parents both smoked and one day i asked my mother what it was like so she lit one up and handed it to me and instructed me to give it a good suck and then breath it in.
Her ploy worked well, I nearly puked and it put me off until I was in my late teens when i started smoking joints. I didn't smoke tobacco on its own until one day I had no puff so I lit up a cigarette as a substitute. I still smoke tobacco but gave up the weed.
Her ploy worked well, I nearly puked and it put me off until I was in my late teens when i started smoking joints. I didn't smoke tobacco on its own until one day I had no puff so I lit up a cigarette as a substitute. I still smoke tobacco but gave up the weed.
Had my first fag when I was about 14 (late 80's) and messing about at school.
There was a local shop that would split open a pack of cigarettes and sell a single fag and a single match for 10p.
Didn't really start till I went to Uni and had a girlfriend who smoked so I followed her lead.
Stupid habit, took me about 10 years to break it which was around 9 years more than our relationship lasted!!
There was a local shop that would split open a pack of cigarettes and sell a single fag and a single match for 10p.
Didn't really start till I went to Uni and had a girlfriend who smoked so I followed her lead.
Stupid habit, took me about 10 years to break it which was around 9 years more than our relationship lasted!!
One other related anecdote - my dad was a member of the army in his youth and decided to apply to join the Parachute Regiment.
From what he told me, back in around '66 / '67 when he went through P-company it was obvious that if you led a life which involved a ton of booze and cigarettes that this would impair your fitness compared to others that did not indulge.
Apparently this led to an informal competition - if you could go out on the town, get hammered and ruin your lungs by smoking 40 a night and then run over Pen-y-Fan with a full pack and carrying a GPMG your were clearly better/harder than those who lived cleanly.
It worked for my old man, he smashed it and was in 1st Battalion for a number of years.
He had a re-think when 4 years after leaving the army he caught a really bad dose of the flu - the proper one, not just a bad cold. That developed into emphysema; probably in part due to weakened lung capacity following a good few years of smoking.
My dad went from one of the fittest, most physically capable blokes you could imagine to someone who my mum had to help get out of bed within the space of 6 weeks.
Said to me at a later date (I was only 11 when this was going on), he genuinely though he was going to die at the age of 38.
Glad to say he is 73 this year, still going strong, and annoyingly fitter than me, now n my early 40's!!.
From what he told me, back in around '66 / '67 when he went through P-company it was obvious that if you led a life which involved a ton of booze and cigarettes that this would impair your fitness compared to others that did not indulge.
Apparently this led to an informal competition - if you could go out on the town, get hammered and ruin your lungs by smoking 40 a night and then run over Pen-y-Fan with a full pack and carrying a GPMG your were clearly better/harder than those who lived cleanly.
It worked for my old man, he smashed it and was in 1st Battalion for a number of years.
He had a re-think when 4 years after leaving the army he caught a really bad dose of the flu - the proper one, not just a bad cold. That developed into emphysema; probably in part due to weakened lung capacity following a good few years of smoking.
My dad went from one of the fittest, most physically capable blokes you could imagine to someone who my mum had to help get out of bed within the space of 6 weeks.
Said to me at a later date (I was only 11 when this was going on), he genuinely though he was going to die at the age of 38.
Glad to say he is 73 this year, still going strong, and annoyingly fitter than me, now n my early 40's!!.
Muzzer79 said:
I quit when I was 30. Best thing I did - never looked back. I eventually hated being a slave to nicotine and just couldn’t be arsed once the smoking ban in public places came in.
Ditto for me, tho I quit at 26. Can’t believe it’s still legal. Miserable, expensive and smelly way to commit suicide slowly. Unless you get cancer. Just why would you start today?
About 14 - my dad smoked 40+ a day since I was born, so was probably addicted already. By 18 I was on 20-30 a day as I was a courier, on the road and on my own for most of the day. Met MrsPB and as she didn't smoke, I started cutting down - either not smoking, or smoking less when we were together. Hardest to quit were the beer smokes....
Haven't had one for 15+ years now and don't miss them at all. In fact none of our friends smoke and I know very few people that do. In the face of all the evidence, its surprising people still do it.
Haven't had one for 15+ years now and don't miss them at all. In fact none of our friends smoke and I know very few people that do. In the face of all the evidence, its surprising people still do it.
11, my dad was a smoker, I was nicking them and selling them at school from the first year on, he never noticed. I gave up at 32 when my missus got pregnant with our first. Looking back its a ridiculous waste of money, 20 B and H must be best part of £20 these days. My dad stopped in his forties after a severe case of bronchitis, I must have been 14 or 15, scared him and my mum half to death, but by then I had my own money.
Probably around 16 when I started nicking my dad's and then smoked 15 to 20 a day until I was 50 six years ago. I got off them with ecigarettes which I still use, not the stupid huge cloud type just standard mouth to lung setups.
Someone told me the other day that a pack of twenty is now around £11-£12 which is just madness. When governments make huge amounts in tax it's not surprising a lethal pastime is still allowed to continue.
Someone told me the other day that a pack of twenty is now around £11-£12 which is just madness. When governments make huge amounts in tax it's not surprising a lethal pastime is still allowed to continue.
Edited by kuro on Saturday 8th December 11:38
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