How are the Smokers here getting on?
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I started smoking when a pack out of a machine cost 50 cents, and quit when it was about $1.00 each. By then machine cigarette's were too expensive, and I bought them by the carton to keep cost down. Still, I was up to 3 packs a day. Even after awareness of the health hazard, the increase in taxes, and smoking bans came into effect, I thought about smoking, the release it provided from the addictive craving, and wounder if I would ever take another drag:-( When I think about it, I can still feel trace remnants of that craving.
Jim, when I think about the holes I burned into my drawings, even with computers, I wouldn't want to hire a smoker. Actually I couldn't, smoking is not allowed in offices here.
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@jim said:
I saw a job ad the other day for a place I once worked - the ad said "we do not hire users of tobacco products."
Just curious how common this is, or is becoming?
I dont suppose the company provides health care as part of the package? if so you can see why they would impose such a restriction. If not, id be loathed to work for them. Employers delving in to the social lives of their employees really pisses me off.
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Well get ready to have the Government do it. . ..Smoking, Big Macs, Video games . .. .
Government Health Care means Government Nanny-ism. . ..
Sorry. Didn't mean to get Political . ..too much.
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Csaba, the price of 20 cigs here is €8.45!
Adam, I've seen American Spirit on the Net but not available here. Must try them sometime, at least I would not be breathing in amounts of pesticide
Dacad, its really an addiction! More psychological than physical. The physical addiction goes fully after 3 - 4 weeks once the system is cleaned out BUT the psychological addiction takes a LOT longer, sometimes years I hear.
Cosycat, stay off them if its a case of you or them.
Charly, that old guy looks happy. Hope I get to that age. Funny thing for me is that it does not bother me if I don't have a drink for months on end! The bar pic is typical of many bars here in Ireland.
John, Many bars that had available space have built some really nice Smoking Areas, even heated! On Saturday nights there can often be as many non smokers in these areas as smokers. Hey! we must be an attractive bunch
Jim, I'm curious about the type of job that was advertised? Sounds a bit strange to me, after all smoking (nicotine) is legal AND does fatten the Government's coffers with the huge taxes!
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Golden Virginia and blue Rizlas, used to be my vice- until I quit, about three years back. Although I feel much healthier, my waist now measures 38" rather than 36" (jeans)! Smokers are treated like leapers in the UK now.
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i smoke.. switched to rollies around a year ago and went from about 25 cigs a day (at 10 bucks per pack of 20) to around 6-7 a day ($10 pouch lasts up to a week)..
bali shag light.. try it out if you're into ryo..
http://balishagloosetobacco.com/ -
I've smoked on and off for nearly 20yrs, and once was off cigs for 5yrs when i fell off the wagon.
But this thread reminds me of what happened while contracting in Boston in the 90's
Driving home after work at 4am on quiet road i was smoking when i decided to throw cig out window. It miraculously flew back in the window and on to the back seat! Where i decided in my infinite wisdom to turn and look to see where it went and ending up kind of weaving around the road. Next thing.....
Flashing blue lights
Now at the time i was, lets say over staying my welcome, in the good ol' USA and knew if this copper made enquiries i was up the swanny.
Cop: "Licence and Registration, Sir"
Dumb Irish Kid: "It's in me other car, this is the bosses car!"
Cop: "Sir, are you familiar with driving in this country"
Dumb Irish Kid: "Yes, Officer but i can explain....."
Cop: " Have you been drinkin' at all tonite Sir?"
Dumb Irish Kid: " No Officer, but i can explain............"
At this point i must explain that unfortunately cigarettes or smokes or ciggies are also called FAGS in Ireland. Now there is no malice meant in referring to cigarettes as fags it comes Fag-end, which is a rope used in sailing that had a useless frayed end.
Dumb Irish Kid: " Well Officer i was driving along and threw a fag out the window but fuc....."
Cop: "Whooah, whooah, whooah... Sir let me get this straight. You threw a fag out the window"
Dumb Irish Kid: Yes Officer"
It was at this point that 'Back-Up' was called. I was cuffed and placed in the back of the squad car! Once 'Back-Up' arrived i was told to show the Officers where about the fag was thrown.
Dumb Irish Kid: " The fuc#@$ came back in the window and landed on the back seat and i was trying to reach back to throw it out again when i drifted across the road and...."
Cop: "Whooah, whooah, whooah... "
Back-Up: "I'll go check on the victim"
At this point i realised my faux pas and explained to the Officer that the fag in question was in fact a cigarette! To this day, every xmas i get a card from Officer Jones and family, who reminds that he still gets bought drink at the bar to tell the tale of the 'Irish Kid and the Fag'
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@unknownuser said:
i smoke.. switched to rollies around a year ago and went from about 25 cigs a day (at 10 bucks per pack of 20) to around 6-7 a day ($10 pouch lasts up to a week)..
Yes, it does last longer, but, and you're gonna hate this one Jeff...... I don't know if you can get Golden Virginia blend in the States, but it is a rolling tobacco (as if you haven't already guessed?
),.GV, is a British fave, and I used to smoke on average 4 to 6 roll-ups a day. But when the quit-smoking counselor came around (she came free with our first daughter, and the NHS), she had this CO (carbon monoxide) monitoring device, which said that I was smoking an average of 20 to 25 cigarettes a day. ie, roll-ups, although they taste better, are actually far worse for you when it comes to CO and tar inhalation than regular cigarettes!!! I always assumed that it was the other way around! 
If you really want to quit, I can highly recommend the Nicorette Inhalator. This device looks like a tampon (!!), but it worked great for me- and I tried everything else. But one thing about this methadone-like way of doing 'N', is that the withdrawal is pretty nasty (I had some serious nightmares for rather a long time, during withdrawal
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Rich, thats hilarious, sounds like an old Abbot and Costello bit. I quit smoking for 10 years, then one evening last year, while enjoying some drinks with a few of the guys, I bummed a smoked, really missed having a smoke with a beer, and ended up back to a pack a day. Figure I'll try to kick the habit again in the new year. Last time I quit, I did it cold turkey, really didn't seem that hard, though I really missed it with coffee, beer, and after meals. Also weirdly, if I was watching a good old movie and a character lit up, I got the craving. It took longer to lose the 15 lbs I gained than to actually quit smoking.
Mike
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Alpro, ever watch the TV drama 'Madmen'?
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roll your own is a good way of cutting down.
i quit smoking for nearly a year now.....with the help of those nicotine inhalers and patches. but i still have a sneaky fag in my lunch break, cant help it!! its like a guilty pleasure
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I used 2 things to quit once I moved here to Canada (where last time I looked it was $10 for a pack)
1: Sunflower Seeds. wanted a smoke? hamster time!
2: the Winter. going outside for a smoke when it's -10c is NOT FUN.
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'Hello,I am Kwistenbiebel and I am a smoker'. Should I stand up when I say this?
The one that has the urge even before the movie ends
It's a great calming aid (even though it has the opposite effect) and in a way even reduces stress.I would pay the cigarette companies a thousand dollars if they could release me from the product they got me hooked on.
Probably a bad deal for them... I would earn them much more if I just kept on smoking . Bastards! -
Stopped smoking in July after having major heart atack and operation afterwards. I still have urge to do it but I am not going to give in. Unfortunately munching is on now so I had put more than stone in weight. You win some you lose some. On balance though I wish I never smoked.
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@olishea said:
roll your own is a good way of cutting down.
i quit smoking for nearly a year now.....with the help of those nicotine inhalers and patches. but i still have a sneaky fag in my lunch break, cant help it!! its like a guilty pleasure
You did not read my post?
If you're having sneaky fags during lunch you haven't given up yet!. Apperently scientists have just cracked the lung cancer genome- which contained over 24,000 cancer genes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8414124.stm
We're one step closer to 'healthy fags'!
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Interesting timing Mike.
I have just quit after 35 years of smoking. I have been smoking a bit over a pack a day - and a pack here is 25 cigarettes. I am using 'Champix' which apparently tells your brain that you don't need nicotine right now. There's a more medical explanation somewhere.
I tried this earlier in the year, but the whole thing wasn't successful - I kept having a craving. This time is totally different. I really don't need a smoke. The tricky bit is that there are so many times during the day that I always had a ciggy and I have to control that 'habit' part.
Anyway, so far so good.
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Jeremy,
You are half way there, best of luck to you. Making the decision to quit is the biggest step. I also hear that Champix is a great help as it not a nicotine substitute.
If you have not read 'Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking', I suggest you do so as it is a great read by a guy that was smoking 100 plus cigs a day. That is a full time job in itself. Allen died a few year ago from lung cancer. Allen's book was a great help to me when I made the decision to quit and I will read it again the next time I make this decision which probably be sooner than later as smoking has casued me some medical problems that obviously did not knock enough sense into me.
Mike
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@tfdesign said:
although they taste better, are actually far worse for you when it comes to CO and tar inhalation than regular cigarettes!!! I always assumed that it was the other way around!
yeah, but they're 7x cheaper
(i switched when i realized i was spending about $4,000/yr on cigarettes)the rollies also stain my fingertips a nice lovely brown.
[damn, i need to just quit]
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Jeff, try the inhalator. (No more brown fingers!)
http://www.nicorette.co.uk/inhalator/
The inhalator worked great for me. Many people say that you really need will power, which is true, and you need a bit of that with the inhalator (!), but the inhalator really does help. I gave up while writing my degree dissertation.
(and I still got a 2:1 with honours!)The patches and the gum though, were crap
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I smoked for 5 years, sometimes quitting for a month or so. At my worst I was at a pack of 20 a day. I smoked right through one family member's passing from lung cancer. Like many I switched to rollies for a while and started to cut back by not buying packs. I would just bum a cig off someone, very easy to do in a college town. Most of the time I was just given cigs without asking. I finally quit cold turkey after graduating university. I just passed the 6 month mark a few days ago. On a side note, has anyone tried these so called, e-cigarettes? It uses a small vaporizer that vaporizes what I assume is just flavored water to deliver nicotine. Sounds like it is just a stylized nicorette inhalator.
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