MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I gave up smoking 4 months ago today and I know that it is a bit of a cliché, but it is one of the best/hardest things I have ever done.
Anyway, I was the only smoker in the Ho hum household and also with the ban on smoking in public places I very rarely come across smokers nowadays.
Last week was different though as my family and I were on holiday in Majorca, where there is not a smoking ban in public places.
Hanging around by the pool during the day and watching the entertainment in the evening with loads of smokers around me made me realise just how much cigarette smoke stank and how pervasive it is. No matter how much a smoker tries to wave his/her hand it does little to really disappate the smoke and smell.
Certainly in the last 10 years or so I have become aware of how offensive my habit was and as a result I used to find areas away from people to have a smoke, but when I was younger I did not really care that much about where I would light up. Then, as my habit became an addiction and I virtually lost all sense of taste and smell, I became oblivious to how much it stank.
I guess the 5 ages of my smoking career have been:
1. non-smoker
2. psychopathic smoker
3. oblivious smoker
4. conscienscious smoker
5. ex-smoker
Now it would be hypocritical of me to say ban smoking completely and I people should be given the choice about whether or not to smoke, but I do wish that psychopathic and oblivious smokers could be made to realise how annoying their habit is to non-smokers and modify their behaviour accordingly.
Good show on improving your life mate.
But yes - cig smokes stinks, but for me stale (ie more than 2 mins old) smoke is one of the most disgusting things.. when colleages come in from a fag break then lean over your computer to do something... Gag! Vom!
For some reason I don't mind the after-smell of golden virginia, but yes the direct smoke from ciggies is a fairly putrid smell. The worst is when you wake up the morning after, having not smoked, but you still stink of cigerettes to make that hangover even worse.
doh !
I gave up 20 years ago, but have always had the odd one 'socially'. I haven't had one at all for about 4 months, but I'm off to Greece in a couple of weeks and fully intend to buy some golden virginia and some papers and enjoy a roll-up in a country where smoking is positively encouraged. I think the main reason I didn't cut it out completely was the fact that I like the smell and I like to see people smoke! I'm weird though.
Well done on winning out over something you found so hard. Congratulations. Your thoughts on its effect on others are interesting too.
No the worst is sleeping with a girl who smokes!
Smoking is one of the most disgusting habits out there in my opinion. Well done for quitting though.
I smoke very, very occasionally with people who (at worst) smoke very occasionally. Done like that I really rather like the smell. I like the intimacy of sharing cigarette lighters, the paraphenalia of smoking, the smell of tobacconist's shops and actually rather like to watch people who smoke well doing so.
People smoke far too much, that's the problem. 🙂
Stick with it. 4 months means you're still in the 'giving up honeymoon period'. I gave up about 4 years ago, and I'm pretty anti-smoking.
[img] 
[/img]
mmmmmm, ciggys, you delicious smokey bastards.
You wanna have a fag?
GO TO RUSSIA! And have a shower before you come back.
Being an ex-smoker is great.
The Southern Yeti - MemberNo the worst is sleeping with a girl who smokes!
Some form of lubricant or going more slowly could help.
I would get my coat but it's a bit too warm for one today...
Now it would be hypocritical of me to say ban smoking completely
also as we well know prohibition doesn't work, and won't until everyone is too happy with their lives to bother with drugs.
I've just come back from Greece (Rodos) and it was a bit of a shock to be surrounded by people smoking again, particularly in restaurants. I think the smoking ban in the UK has significantly reduced our exposure to smoke in areas not covered by the ban. it's going to be quite a while before some other parts of Europe catch up though.
Congrats on quitting, no mean feat.
*sparks up a bine*
[img] 
[/img]
I'm an ex smoker, I say let them smoke as long as it doesn't affect me..
I gave up smoking 2 days ago. I'm 43, been smoking since my teens, when we smoked loads of bongs and chillums (sp), and I've been a heavy rollie smoker ever since. It must be my fifth attempt, gave up for a year once. I absolutely hate smoking and with every drag was terrified of triggering cancer. From experience I have found the first couple of months the easiest and then the 'novelty' of not smoking wears off and one small thing can make me start again. However, I start each attempt with conviction and a sense of realism and an awareness of the danger zones. But I'll never give up giving up and one day I'll crack it. I want it to be this time.
I resent smoking with a passion. I particularly hate those smokers who think its ok to put out their death sticks and throw them on the floor thinking it will instantly dissolve into the pavement never to be seen again.
There has been a significant increase in smoking litter since the ban and its unsightly and stinks!
No the worst is sleeping with a girl who smokes!
+1
It really does my head in, she said the other day "I haven't smoked for 4 days and you haven't even noticed, why should I quit?"
Took a lot of mental restraint not to reply "I've never coiled one off in your bed, you've never complimented me on that, doesn't mean I should start?"
highclimber +1
All the smokers who chuck their butts out of the window rather than using the ashtray or use their ashtray, but then empty the entire thing onto the road at a set of traffic lights.
We went to Center Parcs a while ago & out the back of the apartments we were staying in the grass was absolutely littered with fag ends.
highclimber +1
By the end of the day the car park at work is practically ankle deep in discarded butt ends.
Minging!
The poor janny has to sweep it all up every night. Personally I'd put a wall around it and force them to wallow in it till they got the hang of using the bins.
Before this degenerates too far:
[url=
me smoke my pipe![/url]
smoking is a filthy stinking habit which has left several members of my family to die horrid painful miserable deaths.
it may seem cool when you're a teenager, but when you're 70, with tubes coming out of every orrifice, drugged up to the eyeballs, having spent the last 5 years literally coughing up your lungs and waiting to die, it won't be so cool anymore
Tis a vile habit to a non-smoker. Nicely ruined my evening last night when the neighbour walked down her drive smoking and the smoke drifted in my window, my whole lower floor stank all evening.
I'm a non smoker, smoking doesn't bother me in the slightest, my missus is a smoker...The vitriol of other non smokers does make me smile though, don't think I've ever had the energy to get that wound up about it.
Should never have started, but gave up the weed 18 years ago. Sense of taste and smell now back where they should be, but it's left me with the lung capacity of a newt.
How long did you smoke before you gave up Mr W? I thought your lungs were meant to get back to pretty much normal about 5 years after quitting.
thisisnotaspoon - I'm no relationship expert but if you start only kissing her when she hasn't smoked she'll get the message.
I have never smoked in my 42 years on this earth. I grew up with parents who both smoked. I can remember visiting relatives as a kid and having to go outside for fresh air as my eyes were so sore. Up till recently I would never have argued for banning it completely but since the ban I would. I prefer to sit outside in summer at both pubs and cafes but am finding I have to stay inside to get away from the stench. Ban cigarettes but you can keep cigars as I like the smell of them. Promised myself I would have a cigar when I turned 40 but never got round to it. Fathers had throat cancer and still smokes !
the nicest thing about being an ex smoker for me is saying i don't smoke to those who ask me for a light( not in a smug way of course) it makes me proud of quitting, i tried several times and found it very difficult until i took up mountain biking again! that gave me a very good reason to stop so i guess i owe a lot to this sport however i have now spent much more on bikes than i would have on ciggies but it's definately worth it!
OP. Well done firstly. 10yrs clean here.
It really is a disgusting habit. Utterly addictive and destroys the cells within your body. Smokers tend to rebel/fight against others who question their habit. I know I did. I started off thinking it'd make me cool/get girls, make me bad and then living dangerously. Finally in the last stages of smoking I thought it made me look like I needed something or showed when I was stressed.
Funnily after I quit I went to work in sales. In the cornershop this week I noticed the smoking display has a wierd backlight- like a clean crisp light that draws your eyes.
I wonder why they are doing that...... possibly for the kids when they look up from the sweet counter towards the shop keeper?
The vitriol of other non smokers does make me smile though, don't think I've ever had the energy to get that wound up about it.
Really doesn't take any energy, you must be seriously lethargic 🙂 Might be all the passive smoke... 😆
[i]you must be seriously lethargic[/i]
it takes industrial strength coffee to jump start me in the morning
im 15 years clean...
been 4 years for me and mrs scraprider. sometimes the wiff of a fag with summit init. any ways that stopped when the smoking stopped ,and i have never had a crafty one since i stopped, well done you.
Ah, yes I went towards espresso addiction 😈
About 3 months here after a year of trying to stop, what has suprised me most is I still feel like one sometimes even now. Never having managed more than a day I honestly thought 3, 4 days max and that would be the end of it.
Always have and still do find the smell appealing, even stinky ashtrays. Yes I can smell smokers at 30 yards now but it's not that unpleasant?
Will never smoke again though because I've no desire to go through that first couple of weeks ever again, not to mention the anger and depression stages that last even longer.
Now enjoying the instant extra 3mph average speed on the bike, hills, food, swimming & running, not constantly worrying about my health. Feeling smug in the presence of smokers.
What genuinely annoys me is...
your sat on a bench eating your lunch and reading the paper and someone shuffles up and sits next you then sparks up.
Have they even the basic manners to know your not supposed to smoke when someones eating? Let alone onto the next aspect.
No offence - smokers strike me like sullen kids who seem to think its 'us and them' and we should 'get over their addiction'. Free choice and all that. Or they think they are the grownup's and we are being childish whereas when you actually grow up, a smoker has an a
apithinany and thinks 'I've been had all these years'...
I was never a heavy smoker, but gave up entirely a few years ago.
I've never really been bothered if girlfriends smoke though. For one thing, up until a few years ago about half my circle of friends were smokers. Additinally, a disproportionate number of foxy types seem to have the vice and I've long theorised that girls who smoke are willing to put anything in their mouths.
The foxy types start to acquire bad, thin or leathery skin though in their early 30's onwards. Thats when they stop being alluring livewires and become liabilities at parties and 'oh thats Kate' (rolls eyes).
Sorry- I know over various threads I've come across as almost hateful(?) of smokers. Its not smokers, its smoking and the Tobacco companies behind the addiction and political lobbying.
The Southern Yeti - MemberNo the worst is sleeping with a girl who smokes!
No, the worst is not sleeping with her!
I've long theorised that girls who smoke are willing to put anything in their mouths.
I have empirical evidence of this
I and many many others also have empirical evidence of this with the same girl Antonyfw is relating to.I have empirical evidence of this
I've never smoked, and I'm really glad that it's been stopped in public places. I've been sat in restaurants eating when someone, often female, has sat down at my table and lit up. One girl was foreign, European, and just couldn't understand why I got pissed off with her blowing smoke across my dinner!
That was a come-on signal. You flappin like a Goose probably confused her..
Well I used to be able to ride 30 - 40 miles easily and regularly on 5 or so Hamlets and a few beers a day when I was unemployed... No longer possible for reasons unconnected with smoking.
Maybe I would have been able to ride further if I hadn't had the Hamlets and the beers, who knows, but I never felt it held me back.
I enjoy smoke free restaurants as I don't smoke around people who are eating and don't appreciate it when people smoke when I'm eating.
'Scuse me, just sparking up...
Right, back now.
Interesting that Cretans have the third longest life expectancy and the third highest cigarette consumption per capita... (a lot to do with diet, I think) and ironic that Tony Bliar's [sic] Labour club is closing down due to the smoking ban and high alcohol taxes!
Well done for quitting though - no way is it easy!
Live and let live...
I found that when I wasn't working the weight slid off of me and my fitness went to silly-levels. I think its due to stress. Without knowing it at work you have a certain base-level of stress that affects your metabolism and, well...poo. Notice how you empty yourself inside out when your not working compared to in the office/a really busy day?
I have empirical evidence of this
I and many many others also have empirical evidence of this with the same girl Antonyfw is relating to.
Tell your mum i said Hi.
We had the leaving do for the sixth form students leaving school this week. As they had now technically left the school they were free to smoke and drink as they wished in front of staff rather than the usual clandestine sneaking off into bushes games that they play for the rest of the year and we have to pretend to try to stop them.
Depressingly I would estimate more than half of them were smoking, maybe more. Clearly the advertising/sponsorship bans etc make zero difference & in a way it would be good to get the advertising & sponsorship back so the tobacco profits were at least being shared around. I just hope it's a phase for these kids and most of them will grow out of it before it is too late.
10 years clean here too, and yes it does bother me when I walk out of a building through a wall of smoke! ho hum though, what can you do!
Gave up in 1984! 🙂
I hate the way (when you are out on your road bike) you can smell smoker's cars as they pass.
(There you are, got road riding and anti smoking into one sentence!) 😉
My girlfriend smokes cigarettes and I so wish she didn't. She did give them up for a short while but a stressful episode happened in her life and it started all over again. She knows exactly how I feel and I just hope one day she will quit for good. My mum died partly due to a smoking related illness so that's why I detest it with a passion, you lose someone you love and it's horrible.
The smell lingers on clothes and no matter how much they try mask it, it still isn't good and I can always tell when I've been her house and when I see her kids. I'll keep badgering her I guess but it will be for her good too and not just mine.
Shes does miss the tag-team days she shared with your mum, sister and the Tongan-national Rugby team 😛Tell your mum i said Hi.
Depressingly I would estimate more than half of them were smoking, maybe more. Clearly the advertising/sponsorship bans etc make zero difference & in a way it would be good to get the advertising & sponsorship back so the tobacco profits were at least being shared around. I just hope it's a phase for these kids and most of them will grow out of it before it is too late.
The depressing part is is this is the time when Tobacco companies pick up their customers for life...the rebellious 'look at me I'm living dangerously infront of my peers etc'. What they don't realise is they are being sucked into exploitation as a lifelong victim.
Thankfully I had a GP who sat me down and spent her time talking to me about my addiction. I left her Surgery and never looked back. She explained what a mug I had been and asked if I really wanted to have more frequent chest-infections that eventually became permanent.
well done OP, i'm not getting into the smoking outside pubs/cafes etc debate, i upset to many people last time 🙄
i'm not getting into the smoking outside pubs/cafes etc debate, i upset to many people last time
I'm kinda looking forward to someone coming up and sitting next to my young un outside a Cafe/outdoors then attempting to light up. I think 'do you mind' would be suffice 🙂
Its difficult to say this without a small child present as others will look at you as some sort of party-spoiling berk.
Well done OP. But as you were a smoker mr hora, why would a few puffs of smoke passing vaguely by you make any difference compared to the years you smoked yourself? (totally understand about your child)
Sometimes, only sometimes I get a whiff of passive smoke and it actually gives me a pang of craving. Depending on the mood I am in it can really wind me up.
Its such a potent drug. Once a smoker.... deep down you'll always be susceptible....hence my '10yrs clean'.
I've just come back from Greece (Rodos) and it was a bit of a shock to be surrounded by people smoking again, particularly in restaurants.
I'd be bit shocked too, as there is a smoking ban in Greek restaurants. I guess it may not apply outside, though ...
Depending on the mood I am in it can really wind me up.
Its even alittle safe to say I become like..
.
.
.[b]ton[/b]
.
.
when it happens
[img] 
[/img]
I think 'do you mind' would be suffice
To which the correct answer is "No, I don't mind at all" 😀
Please awfully so old chap.
aaah for the addiction not the health...fair enough
Still smoking here, I think that smell can make me fancy a smoke too.
One drag is sometimes all I need to fix the craving
it's been nine days now, effing love being fag free. Smoking is crap, smokers know this but the addiction will deny it, and I don't care if I sound like some born again C it's true.
i've started smoking.... at the end of a day's ride
i quite like having a rollie with a beer or glass of red.
the main reason i bought a pouch of baccy is because i haven't any 😉 😉 to smoke.... well, i have, but can't really be seen to be lighting one up at the end of the day as i would usually do with my mates back home....
my old man smoked from 14-62 (now 66) and to hear him coughing his lungs up each morning tears at my innards... it's a shitty habit.
oh, and in Bavaria they've just voted to tighten the already (relatively) tight smoking laws. you won't be able to light up at the Oktoberfest next year....