Smoking. A lifetime addiction?

[Jenkins]

I was a smoker from my late teens for about 25 years. Only 5 to 10 per day and normally at the lower end of that unless having a few drinks when you used to be able to smoke in pubs. I had flu around 8 or 9 years ago and stoppped smoking to to help with the recovery and never started again. For the first year or so there were moments when I would have given anything for a cigarette, but nowadays I can't stand the smell of cigarettes (and most of the vape products as well) and don't miss it at all - even when drinking.

 

[johnnyb47]

I gave up many years ago when I was working for Monsanto,s. Back then if you wanted to smoke we had to go in an underground bunker because of the risk of an explosion on site. Last year though, I unfortunately started again after suffering some stressful personal problems. I was shocked by how expensive they had now become ,.and now vape instead. Vaping costs me around £1 a week but I,m finding it hard to kick the habit.

 

[welsh dragon]

The average cost for a pack of 20 is round £10.00 now. I could never afford to smoke now even if i wanted to.

 

[slowmotion]

Rothmans cost 27p a pack. 1973 had a lot going for it for anybody feeling utterly immortal.

I was about to light up a Hamlet cigar in the van in 2009. As usual, I would have done a pretty good job at inhaling the smoke, and I suddenly thought " what makes you think that you can go on doing this? The odds are completely stacked against you." The cheap cigar got chucked onto a verge somewhere in the Meon valley, and that was the end of my abusive affair with tobacco. I had tried endless attempts at stopping over the years, but in the end, it was quite painless. I just didn't want to do it anymore. I still don't, but I enjoy the smell of the smoke, and I think it is a bit churlish to criticise people who still do what I did for decades. I have the will power of a jellyfish. It's all in your mind really.

 

[Milzy]

What gets me is I've seen ppl close to me die from cancer after they've stopped smoking for 20 years but then little old gladice is 91 and been on 20 a day since the age of 15. How the heck aren't they dying?

 

[Hitchington]

The thought of smoking today fills me with disgust and revulsion. However I did feel tempted for quite a few years after stopping smoking for good in 2001

 

[Levo-Lon]

Smoking in bed became an absolute no-no when I met Mrs SJ Mk1, thankfully. Incredibly dangerous habit as it is so easy to doze off again with the thing still in your hand.

My mate fell asleep on the sofa with a fag burning after an all night out , i was asleep too but had docked mine.

He woke me a short while later after the sofa had cought light.
The flat was full of smoke and i was gone in the your dead soon stakes.
He awoke because the smouldering fire burnt his head!!!

The sofa fire was about 5 inches across and foam. Scary how close we were to being a fire statistic.
The new fire regs regarding fillings in furnished items we have now should prevent this ,i'd hope

 

[subaqua]

Reading this and thinking about the taste and smell is making me heave .

Been stopped for 9? Years now .

 

[slowmotion]

[QUOTE 4969226, member: 9609"]how long is a piece of string question.

Is there a point some time after giving up smoking that the risks of dieing from an illness normally associated with smoking becomes lost in the risks of dying from one of those illnesses having never smoked ?

so, 20 a day for 20 years giving up aged 40. At what age, if ever, does your smoking days have negligible impact on your future health.[/QUOTE]
Here's a tool for predicting your risk of lung cancer...

https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/types/lung/screening/lung-screening-decision-tool

I didn't bother to use it because I would rather remain in blissful ignorance.