Did You Start Smoking To Look Cool?

[MaxwellsDemon]

So a friend of mine recently said, "Everyone who smokes started so they could look cool. No one did it because they liked it!"

And it got me thinking. While I don't like to admit it, that was true for me. Now, of course, there is definitely some of the addiction/dependency issues, and I do like the way it makes me feel... but when I started, I think it was all about appearance.

I'm wondering if that's true for others; For those of you who smoke (or used to), what were your reasons for starting?

[BookMan]

Geez...hard to remember now. I was 18 at the time. I think it was because of the job I was doing and the fact that a lot of the guys smoked and would go out drinking after work. hang out enough with drinkers and smokers..and well..

(my vote) So we can put that one down to peer group pressure

I started smoking filters then quickly went to rolling my own. I smoked for 15 years. Quit cold turkey and have never had one since.

I never smoked when I was at school

Edited May 22, 2013 by BookMan

[Ulysses G.]

I wonder how honest people will be. I tried it a few times when I was very young and thought that it made my mouth taste terrible and my clothes smelled putrid. I did find anything enjoyable about it at all.

[kiniyow]

Cropping Tobacco in North Carolina for 5 years got me addicted at 14 yrs old..Tar would stick to your bare skin and at the end of the day you were entirely Black on your hands and left side...Impossible to wash out..Stained for months but the nicotine certainly entered your blood stream without smoking...Latter smoking started for many years...Champix was the cure and set me free...

[Jingthing]

Well I am not a smoker but I used to smoke a bit for a few years when I was a total barfly, about ages 18 - 21 for two reasons: to look cool and for something to do with my hands at the bars as I could only afford a limited number of Courvoisier Cognacs per outing. I had tried smoking ciggies before that and thought the taste was rather nice, especially Dunhills. I'm pretty amazed I never got addicted, but I never did.

Later on I went through short a phase of smoking good cigars on Carribbean and Mexican holidays. That taste I totally loved. Not about looking cool as it was mostly done hanging out on balconies staring at the sunsets. Again, surprised (and happy) I never got hooked. It might have helped that I met a man in Mexico who had his tongue removed due to cigar smoking. Cost is a factor too in my non-addiction. Good cigars are EXPENSIVE both in the U.S. and here. Rather spend on other pleasures.

Edited May 22, 2013 by Jingthing

[xen]

Many ,perhaps, have started smoking by mixing "da Herb" / ganja/ pot / weed / hasheeeeesh etc with tobacco in their young and irresponsible years . Just saying , not a confession.

[gerry123]

Non purer than the purified

[tomallison]

You can also be influenced by a parent. My father was a heavy smoker, I was impressed by his habit from an early age. I did start smoking from about 12/13 with friends of similar age, coolness was then a factor, but the amount was very limited by what we could afford. Happily I gave up smoking completely at 21 and have never smoked since.

[ivan96822]

My dad was a doper, so I never was attracted to it.

However, my reckless little bro got into it about thirty minutes before I did, and then I figured, I won't do dope, but I will dabble plenty with tobacco, alcohol, and (when lucky ;p) as many members of the opposite sex as possible.

Granted I do better in some categories than others, but I manage to smoke two cigarettes a year and am not shy of snuggling up with two of my other vices.

[itchybum]

Wow, killing yourself to look cool and something to do with your hands.

Amazing the mental state of some people.

[Rsquared]

My mother smoked 3 packets a day, may she be in peace now.

At times when I was young she would ask me to fetch a smoke and light it for her as she was busy with other things....I would do as I was told.

That's when I realised what a horrible taste it was. Later in my early teens, peer pressure failed on me....as I had been there, done that! Nothing new or cool for me.

I copped a lot of flak from my school mates, but the real mates respected me for my steadfast refusal to partake in smoking.....and I haven't smoked to this day.

I still cannot understand how someone can progress from their "first" to the second....surely that first one cannot taste like chocolate or strawberry.

Cheers.

[DP25]

Absolutely because of how it made me feel. Started with flavored water pipes, they taste good and hit hard and give an immediate buzz. They aren't portable though so I began smoking cigs when out drinking to get the same buzz. They were never remotely as good though, so I would only smoke them when drunk, and stopped completely after a few years before I did too much damage.

[supashot]

I look cool naturally I don't need that

[jambco984]

I started smoking to look "cool" at 15, all my mates where at it so why not. Smoked on and off for 10 years and quit at 26. 2 years on and not touched a smoke and feeling good for it.

[jbrain]

I remember at the age of 16-17 we made bets that we could stop smoking for a week.

Edited May 25, 2013 by jbrain

[HeavyDrinker]

Wow, killing yourself to look cool and something to do with your hands.

Amazing the mental state of some people.

Indeed. I despair of <deleted> driving fancy cars too....

[Coastie]

Started smoking during my clubbing years, glad I've given that habbit up.

[MrWorldwide]

Woohoo - 26% OF US ARE NON-SMOKERS ! We rock !

1. Never smoked, never will (ok, cigars when drunk - twice in 54 years - so sue me), courtesy of being locked in a car with parents who smoked on long trips out bush,

2. Unless you were a European super model, why would smoking make you look cool, John McCain ?

3. Over the years, I've met more Thai girls who don't smoke than girls who do, but its increasingly common among women in other parts of Asia leading me to wonder if the 'smoking is cool' (thank you, Hong Kong cinema ..) message is being projected loud and clear across Asia.

Bizarrely, the only time I've ever thought 'now that make more sense !' was as a kid when one of my teachers spent great care packing his pipe with Amphora, then had to work mightily to get the thing lit and the resulting odour was the complete opposite of cigarette smoke :

a subtle mixture of the fragrances of oranges, raspberries and flowers'

http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend_detail.cfm?TID=1063

\Equally bizarrely (!), when someone lights a pipe filled with aromatic tobacco, some of the first people to complain are cigarette smokers ! <deleted> ....

Edited May 26, 2013 by MrWorldwide

[BookMan]

Woohoo - 26% OF US ARE NON-SMOKERS ! We rock !

1. Never smoked, never will (ok, cigars when drunk - twice in 54 years - so sue me), courtesy of being locked in a car with parents who smoked on long trips out bush,

2. Unless you were a European super model, why would smoking make you look cool, John McCain ?

3. Over the years, I've met more Thai girls who don't smoke than girls who do, but its increasingly common among women in other parts of Asia leading me to wonder if the 'smoking is cool' (thank you, Hong Kong cinema ..) message is being projected loud and clear across Asia.

Bizarrely, the only time I've ever thought 'now that make more sense !' was as a kid when one of my teachers spent great care packing his pipe with Amphora, then had to work mightily to get the thing lit and the resulting odour was the complete opposite of cigarette smoke :

a subtle mixture of the fragrances of oranges, raspberries and flowers'

http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend_detail.cfm?TID=1063

Bizarrely, when someone lights a pipe filled with aromatic tobacco, some of the first people to complain are cigarette smokers ! <deleted> ....

Pipe smoking would have frustrated the crap out of me...Carrying around the paraphernalia, then the packing ritual, then the lighting and constant re lighting of the pipe.

My Uncle smoked a pipe and I always liked the smell myself

[MrWorldwide]

How many women do you reckon would smoke if the pipe was their only option ? My guess is less than .001% of the current smoking population

(forget the hookah pipe - how many of those do you see outside office buildings in the CBD ?)

[OldChinaHam]

When I started smoking, I was too young to look cool

Too young to buy my own

Too young to know better

Too young to roll my own

Too young to have much brand loyalty

Just picked butts off the beach

Started puffing

Don't smoke now

Wish I did

[Patsycat]

Am i the only smoker answering this?

I started because it was cool. A friend had to teach me to inhale, because according to her, people were laughing at me.

I still smoke, Why? Because I like it. I have never tried to stop, don't want to. I know the health hazards, have seen them (within my family).

To be honest - I love my Benson and Hedges. At the moment I don't seem to have any health problems. I had xrays done last year for cracked ribs and they said my lungs were ok, I don't cough up goop, etc.

I love smoking!! And now the summer is almost here (hopefully) i shall be able to sit on terraces by the lake in my beautiful city and have a drink and a smoke and Watch the world go by. Without anybody waving their silly little ex smoker hands around and complaining - coz they can't!!!

So there!! You wanted the truth....

Edited May 27, 2013 by Patsycat

[smokie36]

Am i the only smoker answering this?

I started because it was cool. A friend had to teach me to inhale, because according to her, people were laughing at me.

I still smoke, Why? Because I like it. I have never tried to stop, don't want to. I know the health hazards, have seen them (within my family).

To be honest - I love my Benson and Hedges. At the moment I don't seem to have any health problems. I had xrays done last year for cracked ribs and they said my lungs were ok, I don't cough up goop, etc.

I love smoking!! And now the summer is almost here (hopefully) i shall be able to sit on terraces by the lake in my beautiful city and have a drink and a smoke and Watch the world go by. Without anybody waving their silly little ex smoker hands around and complaining - coz they can't!!!

So there!! You wanted the truth....

I enjoy it too.

[Patsycat]

What, those pesky little ex smokers waving their arms around like they were about to take off, and pretend coughing, and announcing in loud voices about WHEN i smoked i respected non smokers!!!

Î respect non smokers, i respect non drinkers - i don't respect when they start on their little pathetic speeches. I know the conséquences to my health with smoking (i can read) but to have someone throwing it in my face just makes me want to blow smoke in their face (which i never do). But sometimes the breeze seems to go in their direction....

Edited May 27, 2013 by Patsycat

[jonnyscot]

Neither my sister my brother or myself ever touched a cigarette, that was despite both parents and most of

my friends being heavy smokers,,

Despite refraining from smoking and drugs I certainly wasn't no saint, always was attracted to the amber nectar which more often than not resulted in ending the night in the slammer,,,

[HeavyDrinker]

I like my tabs,

My wife thinks that when I'm having my first one of the day as I'm on the bog in the morning while it 'encourages' my first movemnt of the day to emerge is when I look my coolest...

[fasteddie]

Smoke Golden Virginia and love it, nothing to do with looking cool, started due to peer pressure I suppose and soon got to love the buzz. Have considered giving up due to the cost these days, but what the heck, I save so much by not going to any of the places I used to, because they won't let me smoke, I figure it balances out.

[fasteddie]

I like my tabs,

My wife thinks that when I'm having my first one of the day as I'm on the bog in the morning while it 'encourages' my first movemnt of the day to emerge is when I look my coolest...

Your missus watches you take a dump? Now that's love!

[Satcommlee]

I started smoking after a brief stint in the army at 17 years old... It seemed a bit like prison at the time and you were only let outside your dorm to enjoy the open air if you were a smoker.. hence I joined the Royal Signals smokers brigade.

[GooEng]

Definitely started to look cool and older at around 12 yrs old - as soon as I hit high school.

Stopped to look cool and stay young in my mid 30's.