Why I love cigarettes

My old boss decided to kick the smokers outside into the yard and then complained that all the interesting people were outside smoking and she still had to put up with the smoke, she then threatened to ban smoking anywhere on the premises so we'd all have to stay inside and talk to her. We told her to do things with lots of FF's in them and said we'd just leave the premises and smoke in the street.

I don't drink, I eat a healthy diet and exercise regualrly, smoking is my only vice, I don't eat out, I don't go out to eat or to the pictures or anything, so as far as I'm concerned I'm a consenting adult and everybody else can mind thier own business!

Yeh I can relate there definitely. It's my vice too. (Well the main one anyway) I ain't perfect. One of my weird coworkers didn't like me going out to smoke because it's unfair lol. Life is unfair. That's just life get over it or don't I suppose. He was a strange character a man of 26 who asked a 16 year old if he could take her for a beer underage. He did this to all the females there. No one liked him plus he smelled and he was nasty to me and my colleagues. Many people (mostly girls) actually left because of this.

Aww I am terribly sorry to hear that. Hope your okay. I understand why you might have relapsed becUse that is a very hard situation. My dad has heart issues. I worry sometimes that he may have a heart attack sometimes. But I also can find it hard to empathise with my father because he blames me for his heart problems. So that then turns my concern and empathy into resentment and hatred. But hey. I smoke for stress. I'm just wayyyy too tense to deal with life tbh. Don't be hard on yourself for smoking! No use punishing yourself for not quitting. I wish you all the absolute best. Have a great 2026!

I like my cigarettes too, although I only smoke about 10 a day, I've tried vapes and didn't get on with them, I found they gave me a sore throat and a cough. The other thing is it's so difficult to get tobacco flavoured vapes, I don't want to smoke bubblegum or something equally disgusting.

I know smoking is bad for me, but it's my only vice left.

There is a book I read many years ago, called Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking, which I found to be a fascinating and interesting read. For want of a better way of phrasing it, the book explains the psychology associated with smoking. The idea is that before the reader has finished the book, they will have already quit and no longer be craving cigarettes.

When my dad was dying of stomach cancer a few years ago (he was a former smoker), I switched to vaping and really wish I had persevered with it. Regrettably, after his death, I was back to smoking cigarettes again.

Yeh at least u can relate I suppose. Yeh other people have told me cigarettes didn't do that make them laugh and giggle. But that was like the first cig. I don't get that now because that would be unnatural lol. It appears that tobacco has more than just nicotine which gives the effects. It also has compounds which block dopamine from going away. So it kinda builds up your dopamine over time strengthening the dopamine effects of the nicotine. Basically it's that fact that is what makes people still choose to smoke instead of vape. The vapes are very boring to me. They don't do it for me unfortunately. I smoke about 20-30 a day used to smoke 40+ a day. I try and cut down. It's something I enjoy. I don't like the smell but I do like the taste. And of course I like the effects of the smoke too. Because of the massive amount of smoking I have done since 14 my voice is extremely deep for a average 25 year old guy. Lol. 

Nicotine is a powerful drug and is highly addictive. Stimulants can help, but if you really want it then vaping is safer, and patches or gum probably safer still.

I used modest alcohol for my dopamine and GABA, but I keep under 14 units a week now.

It's your choice as long as it's legal. I did also smoke when younger but stopped 25 years ago. It wasn't cool really.

I thought I was indestructible or It didn't matter. That is normal youthfulness. But it makes your skin age, so you can look older and it hardens your arteries making circulation worse if you do it long term. And it costs a lot.

Up to 2 out of every 3 long term smokers will die of a smoking related illness, so the odds are not in your favour. And it is not just lung cancer, it is throat and mouth and kidney, heart disease and stroke. I've known people who have had all of those. So it is not just warnings on a packet, it's real.

Nicotine is a potent poison. There is a relatively small amount in tobacco w/w. Nicotine can also penetrate skin. The lethal human dose is 50 to 60 mg of pure nicotine, a single lentil weighs around 250mg, so not much is needed.

That is ignoring all the tars and other noxious chemicals also found in tobacco.

Smoking tobacco essentially creates the craving that it satisfies, a vicious circle.

At the age when some of my schoolfriends were taking up smoking cigarettes, I just thought that this is a fundamentally stupid thing to do - suck smoke from burning leaves into my lungs? Nah! I never tried even one. Now I have asthma and my lungs are screwed, I look at people with healthy lungs who smoke and think, "Moron". It is like playing Russian roulette with a double-barrelled gun, approximately half the people who smoke regularly over a long period will die from causes that are directly linked to smoking tobacco.

As I have been a smoker since the age of 17, I feel it would be hypocritical of me to criticise you for being a smoker and subject you to a lecture about the damage you are doing to your body.

Although I can relate to being aware of a dopamine hit, I cannot say that smoking has ever resulted in me laughing. Like you, I suspect that I may also have ADHD.

It might seem bizarre to you when I say that even though I've been a smoker for more than three decades, I absolutely detest the taste and smell of tobacco. When I'm at home, which is most of the time, I will never smoke without a hot beverage to take away the taste of tobacco. Also, I find that smoking contributes greatly to a dry mouth. I seldom smoke when I have cause to venture out. When I do smoke, I will always use menthol filter tips... not that I can taste the menthol anymore.

Although not enough research has been done yet, I do think vapes are good for smokers wishing to quit, especially those who have been unsuccessful with the likes of nicotine patches, gum, etc. As vaping liquids are available in different strengths, one can gradually reduce the nicotine content down to zero.