by AlmostAtheist 60 Replies latest jw friends
Coz you can smoke an equal number of spliffs and inhale less smoke.
It is considered by some 'cool' to take massive drags and hold them there... maybe it's machismo, maybe it is 'cause gear used to be expensive and people feel they are getting their monies worth.
However, the longer the smoke is in your lungs the more tar it deposits - simple really. Tar is bad, although anecdotal evidence seems to indicate pot tar is less bad than tobacco tar... but people often get both...
I am grateful to JW's teachings and I didn't use tobacco or drugs (other than occasional sips or mild alcoholic drinks) as a child or teen.
I am prone to addictions....
However, I have smoked off and on since I was 23. My first experience with smoking was a really poor quality stogie. In the cab of a pickup, on a cold night with the windows rolled up.... I didn't throw up, but boy was I green!
I have picked it up after two of my three divorces, smoking as much as a pack every 3 days. After last divorce and finding myself craving ciggies (I was smoking America Spirit filtered - strong tobacco) I gave it up as s.t.u.p.i.d.
However, since I will allow myself to enjoy a cigarette or puff of cigar once in a while. Quality tobacco can be very pleasing and have an enjoyable affect. I currently smoke only 1 or 2 ciggies a year. Yes, a year! Usually Pacifico's from Mexico. Once in a while a quality cigarillo dipped in brandy.
When asked if I smoke by doctors I acknowledge my very limited use. Usually I get a "why" and I answer as above, that I enjoy a good ciggy once in a long while.
My GYN also smokes, about a pack a year, so he understands. He explains that even his pack-a-year is far less carcinogens than living next door to a smoker who smokes outside!
Moderation, moderation, moderation.
You say you are prone to addicitons, but I say you are not. If you can pick up cigarettes and smoke an odd one here and there, tobacco, one of the most addictive substances there is, and not take up a regular habit, then you are not prone to addictions.
Brenda:
That sounds like a similar story to myself.
For about a month after I separated I was smoking about ten a day, with the express intent to self-medicate for stress. It didn't help that I visited Florida for the Hallowe'en Fest, and picked up a big pack of strong "John Player Special"s in the Duty Free. I just HAD to smoke them, I couldn't let them go to waste
Now I rarely touch cigarettes, unless I'm out in a pub (which isn't very often).
At most I'll smoke a pipe on a weekend.
Edited to add:
Though I'm not prone to adictions.
Also, ditto to Ballistic's comments.
It is considered by some 'cool' to take massive drags and hold them there... maybe it's machismo, maybe it is 'cause gear used to be expensive and people feel they are getting their monies worth.
Well, it's "cool" because you get the most wicked head rush. Yeah, you can do that with ciggies, but you'll be wired off your ass for 5 minutes.
laters
kaykay_mp
How do you justify it to yourself?
I don't have to, now that I'm not subservient to some organization telling me that I'm condemned (unjustified) for using tobacco.
I do what I do, and I don't do what I don't do, simply and only because it's what I choose to do.
Not every choice I make is going to be the "best," but then that's the nature of life...and death.
One thing remains: we're all going to die anyway ("it remains for all men to die, and after that a judgment").
Smokers - How do you justify it to yourself?
I don't it's just stupid, but I like it ... voilà
I dont know. I remember distinctly at the age of 12 seeing my father light up a cigarette in our store and almost daring myself to go up to him and ask him for one.
My father will be 79 in August and as far as I know he has smoked since he was 16. He is healthy! He even prohibited me from shoveling snow in his front yard last weekend--he did it himself. "I'm just as good as any young bastard!!" he said. LOL!
At 14 I tried it. I remember babysitting my 2 nephews and eyeing that last cigarette in my brother's pack. I waited until the kids were napping and I went into the bathroom and lit up. I had no idea what I was doing of course, I had no idea about "inhaling" but I just puffed away. I made my throat really sore and my eyes red. But I did it.
Later that same year, when I started high school I routinely bumed cigarettes off classmates or I even dared to buy my own. It was strange, here I had this weird compulsion to smoke but I didnt really like it. I still didn't know about inhaling at this point either! One day my mother found the cigarettes in my purse and she slapped me hard across the face. "HOW could you do this?!! You are a JW!! You conduct bible studies (not really) HOW in the world can you do that and smoke at the same time??!!" That didn't make me stop, I was just more careful about where I kept my smokes!
Years went by and by 18 I never touched another cigarette again until I was 24. At 24 I met my husband and he liked to smoke with a drink. So to this day I am a "social" smoker. There's something about a Heineken and a Marlboro red that seem to go sooooooo good together.......!!
I finally learned to inhale without choking too!!
Truth be told, I hate the smell of cigarettes, I hate how I feel after smoking (lightheaded and nauseaous, except when I drink) I hate how it stains my teeth, I hate how my breath stinks afterwards (I carry a small listerine in my purse) and I hate how it irritates my sinuses. But I still do it! 1 or 2 cigarettes a day, and not even everyday, but I still do it!
Oh yeah and I have been on the pill for 10 years. Yes, I read the insert on the pill package (smoke while taking this and your heart will explode in your chest!!) blah blah blah........
I guess I justify myself by saying "I wont have kids, noone will care for me when I'm 90 and pooping on myself, we're all going to die anyway......."
BTW clove cigarettes, what a deal!! I love to chew on cloves, I love the taste. Thanks for the endorsement! REALLY!
Oh yeah and I have been on the pill for 10 years. Yes, I read the insert on the pill package (smoke while taking this and your heart will explode in your chest!!) blah blah blah........
Get the Depo-Provera shot and you can smoke all you want! Works for me!
laters
kaykay_mp
