4 ms·

Sure do. Drink, too. To be perfectly honest, I have difficulty relating to anyone who does not. It's like they're from a whole different world. That said, I'm

by sho 18y ago

Sure do. Drink, too. To be perfectly honest, I have difficulty relating to anyone who does not. It's like they're from a whole different world. That said, I'm eagerly awaiting someone curing that whole "lung cancer" thing ...

dkarl 18y ago
Am I so different because I don't smoke? I believe in pleasure, and I judge every drug on an individual basis. I drink alcohol and coffee and occasionally smoke pot when it's offered to me, and I suppose I'll try mushrooms if the right circumstances present themselves. I can't think of any other drugs that make a good case. (I'm rather conservative when it comes to risks, especially because most of the available information comes from people with knee-jerk pro or con attitudes towards recreational drugs.) According to my priorities and what I know about it, tobacco is not tempting. It's apparently highly addictive, it's intrusive on other people (though I sometimes enjoy fresh tobacco smoke when I'm drunk,) it leaves a terrible stale smell in rooms, carpets, clothing, hair, and upholstery, and it makes a person's mouth taste disgusting to anyone who kisses them. I'm sure some of that is just individual taste that other people might disagree with. Does that make me seem like I'm from whole different world?
- jacoblyles 18y ago
  People that are righteously proud of not smoking and indignant at others who do seem like they're from a different world to me, unless they are allergic to the smoke or something. It's an individual decision based on individual taste. As long as people can keep that live-and-let-live mindset, I'm fine with them whatever they do.
- sho 18y ago
  No. Not you, because you're coming at it from the same angle. You smoke pot, and do other drugs, when they make sense to you. You just don't particularly like tobacco. That is cool. I don't particularly like pot. You hit the nail on the head when you said "knee-jerk pro or con attitudes towards recreational drugs". That is what alienates me. Unfortunately, for every enlighted fellow-self-medicating person like you, there's 1000 idiots who just want an excuse to be holier-than-thou. Extra points if the person telling you off is clinically obese! I don't know .. the thing with tobacco is it's just so fucking useful. It's the thing to do next, anytime, anywhere. Smoking is what you can do while you pace around, dreaming of world domination. It's what you can do together with a cute girl you just met. It's what you do after sex. It's what you do while drinking. While driving. After you arrive. After closing a deal. It's just .. the universal activity. How do you replace it?
  - menloparkbum 18y ago
    smoking is what you can do while you pace around, dreaming of world domination. It's what you can do together with a cute girl you just met. It's what you do after sex. It's what you do while drinking. While driving. After you arrive. After closing a deal. It's just .. the universal activity. How do you replace it? I quit smoking a few years ago. I didn't replace it with anything and it worked out fine. I'm actually happy I'm no longer pacing, drinking 6 coffees per day, and drinking pitchers of beer at Zeitgeist every night (the smoker's choice of outdoor beer garden in SF). Personally I turned every dumb little event into an excuse to smoke. "Narrowly avoided a parking ticket! Got to the meter in the nick of time. Time to remember this experience with a smoke." I don't know what point i'm trying to make other than I think a lot of smokers are kidding themselves about whether or not they just have a bad habit or a legitimate drug addiction. I was kidding myself. If this might be you (not the OP, just anyone reading) try Alan Carr's "quit smoking the easy way." It's the only thing that worked for me. But I hate those holier than thou former smokers as much as the next guy so I'm going to limit my comments on the matter.
    - sho 18y ago
      Alan Carr's "quit smoking the easy way." Read it, actually. Great book. But the problem is, I don't want to quit. I like smoking! It's part of me. I feel no need to justify it. Obviously I am concerned about the health effects but do try and mitigate where I can, plus have some faith that cures will emerge. Don't really know what else to say. Oh yes, do-gooders.. I hate those do-gooders too. However, I'm in Australia and I pay fucking 40c+ tax for every single cigarette. I am not kidding. This fact fills me with a righteous fury, which is frequently and hilariously unleashed upon anyone who dares question any aspect of my behaviour. Funnily enough, in Japan, where I'm not taxed for smoking, I'm much better behaved.
      - menloparkbum 18y ago
        If I remember in the book he says his technique won't work unless you want to quit. How much are cigs in Australia these days? I just noticed the ones I used to smoke here in SF are up to 7 dollars a pack at my corner store. ($5.50 when I quit) I had the opposite experience in Japan. I smoked the most there. The smokes were cheap and you could smoke nearly anywhere. It was weird if you didn't smoke - and this wasn't even 10 years ago.
jrockway 18y ago
I have difficulty relating to anyone who does not There are a few reasons why I don't smoke. Besides the whole early death thing, the reality is that the "high" doesn't last long enough. You spend 5 minutes smoking and you feel good for maybe 15 minutes more. I just isn't worth the time involved. (Compare this to coffee, which I definitely have a lot of. 5 minutes with the espresso machine gives you something you can drink over the course of a half-hour or longer and with good effects that last for 2-4 hours. A much better investment of time, and it doesn't kill you.) I also like cardiovascular activities, so a drug would have to be pretty good to risk damaging my lungs. Breathing is nice.
niels_olson 18y ago
You should quit smoking. If you are ready to quit, http://www.smokefree.gov/ http://www.smokefree.gov/
- sho 18y ago
  Fuck off.
  - lacker 18y ago
    I don't support his spamming these threads but honestly, "quit smoking" is possibly the best advice you will ever get. Just because of the odds of lung cancer killing you. It's hard to argue with the logic that asks, is it really worth it? I admit, smoking is fun, feels good, enhances your social life, and makes you lose weight. But even so it's asking a lot to make that trade off against your health.
    - sho 18y ago
      Do you really think I haven't heard that before? That I am not completely informed of the risks? Even a pack-a-day smoker is more likely to die from prostate cancer. Basically, smoking raises your (already high) chance of dying from cancer by something like 50%. I know this. I choose to make the trade-off, since I believe I have a quality of life improvement from smoking. Who knows though, I may change my mind as I get older. I doubt it though, I have too much stress. Anyway, just spamming "quit!" messages is obnoxious and fruitless. Sorry about my equally rude reply but IMO it's justified.
      - lacker 18y ago
        Fair enough. Hard for me to argue since I held pretty much exactly your view when I was 22 and smoking. Nothing really suddenly changed for me. At some point it just seemed like it wasn't as good any more. I figured I would quit for a bit to see how that was, got surprised how hard it was to quit even for a day, and then got scared at how addicted I was and got serious about quitting. It took a couple years of struggling after that and now I wish someone had kicked some sense into me earlier, but I don't know how they could have done that. So I am kind of frustrated in this discussion because I feel like the right thing to do is to really try to convince people to quit smoking, but I don't know how to do that.

by sho 18y ago

dkarl 18y ago

Am I so different because I don't smoke? I believe in pleasure, and I judge every drug on an individual basis. I drink alcohol and coffee and occasionally smoke pot when it's offered to me, and I suppose I'll try mushrooms if the right circumstances present themselves. I can't think of any other drugs that make a good case. (I'm rather conservative when it comes to risks, especially because most of the available information comes from people with knee-jerk pro or con attitudes towards recreational drugs.) According to my priorities and what I know about it, tobacco is not tempting. It's apparently highly addictive, it's intrusive on other people (though I sometimes enjoy fresh tobacco smoke when I'm drunk,) it leaves a terrible stale smell in rooms, carpets, clothing, hair, and upholstery, and it makes a person's mouth taste disgusting to anyone who kisses them. I'm sure some of that is just individual taste that other people might disagree with. Does that make me seem like I'm from whole different world?

jacoblyles 18y ago
People that are righteously proud of not smoking and indignant at others who do seem like they're from a different world to me, unless they are allergic to the smoke or something. It's an individual decision based on individual taste. As long as people can keep that live-and-let-live mindset, I'm fine with them whatever they do.
sho 18y ago
No. Not you, because you're coming at it from the same angle. You smoke pot, and do other drugs, when they make sense to you. You just don't particularly like tobacco. That is cool. I don't particularly like pot. You hit the nail on the head when you said "knee-jerk pro or con attitudes towards recreational drugs". That is what alienates me. Unfortunately, for every enlighted fellow-self-medicating person like you, there's 1000 idiots who just want an excuse to be holier-than-thou. Extra points if the person telling you off is clinically obese! I don't know .. the thing with tobacco is it's just so fucking useful. It's the thing to do next, anytime, anywhere. Smoking is what you can do while you pace around, dreaming of world domination. It's what you can do together with a cute girl you just met. It's what you do after sex. It's what you do while drinking. While driving. After you arrive. After closing a deal. It's just .. the universal activity. How do you replace it?
- menloparkbum 18y ago
  smoking is what you can do while you pace around, dreaming of world domination. It's what you can do together with a cute girl you just met. It's what you do after sex. It's what you do while drinking. While driving. After you arrive. After closing a deal. It's just .. the universal activity. How do you replace it? I quit smoking a few years ago. I didn't replace it with anything and it worked out fine. I'm actually happy I'm no longer pacing, drinking 6 coffees per day, and drinking pitchers of beer at Zeitgeist every night (the smoker's choice of outdoor beer garden in SF). Personally I turned every dumb little event into an excuse to smoke. "Narrowly avoided a parking ticket! Got to the meter in the nick of time. Time to remember this experience with a smoke." I don't know what point i'm trying to make other than I think a lot of smokers are kidding themselves about whether or not they just have a bad habit or a legitimate drug addiction. I was kidding myself. If this might be you (not the OP, just anyone reading) try Alan Carr's "quit smoking the easy way." It's the only thing that worked for me. But I hate those holier than thou former smokers as much as the next guy so I'm going to limit my comments on the matter.
  - sho 18y ago
    Alan Carr's "quit smoking the easy way." Read it, actually. Great book. But the problem is, I don't want to quit. I like smoking! It's part of me. I feel no need to justify it. Obviously I am concerned about the health effects but do try and mitigate where I can, plus have some faith that cures will emerge. Don't really know what else to say. Oh yes, do-gooders.. I hate those do-gooders too. However, I'm in Australia and I pay fucking 40c+ tax for every single cigarette. I am not kidding. This fact fills me with a righteous fury, which is frequently and hilariously unleashed upon anyone who dares question any aspect of my behaviour. Funnily enough, in Japan, where I'm not taxed for smoking, I'm much better behaved.
    - menloparkbum 18y ago
      If I remember in the book he says his technique won't work unless you want to quit. How much are cigs in Australia these days? I just noticed the ones I used to smoke here in SF are up to 7 dollars a pack at my corner store. ($5.50 when I quit) I had the opposite experience in Japan. I smoked the most there. The smokes were cheap and you could smoke nearly anywhere. It was weird if you didn't smoke - and this wasn't even 10 years ago.

jrockway 18y ago

I have difficulty relating to anyone who does not There are a few reasons why I don't smoke. Besides the whole early death thing, the reality is that the "high" doesn't last long enough. You spend 5 minutes smoking and you feel good for maybe 15 minutes more. I just isn't worth the time involved. (Compare this to coffee, which I definitely have a lot of. 5 minutes with the espresso machine gives you something you can drink over the course of a half-hour or longer and with good effects that last for 2-4 hours. A much better investment of time, and it doesn't kill you.) I also like cardiovascular activities, so a drug would have to be pretty good to risk damaging my lungs. Breathing is nice.

niels_olson 18y ago

You should quit smoking. If you are ready to quit, http://www.smokefree.gov/ http://www.smokefree.gov/

sho 18y ago
Fuck off.
- lacker 18y ago
  I don't support his spamming these threads but honestly, "quit smoking" is possibly the best advice you will ever get. Just because of the odds of lung cancer killing you. It's hard to argue with the logic that asks, is it really worth it? I admit, smoking is fun, feels good, enhances your social life, and makes you lose weight. But even so it's asking a lot to make that trade off against your health.
  - sho 18y ago
    Do you really think I haven't heard that before? That I am not completely informed of the risks? Even a pack-a-day smoker is more likely to die from prostate cancer. Basically, smoking raises your (already high) chance of dying from cancer by something like 50%. I know this. I choose to make the trade-off, since I believe I have a quality of life improvement from smoking. Who knows though, I may change my mind as I get older. I doubt it though, I have too much stress. Anyway, just spamming "quit!" messages is obnoxious and fruitless. Sorry about my equally rude reply but IMO it's justified.
    - lacker 18y ago
      Fair enough. Hard for me to argue since I held pretty much exactly your view when I was 22 and smoking. Nothing really suddenly changed for me. At some point it just seemed like it wasn't as good any more. I figured I would quit for a bit to see how that was, got surprised how hard it was to quit even for a day, and then got scared at how addicted I was and got serious about quitting. It took a couple years of struggling after that and now I wish someone had kicked some sense into me earlier, but I don't know how they could have done that. So I am kind of frustrated in this discussion because I feel like the right thing to do is to really try to convince people to quit smoking, but I don't know how to do that.