PETEY!

[erika]

Don't start smoking! Stop now! It's so hard to quit!! Just stop nowwwwwwwww.

Please please. It is SO HARD TO QUIT.

[erika]

And if you have animals definitely don't smoke around them!

[iAmBaronVonTito]

at one point i was a social smoker for a couple of years and i fully admit that i hated the smell left on my jacket, my clothes, my jeans!, and it permeated through everything else they touched, even my car (which i didnt smoke in).

i figured since i only smoked a pack a month/six weeks it was fine, but then cancer mom was diagnosed and she's never picked up a cigarette or joint in her life.  yeesh...i quit. 

[andrew in philadelphia]

the worst part about smoking is when you're 15-20 years into your habit and you wanna go back and kick the ass of the teenage you for not listening to all of the adults who told you: "you're gonna get hooked." i wish i would've listened. everyone does.

say no to cigarettes kids - smokers are jokers.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

...you wanna go back and kick the ass of the teenage you...

while your childhood self beats the crap out of both of you. 

[Bryan]

Seriously, Petey. Stick with weed. It's way easier to quit.

I quit smoking cigarettes ten years ago (and I only smoked for about six years) and I still get cravings, or have dreams that I've relapsed. It's a hell of a drug.

[erika]

When I was younger they only told us that smoking was bad for your health. If someone had told me that there was no way I'd be able to quit without wanting to jump off a cliff, I would have put them down.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

i remember in third grade when they came to talk to us about it and they pulled out lungs trapped inside ziploc bags to show us what it would look like if we smoked for __ years.

as a kid, i also judged people who smoked as being ignorant, lazy bums (relative to kid terms) and a few months back, my in-laws showed me my spouse's journal from childhood and it had the same blanket statement about how disgusting it was, etc. but turned out to smoke (socially as well) as an adult anyway.  

i never want to meet my 9-year old self.  

[<<<<<]

I was adamant about being a non-smoker, until I was twenty and inexplicably began smoking.

Took me thirteen years to finally quit.  The impetus for finally quitting?  My ten year old cat died (too soon) of heart failure.    

[erika]

Yeah I'm pretty sure my cat(s) will die early because of my smoking.

I think I might have to get pregnant to quit. It's terrible but I need more motivation. I'm just not ready yet. It's SO HARD.

[<<<<<]

The first time I managed to quit 6+ mos, I did it cold turkey.  Then I made the mistake of thinking I'd "beaten" the addiction and slipped up.

I now realize that the addiction never entirely goes away.

It also made subsequent attempts to quit harder because I assumed that since I could quit cold turkey once, I should be able to do it cold turkey again, right?  Not really.

I had to switch up methods a couple times and finally managed to do it with nicotine patches (even though they'd failed me in the past).

Sometimes I think that non-smokers caught up in their judging and condemning don't really entirely grasp or appreciate how difficult beating addiction can be.

[Spoony]

Seriously, cut the smoking out in all variations. Cigars are just as bad and people under 30 look like meth-dealers when they smoke them. People over 30 look like perverts when they shove them in their mouths.

Get out of the game now before this becomes something long-term and it becomes too hard to quit in the future. I know how hard it is because I fight it every day, and I wouldn't have gotten this bad if I didn't let it become a crutch. It's not 1955 anymore, you don't have to smoke like Minnesota Fats to look composed.

(Or you end up as someone who has to bang away on gum every time he's around more then three people, because he can't stop thinking about smoking. SO COOL!)

[iAmBaronVonTito]

Sometimes I think that non-smokers caught up in their judging and condemning don't really entirely grasp or appreciate how difficult beating addiction can be.

this is partly true because despite how little i smoked, i think about smoking every day and i slip up between frequently and every once in a while (a variant that is dependant on the company im keeping, smokers v. non-smokers). 

[<<<<<]

When I slipped up, I went from six months without a puff back to a pack/day in a matter of a couple days.

That's why when I heard Obama was trying to quit while on the campaign trail I thought to myself... no freaking way in hell.  I couldn't imagine trying to quit under the circumstances of running for president.

[A.M. Thomas]

Seriously, Petey. Stick with weed. It's way easier to quit.

I quit smoking cigarettes ten years ago (and I only smoked for about six years) and I still get cravings, or have dreams that I've relapsed. It's a hell of a drug.

READ THIS, PETEY!

I don't condone smoking pot if you're under, say, 21 (because your brain is still developing, it will make you lazy, etc.), but if you're going to smoke something, please make sure it's not cigarettes.  I've seen it take its toll on too many family members.  And, besides that, what's the fucking point of smoking cigarettes anyway?