TFARCHIVE FORUMS

You know, just a general thread, since there's a load of [mostly European?] smokers in the archive.

How did you start? When? Rolling tobacco or factory produced cigarettes? Brand? Heavy flavour, light stuff? Carry your own, or just pick from friends once in a while? Affecting your health? Do you exercise? Has it made you a couch potato? How often do you smoke?

I started during military service in 2010, was about 22-23 at the time. Had smoked a few in the past, nothing more than once per day or so. Started it [during my army days] to ease me up for sleep at night, then also lit one before I had my rest in the afternoon, then it became one after food, one before food, one with the coffee in the morning and so on.

Started out with Stuyvesant Reds, cheapest 25 pack in the camp [and on the "outside" world], once I got comfortable with rolling I used Golden Virginia [yellow pack], now I'm smoking Old Holborn blue ["toughest" flavour] with light blue rizzla papers. Don't really pay attention to the filter tips.

Switched to rolling because it was cheaper in the long term, people not used to rolling their own don't ask around for a cigarette that often, and in my work I don't have to worry about setting a cigarette down to speak to somebody, only to find it burnt out and wasted a minute later.

Took a while for my body to get used to it, now I can cycle and smoke with no apparent issues. Stamina is pretty much the same. It does get me wind up much easier when I'm lifting and carrying weights around though.

I smoke anywhere from 4 to 20 cigarettes per day, depending on how busy I am at work. If I don't go to work I don't smoke, there's this unknown thing that I can chain smoke outdoors or outside my house and I'm cool, in my house I light one up and already have bad taste and a headache. I avoid smoking indoors because my oldest cat has asthma and I'm also worried about smoke stains on my transformers. If I've smoked, I wash up before touching them.

Tried to quit twice, first time it was a month or so, second time three months. Sometimes I smoke so much, breathing hurts the next day so I take a break.

Your stories?

I smoke a pipe and have done for about two years, I also like a cigar on special occasions but have been known to smoke cigs when too busy to get to the tobacconist across town although I much prefer the flavour of pipe tobacco.

I started when I first moved to York for university when me and my friend from my halls of residence bought a pipe each. We got some vanilla and cherry flavoured tobacco to share but I much preferred the cherry as too much of the vanilla made me feel unwell. I now smoke a blend with more of a cherry overtone that suits me down to the ground.

Not much of a routine to my smoking, I'll smoke whenever I'm in a pub garden or a club's smoking area (some clubs are better than others for this, indie clubs Revolution ) I don't always take it to clubs as a lot of people will ask to have a go and I find it akin to sharing my toothbrush. I enjoy a quick puff during the mid morning coffee break at uni with one of the mature students from my course and have a nice gab about how our artwork is progressing. I'll also occasionally have a smoke in my room but not often so as to avoid a lingering odour .

Generally only smoke if I'm feeling particularly self-destructive and pissy (preferably something a bit more robust such as Lucky Strikes) or someone else has gear. Which has been a very long time in both cases.

I started smoking cigarettes around 1996, as a result of ,er, smoking spliffs That and the job I was doing at the time. Marlboro were the ones I smoked most often, but I made the switch to Death cigarettes because I liked their honest approach to selling a product that kills you. i still have an empty packet of them cos no one believes me that they existed. I also liked the minty freshness of Consulate.

I largely quit in 2000, after a pack of 20 hit £4 but do have the odd one now and again off of friends, if the fancy takes me.

I could never get the hang of rolling, so always bought factory made. I think if I was still smoking now, it would be to collect the full range of disgusting pictures they put on cig packets these days to try and stop people smoking.

I also used to like the more softer, papery packets that you got cigarettes in in the States and Europe. it seemed nicer than the more sturdy packets with the flip top lid we get in the UK.

Skyquake87 wrote: I could never get the hang of rolling, so always bought factory made. I think if I was still smoking now, it would be to collect the full range of disgusting pictures they put on cig packets these days to try and stop people smoking.

I also used to like the more softer, papery packets that you got cigarettes in in the States and Europe. it seemed nicer than the more sturdy packets with the flip top lid we get in the UK.

Guess I'm lucky in both counts; packets in Greece have the standard "smoking kills" "smoking causes lung cancer, a painful death, makes your sperm weaker" and so on, but no other pictures or logos on them.

As for the packets, at least in Greece you've a choice when buying. They literally call them "soft" and "hard" packs.

I started around high school graduation in 1995 but mostly was a party or beer garden smoker and took a couple of cigarettes from friends.
Sitting outside with a cold beer and a cigarette was my taste, I hardly smoked inside.
I cannot stand the smell of smoke at home.

Over the years I maybe bought maybe 100 packs of cigarette, so not much sometimes smoking 10 cigarettes a night and then none for 4 weeks.
So I smoked more bought stuff than rolling on my own occasionally from friend tobacco.

Last year some more smoking due to more evenings out as I was working Monday-friday in another city.

Since I moved to china this march, I smoked 1 cigarette! after buying a table and the seller offered it like some business celebration.

Other from that, I have a pipe with caramel tobacco I smoke to BBQ at home, as I do not want to carry the stuff around.

I started smoking when I was really young, I forget how young. Teenager, though. Used to steal my sister's cigarettes. Smoked until my 20's, quit for awhile until heavy stressing (thought I still blame the movie Constantine) and general unwellness of the mind brought it back. Finally "fixed" that bullshit, but remained weak-willed enough to keep going back and forth on quitting until last year, when I decided to put them down for good.

My problem isn't quitting. When I'm in a healthy place, I can put them down easily. My problems lie with keeping myself from picking them up again, since I know they're so easy to put down. Hound hates the smell, though. Which is incentive enough for me to keep away from them. Plus, I'm finding I also hate the smell... I can always tell when someone's just come in from a smoke at work from their smell. It's not pleasant. :\

Sades wrote:Plus, I'm finding I also hate the smell... I can always tell when someone's just come in from a smoke at work from their smell. It's not pleasant. :\

Yes, that is why i Never smoked at home and could never get around being with a girl who smoked a lot.

Smoked Marlboros from about 16 to 25, usually around 20 a day with a peak of around 60 in my first year at university. Then moved onto whatever cheaper crap was going - Ronson, Sterling, Mayfair. Favourites were and are still Lucky Strike but they're not always easy to find over here. Mainly on rolling tobacco (Amber Leaf) past three/four years for financial reasons; occasionally have proper cigs for a treat (e.g. if going somewhere where rolling would be a pain in the arse) but now pretty much have to buy good ones (Lucly Strikes are about £8 a pack now...) or I'm left coughing for days afterwards.

Starting to get rather annoyed by the smell and nicotine now, though. Too many expensive toys with staining. Looking to quit in the near future as we're starting to think about getting one of those little bald shit-factories.

Interesting to see, that if you smoke 1 pack per day in average for 15 years at 5 eur per pack, you end up at roughly 25k-30k eur for this hobby, depending on actual price development and real smoking.