Do you smoke?

[Jalisciense]

If so, tell the reason, how often, how many cigarettes, which brands, and what you think about smoking.

[rmstevens2]

I don't smoke. Very bad for one's health, as well as being too expensive.

I tried smoking when I was 13 years old and made myself sick. That was a blessing, because it put me off smoking for the rest of my life.

[JonikW]

I suspect I'll be a lone voice here. I started smoking when I was eleven (my brother and I used to squander our weekly Saturday morning cinema ticket pocket money in a cigarette machine; he was just nine, and mum often confiscated our haul). I've continued through the decades since. I'll say at the outset that I’m fully aware of the health risks and am glad that my kids have got zero interest in taking it up. 

I smoke cigarettes when I'm out of the house (for the last fifteen years or so Winston Blue, usually now supplied by Polish mates or bought duty free) and roll-ups (my favourite way to partake) when I'm at home (Marlboro Gold tobacco, which is still a cheap way to smoke, even in the UK).

I also smoke good tobacco in pipes (briar and clay but only in my garden), Cuban cigars on occasion, heated tobacco (every day at some point) and in addition puff on a vape as a substitute a couple of times most days of the week. Believe it or not, I also enjoy traditional English snuff, which I buy in a little shop in Canterbury. I've got many tins of various varieties in a drawer at home.

So while I always discourage youngsters and am in no way proud of my tobacco habit or an advocate of smoking, my wife and I both are both committed smokers. I find tobacco both relaxing and stimulating and don't think I'd be able to ponder the things I like to think about without it. 

For better or worse, I assume I'll be a “votary of the divine weed” for the rest of my allotted span, however long or short that might be. Like Mark Twain, I know that giving up is easy because I’ve tried it many times in the distant past. I do limit my consumption though and am by no means a chain smoker.

[Albruic]

I used to smoke my pipe every now and then and was a big fan of Brittish and Dutch tobacco. I remember that I had this kit for cleaning and maintaining my pipe, but I left it in someone's house with some Peterson Irish Dew and never saw it again.. I eventually stopped cause I didn't like the taste in my mouth afterwards and importing tobacco was rather expensive.

[Capsian20]

No i dont smoke , but i was smoke sometimes electronic cigarette i stopped smoking electronic cigarette around 2 years

[jdean]

Black tobacco wrapped up in the thinnest paper I can find, rolled very thin.

Little but often : )

[jdean]

I don't smoke. Very bad for one's health, as well as being too expensive.

I tried smoking when I was 13 years old and made myself sick. That was a blessing, because it put me off smoking for the rest of my life.

My grandfather found out one of my uncles was skipping school to go to the snooker hall and smoking cigarettes.

To cure him of this deviant behaviour he started a conversation and then offered him one of the large cigars my grandfather smoked.
My uncle accepted and the two of them sat there smoking and chatting, after a suitably long period my uncle finished his nubbed it out and asked if he could have another. My grandfather decided he was a lost course at this point : )

[JMcB]

I smoked cigarettes for about eight years from the age of 14 to 22. Then I gave it up. Marlboro was my favorite brand but I would smoke whatever I could get my hands on, in a pinch. I also chewed tobacco (Copenhagen & Red Man) for two years. When my parents sent me away to a school, where smoking would get you expelled. Although, I dropped the habit as soon as I left that school. Then in my 30s I started smoking cigars but I stopped after a few years.  Macanudo was the brand I preferred in those days. I also revisited chewing tobacco in my late 30s but likewise, dropped it after a couple of years. It’s a little too messy. Especially when you’re in a working environment. Although, I did like owning a nice brass spittoon. I haven’t used any tobacco for 30 years now and fortunately, I’ve never missed it. From what I’ve heard, it’s a tough habit to quit.

[Running4Borders]

Smoked for 12 years and then switched to snus and then to Zyn and lozenges. Recently traveled to the city in Greece my great grandpa was from and went back to cigarettes for the first time in about 5 years, they got me maybe 2 smokes in. Went straight back to a pack a day. Delightful relapse for a while there, sunshine, patio, cigarette. Think it was Chesterfield that I was buying confusing it with Dunhill, have heard Dunhill is superior, liked Chesterfield though and also like Lucky Strike. Smoked Pall Mall mostly and whatever was maximally foul and inexpensive in college.

Plugged my raw file from Ancestry into some service I'm forgetting the name of a few months ago and got risk scores for different drug addictions, was off the charts for nicotine and caffeine. Good 2 weeks of being somewhere between grumpy and furious was all it took to quit again though. Still profoundly addicted to the lozenges.

[Gray Fox]

I smoked cigarettes off and on until I was 27 or 28. My choice of smoke were camels of various flavors. Though I did eventually switch to marlboro lights the last few years of smoking. I had tried many times to stop and finally I got a particularly nasty sinus infection which lasted for a couple of weeks. It was during this time that I finally put the habit to rest. Now, I will occasionally partake in a cigarette if I've been drinking and the mood strikes me, but its no more than what my company is willing to give up! I've never missed it except when I'm throwing back a few.. they just go so good together haha

[rmstevens2]

We always referred to those basic Camels (and similar brands like Lucky Strike) as "prison cigarettes", i.e., what inmates got to smoke.

[JonikW]

We always referred to those basic Camels (and similar brands like Lucky Strike) as "prison cigarettes", i.e., what inmates got to smoke.

That's interesting because Camel and Lucky Strike are in the premium bracket in all the countries I've smoked in on this side of the Atlantic, like Marlboro red. I used to smoke all three of those American brands in the past and enjoyed them. Conversely, the old Soviet brands, which were still going strong when you and I were in Moscow, used exclusively "oriental" tobacco varieties, which taste what I imagine smoking old rope would be like. 

Virginia tobacco (mixed with a small amount of oriental Turkish in the case of the Camels of my day) is obviously far superior in flavour, to my tastebuds at least. I grew some Virginia tobacco from seed one summer. It tasted tolerable when I rolled it into cigarettes, but I dried it purely by air rather than using the techniques employed by the big US producers. It might have been better if I'd processed it properly. Anyway, I really don't want to sound like a cheerleader and it's a mug's game of course, as I said...

[rmstevens2]

We always referred to those basic Camels (and similar brands like Lucky Strike) as "prison cigarettes", i.e., what inmates got to smoke.

That's interesting because Camel and Lucky Strike are in the premium bracket in all the countries I've smoked in on this side of the Atlantic, like Marlboro red. I used to smoke all three of those American brands in the past and enjoyed them. Conversely, the old Soviet brands, which were still going strong when you and I were in Moscow, used exclusively "oriental" tobacco varieties, which taste what I imagine smoking old rope would be like. 

Virginia tobacco (mixed with a small amount of oriental Turkish in the case of the Camels of my day) is obviously far superior in flavour, to my tastebuds at least. I grew some Virginia tobacco from seed one summer. It tasted tolerable when I rolled it into cigarettes, but I dried it purely by air rather than using the techniques employed by the big US producers. It might have been better if I'd processed it properly. Anyway, I really don't want to sound like a cheerleader and it's a mug's game of course, as I said...

Tobacco grows wild in Virginia, but it's the bitter native stuff. I understand the good tobacco was a hybrid John Rolfe (the husband of Pocahontas) created by crossing native Virginia tobacco with West Indian tobacco.

[Jalisciense]

I use to smoke Marlboro (Rarely), I try the cigarettes don't control me, that's the reason I smoke in parties (Better to be a smoker active than passive).

[rmstevens2]

I don't judge people who smoke. Certainly not! It's just something that it would frighten me to do because the health consequences can be so dire. I had a wonderful maternal uncle - great great man - who had a long term smoking habit. He was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 66 and was dead soon after turning 67. I wish he had never taken up smoking or had quit soon enough to prolong his life.