I feel sad for smokers

Thanks for sharing? I don't smoke, but I don't really care if others do. I drink, and don't exercise enough, so who am I to judge.

You doing ok, OP? You seem fragile.

Is OP the "anti-smoking troll" of DL yesteryear?

Maybe you should start, OP. You could go join them and then you'd have someone to talk to in real life.

I could care less. They no longer impose their habit and carcinogens on the rest of us.

Did you get up early this morning to be a judgmental asshole, OP?

Or did you get up early this morning to be a judgmental asshole, OP, and wanted to make sure we knew?

Some of them likely have more money than you, OP. Still feel sad for them?

I think they look cool AF. The "cool kids" looking alll ostracized and antisocial. God, I miss it.

Sorry, OP. I'll get back to you after I return from my smoke break.

Same reason alcoholics drink beer OP. It's not too hard to understand.

R5 disgusting smoker with wrinkles, grey complexion, yellow teeth, and off-putting odor

R10 with six different prescriptions just to cope with life and put in his order at Applebees.

I get it, OP. The smokers I work with always seem to have a lingering cloud of smoke around them, like Pig Pen from Peanuts.

I've been around family members who have missed things in life because they couldn't be away from cigarettes for one single minute, so yes, that seems a bit sad to me.

I do feel bad for them. It is an addiction. No judgment, it's not about me or my preferences. Just wish they weren't caught up in that net.

Just look at how popular smokers and smoking was at one time. One of the most popular activities in the country. Just look at the movies at TCM if in doubt. Smokers were hot and cool and seemingly everywhere. No plce including an elevator or an airplane where you could not smoke..

Then smokers become hounded hunted hated. Almost overnight it started to change, The activists and the scientists came together to deliver a crushing defeat.

The once popular now the new hated. Can this sort of thing ever happen again ? Just watch how BB sex pigs are looked at if we have another serious STD outbreak,

Hounded Hunted Hated

[quote] Hounded Hunted Hated

MARY!

I see them as people with a colorful past. They also tend to not be judgmental and sanctimonious. Just don’t smoke in my house or car.

I agree and also feel that way about people who eat garbage. Was just on a plane next to an overweight young woman who was shoveling down the most disgusting food. Large package of candy that she devoured. Full fat chips that she put to her mouth to finish the crumbs. Truly vile.

The biggest thing Americans can take from the cultural turn against smokers is how a major industry that lined the pockets of Washington with millions through lobbyist was brought down. The tobacco industry was one of the biggest lobbies in history and seemed untouchable, yet they were brought down. It would be a good case study for future reference.

And yet people get trashed all the time with alcohol.

Let me know how many smokers cause car crashes vs drunk drivers!

The alcohol comparison is a feeble-minded argument

we like the exclusivity and alone time

Why are people like r16 so judgy and cuntish?

R18 comparing the two actually makes a lot of sense. In 1958 smoking and smokers were popular and drunk driving was just something people did. Something people often did.

In 1958 you could be drunk underage and caught with open cans of beer while driving like gang busters on Woodward ave and get off with a verbal warning from the police,

Today that same activity is a career killer.

Smoking and drunk or impaired driving how society looks on them now vs how they were they were looked on then is like night and day.

Public heath at work

R17 Its wasn't brought down as much as it successfully rebranded through vaping. And the sickly sweer smell of giant clouds its users output, also pretty nasty.

R18 there is data comparing tobacco smoking drivers vs non smoking drivers and accidents ( controlled for age, drugs, booze, Etc)

2 to 1 more accidents with the tobacco smoking drivers vs the non smoking drivers. If anyone wonders why I assure you they never spent decades driving and smoking.

Because the American diet is the reason why people are so unhealthy, r21. No overweight person should be downing two full-size, chemical laden snacks in the span of one two hour flight. In fact, more people should speak out about this.

I find people obsessed with other people smoking more offensive than smokers. I remember back when smoking was still allowed in bars and designated sections a large group of people were at a table in the bar, smoking, chatting and drinking merrily and some guy came in with a date and sat immediately behind the large group. He immediately started loudly bitching about them smoking and making a scene. Everyone else in the bar sided with the smokers and asked why he chose to sit in the bar knowing it was a smoking area. He finally left with his date.

Didn't DL have a poster some years back ask how he could force his neighbors to stop smoking on their own property? A suburban house separated by a large fence? He got laughed off the board. The rabid anti-smokers sound like whiny little kids. I don't particularly like it but, as an adult, I know I can't force my personal choices onto others.

Wasn't there a documentary (or two?) about how the cigarette manufacturers purposely increased the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to make them more addictive? It's interesting to see older movies or tv shows where they're openly smoking in their office or the hospital. Oh the '70s (sigh).

[quote] No person should be downing two full-size, chemical laden snacks in the span of one two hour flight.

I fixed that for you. NO ONE should be downing full-size, chemical-laden snacks. No one. That shit is fucking nasty, and the people that eat Tacquis, Doritos, Cheeetos regularly (or even worse, buy them for their KIDS) are unbelievably naive about what they are putting into their bodies.

Very true, R28. It’s no surprise that colorectal cancer rates are exploding in young people.

R26 now there are no worries for you that you will be in a bar and run into a loud anti smoker demanding that the smokers in the bar stop smoking.

The state already took that issue off the table . It’s now a non smoking world even for you types that do not find smoking offensive,

[quote]When I see smokers outside their places of business, furiously sucking down a cigarette, I just feel sad.

I saw people smoking outside like that in the winter of 1986, and I told myself I didn't want to do that, so I quit in August, 1987 (after two unsuccessful tries).

[quote] R4: I could care less.

SMDH.

I grew up with hippy parents who didn't allow us to eat snacks, cold boxed cereal, sodas, candy, sugar-laden shit, etc. Every so often, they allowed us to bake chocolate chip cookies, or in summer, we might make homemade ice cream, but these were rare treats. Homegrown (or in some cases) store-bought fruit was allowed for snacking, but their focus was on whole foods as much as possible, and very little in the way of refined foods. This was back in the very late 70s through the 80s.

I, of course, hated that and them at the time, at the time time. But now I see how progressive and forward-thinking they were, and how much worse my health might have been had they succumbed to all the shitty snack and breakfast foods that exploded upon us in the 80s. I thank them now that I didn't grow up with a predilection for sweets, and in fact, tend to favor more savory foods. I will have something sweet every now and then, but it's not a need or every day occurrence like many people who have a need for cookies, chips, snacks, etc.

My state goes by county and allows the individual business to decide R30. There are still bars here with smoking allowed.

What's your issue, Gladys?

This thread’s title should’ve been: “Humble Bragging 101.”

OP, you should feel sorry for I was an abused gayling with shittyparents who were highly sensitive to all second/third hand smoke.

It was a defense mechanism that works.

People like R30 are like the peanut allergy moms demanding ALL nuts be banned in stadiums/planes because her special child is allergic. An entitled narcissist who wants the world to cater to them. Judging by his activity on this thread though, I'd say a common shit-stirring troll is more likely.

[quote] furiously sucking down a cigarette

FAGS!

(That’s what they call them in England)

Many years ago (my first job in 2003) I worked with a lovely woman- She was probably around 45- my age now- Same thing- I do know that she had MASSIVE anxiety issues, and she would be out front smoking in the freezing cold and just looking utterly miserable.

Even sadder, her mother was a life long smoker who died of lung cancer during this time period.

She was very pretty too-

We are all victims of our shitty society, corporate interests, and our own willpower. So while I do feel bad for people addicted to smoking or shit food or whatever, it’s definitely not moral judgment. I get it. We make it much harder in this country to be healthy.

Unless they are VERY old, there was no excuse for them to start smoking in the first place. Health risks of smoking were well known when they started smoking.

Yet you’ll let a stranger spit on his cock and stick it in your ass with no condom, OP.

R34 a nice way to say you live in a state that voted for Donald Trump. There are a few southern states and maybe a few out west but smoking inside virtually anywhere in the US is dying off quicker than smokers are today. Good ir bad is not the issue it’s just an —-us kind of thing, like water is wet.

No issue for me but It’s a thread about smokers and feeling bad or not for smokers. You would rather discuss baseball?

I've been around family members who have missed things in life because they couldn't be away from cigarettes for one single minute, so yes, that seems a bit sad to me.

Do you know that smoking isn't a 24 hour a day habit? Smokers don't miss out on anything. It takes a few minutes to smoke a cigarette. Shocking. You didn't know that.

[quote] crushing defeat

You do know that smoking is still legal? RIGHT?

I don't even smoke. But DAMN, you are dumb. Other people smoking doesn't have any impact on me. I'm able to live my life without trying to tell other people what to do. I don't seek approval from others, like you do. You have the mental age of a 14 yr old. That's pathetic

I do live in a red state due mainly to gerrymandering. My point to OP and the rabidly, nosy trolls is maybe just myob and don't expect the world to cater to you. Almost everyone I know smokes weed. I don't but I don't scold and judge when someone walks by reeking like a skunk.

I feel sorry for people covered in ugly tattoos and piercings.

R44 of course it’s a crushing defeat for smokers. That’s fact not a judgement,

They were once very popular and very date-able and more hirable. Now they are found standing in the rain like leppers, feet away from a building with an overhang, because the law forbids them standing any closer, and they smoke in the cold rain and wind,

This is what a crushing defeat looks like going from being a part of a popularity majority to now a hated sorrowful tiny minority paying $10 or more for a pack of cigs

That’s what a crushing fucking defeat looks like.

R47, what's your obsession with defeat? You act like you won some personal victory. You are realky weird and immature. No one looks at this issue in that light. Tobacco is still bought and sold. Smokers still date, etc. Most smokers these days don't smoke in homes or in cars. Most I know can go all day at work without a break. My co-worker has one cig at lunch. The rest of the day, no biggie.

The days of smoking in offices, hospitals and planes are long over.

Really, not realky.

What non-smokers may not know is that smoking allows me to light something on fire, stick it in my mouth, take a lovely bong hit off the cigarette, and then exhale smoke like I’m Dirty Dragon.

And that is worse for non-smokers around me than it is for me, but I am willing to hurt you. Love ya!

R47 eats the dirty assholes of strangers while smoking ditch weed.

When I see and smell smokers, I'm so damn glad I was able to quit 15 years ago. I loved the nicotine buzz, especially in the morning. I thought I'd be smoking until the day I died. Once I got through the withdrawal period using Chantix, I've never a desire to smoke again.

R47 is a disturbed weirdo. Smoking outside = "crushing defeat"? Perhaps it's an opportunity to get outside and away from the desk. Hell, I don't smoke but often join my co-worker outside. I found the cold air refreshing and bracing in the winter. Helped defeat the mid-afternoon slump.

R48 what happened to smokers is fascinating. And historical, it’s interesting from a public heath and public policy persecpective..

From nearly 50% of the country daily addicted , a serious hard to break addiction, to now where it is close to 10%. An amazing and an interesting public health success story . And done as you point out without having to make the product illegal.

Sorry you find my interest in this story so upsetting :-)

The by law min price for a pack of cigs in NYC is $13.00 the average price is closer to $15 a pack.

That price is more important to the decrease in smoking than PSAs with people talking out of the surgically made holes in their throat.

R54, you're weird as fuck. Not particularly upsetting, just weird. No normal person spends that time obsessing and analyzing things like this.

Are you Matt A? As in autistic?

Is r54 RFK Jr?

A56 Hey I did not start the thread. I am like you just shooting the shit You seem to be quite invested.

unlike you I am not the one found standing outside in the rain with co workers who are smoking as you claim you often are. You think that is not weird?

Are there other despised groups you find yourself standing out in the cold with or just the smokers?

Why did your language skills and syntax just change so drastically R58? Are you upset?

I don't smoke but I wish I could smoke a whole cigarette in one drag and then blow it into OP's face.

How specifically did my language skills and syntax change? :-) no one has ever pointed that out before.

I can see that my interest in a topic I was once paid a fair amount of money to be interested in professional has upset you for some reason.

I don’t like being called names in what should be a civil discussion so to you good night and good luck on the rest of your day.

I don't care who complains about my smoking, including my ex-wives. I will continue to light them up and fuck anyone who doesn't like it!

I don’t care if others do as long as they don’t do it in my face but it does seem to age. A lot of them horribly

I come from a family of smokers and surprisingly only one of them died prematurely from smoking related illness. My grandpa died from emphysema in his 40s. I’ve never smoked I tried a few times when I was young and there was no appeal there.

r19 is on his second 30 pack case of Coors this morning.

I used to smoke socially when I drank, maybe 4-5 per evening or after I'd had people over and was feeling ennui from the stress of hosting, I'd sit out on my balcony and smoke. Or sometimes smoke one at work on a break when stressed in the 90s. God I do NOT miss the nicotine hangovers. Worse... palpitations... ever.

I'm glad I kicked this habit around when I turned 40. Smokers are hurting themselves. I don't like the smell but as long as they're not blowing it in my face, whatever.

[quote]I do live in a red state due mainly to gerrymandering.

If your governor and senators are Republicans, they weren't elected because of gerrymandering.

I wish my next door drunk neighbour swapped tobacco for booze. At least nicotine doesn't turn a person into a raging, inconsiderate, abusive and impaired fool pissing away his health and rent money.

The man lost his medical license in Mexico due to his alcoholism. He and his beautiful wife are reduced to working in traffic control (she was also a physician as is his sister). I used to have sympathy for her but she's his biggest enabler. He's hit her at least once.

R45 many of your red state neighbors agree with you on this.

OP = Teafake

I've said this to multiple people.

I didn't quit smoking for my health. I didn't quit because of the cost (even though cigarettes are not like $12 a pack where I live).

I quit because society in general made it such a PITA to be a smoker.

You can't smoke in your own apartment. You often can't even smoke on the grounds of an apartment complex.

You shouldn't smoke in your own house or car because of resale concerns.

Even restaurants with outdoor seating don't allow it anymore.

Before I quit, my workplace banned it from the property completely. We couldn't even smoke in our cars in the parking lot. We'd have to walk/drive off property (which in the summer was brutal) to smoke, and it took 20-30 minutes minimum (it was a large office complex).

It was just too much of a pain in the ass anymore.

Since this administration, I’ve switched back to Marlboro from vaping. My life is close to end-stage with a new specialist referral every week.

I feel like I’m witnessing some real important melodrama before I die. I’m smoking, there is weed, and I have vodka.

This is quite the fireworks ending to a life.

Does anyone here remember being sent to the store to buy a carton of cigarettes for your mom?

Smokers are so fucking defensive about it because they know there is nothing redeemable about it. It is a fault of their character. It shows an utter lack of self-respect.

I thought about you when I had a cigarette and then I stopped, R74.

It’s just another slur for me. Others have done it so much better than you.

R73, yes. I remember a pack was 55 cents.

The sister of my brothers partner was a chain smoker - she could smoke a pack of cigarettes using just one match, lighting the next cigarette with the one she was finishing. It was disgusting and the hand that held the cigarette had turned orange from the nicotine.

The only beneficial thing about smoking is it gives the tobacco companies your money so they can think of other things to hook people on to keep the addiction going.

Except for a bit of weed in the 70's I never smoked. The only time I 'smoked' was when going out to the bars back in the day - my eyes would burn and my clothes smelled awful.

[quote] It shows an utter lack of self-respect.

More a lack of respect for others. I don't want to smell that shit. Plus it gives me a headache. Fuck smokers.

r73 Yes and I absolutely refused to enable her habit; even if I did attempt I'd be sent home empty handed as the legal age for tobacco purchases was 16 in the '80s raised to 19 sometime in the 1990s.

[quote]More a lack of respect for others. I don't want to smell that shit. Plus it gives me a headache. Fuck smokers.

As Fran Lebowitz noted, being offended is the natural consequence of leaving the house.

They are assholes stinking up the doorway. They should suck their cancer sticks at a toxic waste dump somewhere.

r32 I read that as well at r4. How embarrassing.

[quote] [R73] Yes and I absolutely refused to enable her habit; even if I did attempt I'd be sent home empty handed as the legal age for tobacco purchases was 16 in the '80s raised to 19 sometime in the 1990s.

As I remember, my mom would give me a note to give to the shopkeeper.

OP- I feel sad for bottoms. I just feel sad. They look so miserable, it's so unhealthy and they look so trashy-a total lack of self regard. I don't get why people are bottoms.

OP, I agree. There has been more than enough education and information about smoking over the years. Everyone is aware of the dangers of smoking, from young to old. Don't start! The government should ban tobacco. Not to mention the amount of money that it costs to smoke nowadays.

The only bit of sympathy I can offer is to recognize that drug addiction can be overwhelmingly powerful. Anyone addicted to tobacco and nicotine must get help or have the willpower to quit.

I feel that way about casinos OP. But I’m a happy smoker of 4 a day and retired.

In the early 70s the corner candy store would let you (at 9 or 10) buy a pack for your mom without any fuss - by 7th grade the “cool kids” were smoking in the schoolyard before and after school.

I pity X-ers

I know they can't help X-ing, but at a certain point, that's on them.

They could've Y-ed.

People do things like smoke, fuck, eat junk food or drink to make life easier. I don’t judge. Most smokers aren’t standing in front of you doing it. That’s just the assholes and they’d still be annoying if they didn’t smoke.

R84 I remember hearing that exact same quote said by someone in 1983. Was that you then or someone else saying that? Small world if it was you.

Maybe it’s time for self pay self insurance if you freely choose to engage in well known well established unhealthy activities that greatly increase sickness and death and out the rest of society at risk.,

After all why should tax payers pay for others activities that we all know are dangerous and expensive.

Smoking, H, crack, boozing, drunk driving, barebacking strangers, PnP, etc. etc etc.

Put the cost back on those that do not those that don’t?

r90 See OP

The IT Crowd non smoking area

The It Crowd - Smoker's Odyssey

My take as a former smoker: at least those “sad” smokers absent themselves and make sure others aren’t subjected to their smoke. I’m astounded by how much weed I get second hand when walking around many city streets. I find marijuana much more revolting than cigarette smoke. Somehow, this is above criticism and we are supposed to be OK with people with joints but not a Marlboro.

R95 Why is it above criticism ? Who says you can’t complain ?

The fact is you are deciding not to complain and instead suffer in silence or post here without signing your name. Why so afraid to speak up?

You could lead the charge to ban public mj toking if you wanted to. Or instead just complain here at the DL.

R96 Don’t post when drunk

OP: Troll

R97 don’t be a weak ass upset by others mj toking but too afraid to speak up and tell them so.

In these times, having these regularly scheduled arguments about smoking vs non-smoking seem particularly stupid.

Get a life, people. The ferocious non-smokers are particularly amusing, fighting a world that doesn't conform to their demands. Why do you bother? Do you think you're actually changing anyone's mind? Do you have a need to shame people? Are you bereft of drama in your life? Are you a scold as an occupation?

Yeah, I used to smoke. Stopped smoking in the house, then stopped in the car, then stopped in my backyard (the neighbors complained), then stopped altogether. Partially for health and partially because I hated the smell on me. When I smell it on other people I note it and then [bold]move on with my life.[/bold] Smelling smoke is not - or should not be - a life altering event as it's made out to be in these petty arguments.

I miss it. If I get a terminal diagnosis, the first thing I'll do is cash in a CD and buy myself a carton.

“ why do you bother” R100

I may be a former health professional but I have also been a smoker and still miss it. But the answer to your question is of course minds are being changed. And shame worked. Smoking went from being really popular to really hated. The no smoking zealots get a lot of credit for that

And it’s not drama ,smoking in terms of sickness and early premature death and lost productivity is still one of the most expensive issues Americans deal with or spend money on.

You care about the cost of health care in the US?

I don't feel judgment against smokers. Life sucks hard some times, and people are always looking for something to soothe themselves. When I see a young person smoking, though, I have to swallow the urge to warn them to quit before their health suffers. We all know people, often family members, whose lives were shortened by their habit One of the best decisions of my life was to quit smoking decades ago. Now if I would give up sugar and carbs and exercise more...

I don't feel sad for smokers, if allowed they would smoke anywhere, with complete disregard for those around them...oh, I'll just smoke over in this corner with the window open.

the nastiest people in the world...I see the poor, poor motherfuckers pick up the butts off the disgusting ground and try to smoke it!!! If you're in NYC, you know what I'm talking about...absolute trash. And I saw this during covid too.

Martin Amis was in the press pack for a visit to the Chancellor's office in Berlin, where no smoking was allowed. So desperate was his craving, his lifelong habit, that he was seen eating his cigarettes.

R105 not chewing cigs but learning to chew tobacco is a real art form to master. Getting that sick that first time or two often scares away the less committed.

Why? If they don't like it they can always, you know, just stop smoking.

Snort.

It's another one of those things that you see people who are always broke waste their money on. Along with alcohol, shopping at convenience stores, tattoos, recreational drugs, designer label clothes and shoes, etc.

R99 You ok?

A bit off topic but when I was younger I had a temp job working for in a county HHS office. They would have afternoon parole meetings for recovering addicts and alcoholics i.e. piss in a cup, group meetings with parents ordered to report to get their kids back from the state, stay out of jail, etc. I was looking around for a bottle of hand sanitizer and was told they couldn't keep it in the office because the meeting attendees would actual ingest it for a buzz. I was genuinely shocked as I've never been an addictive sort. I can smoke a few cigs and not touch another for 5 years. Same with alcohol. Never understood how someone could drink early in the am and go all day. It makes me fall asleep fast.

R108 Photojournalist Linda Tirado, author of the book "Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America" wrote about why she smoked despite being poor and working multiple jobs.

[Quote] I smoke. It’s expensive. It’s also the best option. You see, I am always, always exhausted. It’s a stimulant. When I am too tired to walk one more step, I can smoke and go for another hour. When I am enraged and beaten down and incapable of accomplishing one more thing, I can smoke and I feel a little better, just for a minute. It is the only relaxation I am allowed. It is not a good decision, but it is the only one that I have access to. It is the only thing I have found that keeps me from collapsing or exploding.

Her book really opened my eyes to the day-to-day struggles of surviving while poor and how it can lead to poor decision making.

The article linked below is good as an intro to the subject but her book is even better.

R111 continued

Linda Tirado was a working journalist at a protest in Minneapolis in 2020 over George Floyd's murder when a police officer shot her in the eye with a rubber bullet, which blinded her in that eye, caused traumatic brain injury, and has sidelined her from the life she once had. The City of Minneapolis gave her a settlement of $600,000.

Rabid intrusive anti-smoking crusaders = KARENS!!

A study of match.com. members found that 9 out of 10 respondents would rather not date a smoker.

The relationship between being a smoker and an incel?

Price of cigs getting you down, no one wants to date you, why not try for a new job somewhere else new and exciting ?

Just don’t try for a job with UHaul and in the 21 states that allow employment discrimination based on nicotine or tobacco use because you will not be hired..

And as a friendly aside no one should ever want to go into any job interview in any state smelling of tobacco smoke not just the 21 states that allow tobacco job discrimination. . Count me in as one who feels bad for the addicts.

Try explaining to the young 'uns that many if not most American high schools once had smoking areas where a 10th grader could grab a smoke between classes — and that probably a quarter of the student body indeed smoked.

R96, the difference (which I thought was easy to infer) was that cigarette smokers usually stand far away from others. In New York (around the train station and up 8th Avenue), Boston's Downtown Crossing, and Philadelphia (City Center) you can go blocks and still smell a lot of weed. I'm not "afraid" to complain, it's just not practical. If I'm sitting next to someone smoking a joint I have no problem asking them to move it away from me or move themselves. Years of isolating cigarette smokers have made them much more considerate about their smoke, but pot smokers? No, not so much. And have you ever criticized the super-defensive, "hey, it's legal man!" pot smokers? Insufferable.

R117 pot smoking is popular and being made legal in state after state. It’s considered a money maker for states. I can’t drive 10 mins now without passing a new pot store. Tobacco smoking is so not popular now and very few in the US now do it.

Those who started to attack tobacco smoking back in the 1960s did not take your approach of suffering in silence they did something they made lots if noise and they got results.

Maybe that’s the different in generations now , talkers who suffer in silence vs those that do something and get results ?

Marijuana stinks just as bad as tobacco. Smells like a skunks ass.