Smoking

MultiUmm · 22-07-2014 9:03pm

It amazes me that despite all the ad campaigns about how toxic smoking is there is still such a high number of young people who smoke. I know among my close friends from college nearly all of them smoke (one started this year) and I'd know a lot of people to see who are smokers as well. All of them are under the age of 25. I'm guilty of 'social smoking' myself, it seems like a great idea after a few drinks until the morning after.

The tobacco industry is far from dying, it's recruiting new customers each day.

KERSPLAT! · 22-07-2014 9:21pm

MultiUmm wrote: »

It amazes me that despite all the ad campaigns about how toxic smoking is there is still such a high number of young people who smoke. I know among my close friends from college nearly all of them smoke (one started this year) and I'd know a lot of people to see who are smokers as well. All of them are under the age of 25. I'm guilty of 'social smoking' myself, it seems like a great idea after a few drinks until the morning after.

The tobacco industry is far from dying, it's recruiting new customers each day.

Ashtray mouth and a worse hangover, never worth it

LorMal · 22-07-2014 9:48pm

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

I do. Gerry was my neighbour.

A great guy

pragmatic1 · 22-07-2014 10:03pm

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

I understand it's hard but loads of people get off them... How hard can it be? I gave them up, my mother gave them up after 20 odd years or more of smoking. My Grandad gave up after 50 odd years of smoking. I know loads who have given up, I don't understand why others can't.

I do know someone who every so often says they want to give up but when it comes to it she says she enjoys it so she stays on them.

My opinion is, whether right or wrong, that if you smoke it's because deep down you want to or somehow enjoy it. If someone genuinely wanted to give up, they would, there's plenty of help out there

Yeah I agree. If you really want to you can give them up, you can. It's all up to the individual. Same with any addiction.

But nicotine is still regarded as one of the most addictive substances known to man. It affects your brain chemistry and is like I said, right up there with crack and heroin in terms of addiction.

somefeen · 22-07-2014 10:36pm

Its all well and good knowing the affects and the health problems of smoking and the death rates but it all flies out the window when you need you get a craving.

Instead of wasting more money on these ads why not teach people how to quit and use positive messages instead of "YOUR GOING TO DIE YOUR GOING TO DIE HORRIBLY!!""

I've been off the fags now for 9 months and can say that the scare stories didnt do it. Treating every second that I don't smoke as a victory and something to be proud of did.

Dolbert · 22-07-2014 10:47pm

One area that surprised me was how much it affects fertility. For a woman, smoking between 1-9 cigarettes a day can cut her fertility in half.

The Letheram · 22-07-2014 10:55pm

RayM wrote: »

My mum saw her 46-year-old brother die from lung cancer, but it wasn't enough to make her succeed in quitting. She died two years ago, also from lung cancer. It's not like she didn't try to give up. Over the years, she must have spent thousands on various different methods, from nicotine patches to hypnosis to laser therapy. Her addiction was just uncontrollably strong. She could quit for lengthy periods, but the craving never seemed to abate. Not even slightly. If e-cigarettes had been available twenty or thirty years ago, maybe she'd still be around today.

So I have a lot of sympathy for smokers. I've never smoked, but I think I have at least some idea of how difficult it can be to quit.

Lung cancer is a devastating illness, and nothing like I ever imagined it to be. I had always assumed that the main side-effect was a really bad cough. Throughout my mum's illness, I don't think I heard her coughing at all. The metastasis was the worst part. The awful pain when the cancer spreads to the bones - pain that even the strongest painkillers couldn't alleviate.

When the cancer spread to my mum's brain, I had to arrange her medication (over 25 tablets per day) and take note of whatever painkillers she took - especially for 'breakthrough pain'. Gradually, the tablets got stronger and stronger - Tramadol, OxyNorm, OxyContin, Effentora... She had an incredibly strong pain threshold, so it was quite shocking to see her in such agony.

The direct side-effects of the cancer in her brain were disturbing too. She could no longer remember people's names. Her balance and eyesight started to go. Her ability to speak was deteriorating. It's like having someone - a relatively young person - develop dementia really quickly right before your eyes.

I think those adverts are effective, but I'd like to see an anti-smoking advert that deals with all the lesser-known symptoms of smoking-related illnesses, and the effect they have on those who have to watch a person whom they love slowly fading away.

Wow. What a great post. I really wish you could deliver that story to a room full of early teens. My deepest sympathies for your loss, but even moreso that your family had to fo through that ordeal of watching a loved one taken in such a horrible way.

shruikan2553 · 22-07-2014 11:09pm

Dolbert wrote: »

One area that surprised me was how much it affects fertility. For a woman, smoking between 1-9 cigarettes a day can cut her fertility in half.

Time to get my girlfriend into smoking! Downside is Ill have to live with the smell.

Shakespeare's Sister · 22-07-2014 11:37pm

somefeen wrote: »

Its all well and good knowing the affects and the health problems of smoking and the death rates but it all flies out the window when you need you get a craving.

Instead of wasting more money on these ads why not teach people how to quit and use positive messages instead of "YOUR GOING TO DIE YOUR GOING TO DIE HORRIBLY!!""

I've been off the fags now for 9 months and can say that the scare stories didnt do it. Treating every second that I don't smoke as a victory and something to be proud of did.

True. It's like the stubborn "rebel" deep in the subconscious will just cause people to keep smoking despite the scary warnings.
Well done on giving up.

LizzieJones · 22-07-2014 11:45pm

mariaalice wrote: »

I am watching the RTE news and in the ad brake the anti smoking ad came on, you know the own...Jerry tells us how he is dying of cancer cause by smoking, you see him with his family and he says he wished he had never smoked at the end it tells you he has died.

Do you think it make anyone give up smoking. I have never smoked and don't allow anyone to smoke in my house.

It wasn't a tv advert that made me quit smoking. My boys both had asthma and cigarettes were getting too expensive to go burning $5.00 a pack every time I wanted to buy one.

Baron Kurtz · 22-07-2014 11:49pm

NegativeCreep wrote: »

I switched to vaping, not because of that ad but around the same time it came out. People (usually normal-cigarette smoking people) love to tell me how much worse vaping is for you than smokes, it's annoying. I feel great having switched and haven't had a sore throat or shortness of breath since switching and there's no smell.

I can't understand why everyone hasn't switched.

Unregulated I suppose. Imagine if these things fasttracked some virulent malignant cancer a year or 5 down the line. Play it clever for now and try the mints/gum/cold turkey it. All it does is give you the never ending cycle of nicotine as replacement anyway. Better, maybe, but not great. I found them seriously heavy on the lungs. Gave them up too. Cigar or two whilst imbibing alcohol (as that's a toughy) but just stopped.

nocoverart · 23-07-2014 12:03am

What the Ad fails to tell us is that Gerry smoked about 60 fags a day for many a year, not the norm for an average smoker. He was a drastic case and was like a walking Sellafield TBF.

Call Me Jimmy · 23-07-2014 12:08am

As a smoker the worst thing that happens right from the beginning is fag breath. I'm lucky in that I've been alone for the last number of years, I can't imagine someone putting up with someone elses fag breath.

Fag breath.

dee_mc · 23-07-2014 12:12am

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

As a smoker the worst thing that happens right from the beginning is fag breath. I'm lucky in that I've been alone for the last number of years, I can't imagine someone putting up with someone elses fag breath.

Fag breath.

I had to wash all my scarves, they all stank of smoke

And I'd had myself convinced for the past 14+ years that I was a magical 'clean smelling smoker'. Ha! Not so much.

KERSPLAT! · 23-07-2014 12:13am

nocoverart wrote: »

What the Ad fails to tell us is that Gerry smoked about 60 fags a day for many a year, not the norm for an average smoker. He was a drastic case and was like a walking Sellafield TBF.

Ah yeah, anything less than 60 a day and you're grand...

10 or 60, you're still putting yourself at serious risk of developing a smoking related illness

goz83 · 23-07-2014 12:15am

A few if my clients have mentioned the ad. None of them have given it as their reason to quit, but it stays in some peoples heads. At the end of the day, people won't stop smoking until they want to. Any effort to encourage them to want to stop smoking is welcome though.

If the ad stops one person from taking up the habit, it's been worth it...unless that person is an evil cvnt of course :P

ardle1 · 23-07-2014 12:20am

wazky wrote: »

75% of all smokers will die.

Duracell Bunny wrote: »

100% of all non smokers will die!

Huh, 100% of all everybody will die innit :cool:

Baron Kurtz · 23-07-2014 12:23am

Attempting a sustained run or some vigorous exercise was an eye-opener for me. I've always been fairly athletic but the damage was becoming increasingly noticeable. So as another poster said, you have to make a considered choice. I enjoy competing in events and playing football etc and whatever hindered that needed to be expelled. Easy to say, but if you can form new habits, get to week 4 or 5, it gets easier. That said, I was more of a social smoker.

nocoverart · 23-07-2014 12:28am

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

Ah yeah, anything less than 60 a day and you're grand...

10 or 60, you're still putting yourself at serious risk of developing a smoking related illness

Of course, I agree with that to a certain extent. But maybe they should of used a person that died from smoking Ten a day instead then, wouldn't that further the point of how bad smoking is?

Thumpette · 23-07-2014 12:29am

I think Gerry and his family were incredibly brave- and I'm sure it hit home with some people.

My experience with smokers is that they are incredibly delusional and in denial. My Dad used to smoke 80 Major a day from he was 17 until around 35. He gave up then.

He was diagnosed last October with oesophageal cancer at age 56 and died in April. The doctors knew right away that he had been a smoker- unfortunately despite quitting the damage was already done.

One of his brothers and one of his sisters who are both heavy smokers refused point blank to accept that smoking had any part to play in his illness- and even seemed to reject the notion of smoking being at all dangerous- which I found pretty annoying. Instead they blamed sellafield, off shore oil rigs, wind farms, secret government programmes.....

There was something which was so close to home and should have woken everyone up a bit- but if people close themselves off to the reality so tgey don't have to face the painful truth of what they are doing to themselves then I'm afraid no number of Gerry's will help.

I still think he was incredibly brave- RIP

fussyonion · 23-07-2014 12:35am

I've been smoking for the past 13 years and I do enjoy it.

However, I reckon if I decided to quit, I'd do it no problem (I know, a lot of people say that), but I get up every morning at around 7am.
I wouldn't have my first cigarette until around 1pm.
That's 6 hours without a ciggie.
If I'm busy, I forget to have a smoke.

I rarely get the "urge" to have a cigarette; most times it's just habit, or I think "Oh it's been a while since I had a cig, I'll have one now."
I think the worst thing for me when I quit will be the whole "doing something".

You know, actually going outside to sit down and light up, doing something with my hands, plus I smoke more when I'm drinking.
I do really wish I never started, but I will quit and I'm going to set a date and stick to it.

goz83 · 23-07-2014 12:56am

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

I spend 15e a week on smokes
3 boxes of amber leaf and sorted (I call it a poor mans cancer, I know its a sick joke)

15e a week aint expensive and I'd say I smoke about 15 a day, you could get 30-35 out of a box easily.
So really its not an expensive habbit, and to be quite honest I love it most times, nothing like a cig with a cuppa tea, or straight after food.

Smoking can be quite affordable, and even though I really do love it, if I had the choice to go back in time and not start I most likely would.

But basicly, you only live once, sure may as well eat, drink, smoke and do the things you enjoy. Assuming were all adults in here, we are responsible for our own bodys, if I want to eat 4000 calories a day and be like a beach whale and die from a heart attack, thats my choice, if I want to drink coke all day everyday until I get diabetes, thats my choice.
If I want to smoke 40 a day I shouldnt need an ad in my face telling me I am going to get cancer, I know the risks as do most people who smoke. ITS MY CHOICE.

Now apart from that, I know alot of people who do smoke, throw theirs butts on the ground, I find that disgusting, should be a law against it.
I also always agreed about the smoking ban in pubs etc...

regards to the smell, I obviously don't notice it. But if you find it that bad, breath through your mouth.:pac:

I would say over €750 a year is expensive enough, but that's my opinion.

The ad is not just for you. And you're right. You shouldn't need it.

There is a law against people throwing their dirty cigarette butts on the ground. I believe it falls into the littering category.

Breathing through your mouth does not always disguise the smell and often leads to tasting the smoke.

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

As a smoker the worst thing that happens right from the beginning is fag breath. I'm lucky in that I've been alone for the last number of years, I can't imagine someone putting up with someone elses fag breath.

Fag breath.

Are you talking about homosexual smokers :pac:

Sorry, couldn't resist. Never understood why some people call cigarettes, Fags.

NegativeCreep · 23-07-2014 1:31am

Say if you smoked for 4 years and then quit, how long would it take for your risk of these diseases to go back down to normal levels? Or do they ever?

chrissb8 · 23-07-2014 4:21am

I would say those ads are pretty useless. Smokers if not for themselves should at least make a conscious effort to look at those around them. Do you really need that fag breaks that goes on for 15 mins at a time? Do you have to smoke right after getting off the bus with crowds around because ya know going an hour without a fag deserves an award right smack bang in the middle of a crowded place. I only ask stop smoking around people who don't, unless it is somewhere like a pub or a designated smoking area or even just go away from people! It is not a normal thing and is stupid it's accepted.

Infact I would call smokers just idiots who are weak willed so and so's who love to talk about quitting or how much they're smoking. No one cares and everyone is laughing at the fact that you're too stupid to see you're killing yourself day in and day out by smoking. I have absolutely no sympathy for smokers. I mean it is horrible to even just start smoking. You have to get "in" to smoking and get an acquired taste. You've even been given a chance by the product itself saying hey we cigs and tobacco products are horrible and even taste horrible but meh upto you. I mean alcohol you know there's an end game i.e drunkness or even drugs like weed at least I understand why people smoke it.

The ridiculous lifestyle should be enough to quit. That and the fact you are just annoying everyone all of the time. Some ad will do nothing. I do not care either if it sounds preachy. If a doctor told me you will die directly relating to alcohol or have health problems relating to alcohol I would just give it up. That's what I'm trying to say. You are directly contributing to making your standard of living and health crap. Just stupid from all angles.

Boskowski · 23-07-2014 6:50am

Sorry lad to call you on it, but typical patronising non smokers post imo.

In the cold hard light of day you're technically right but would it not dawn on you that there must be more to it than that if billions of people smoke while they know its bad for them? Easy to look down on an addiction when you don't understand it and haven't experienced it. Maybe you would just give them up if the doctor told you, maybe you wouldn't. Fact is you don't know because you're not a smoker. Smoking goes through all classes and all intellectual levels so its not as easy as saying smokers are just disadvantaged or stupid.

In any case it shouldn't worry you too much, look at it as a form of Darwinism. What with decreased fertility and increased mortality smokers give themselves a serious disadvantage in the gene pool race.

Btw just calling it out, not patronising back (I hope). I understand how it works from your angle. I'm the same with drink. I don't get how for a lot of people everything evolves around drink and how it can be difficult to just have one and what the appeal of getting locked every weekend is.

2Mad2BeMad · 23-07-2014 7:06am

Gongoozler wrote: »

All I would say to that is think about what you dying in the next three years would do to those who care about you

Sorry but anyone can die at anytime. Think about you dying in a car crash tomorrow would do to the people who care about you. You'd be more likely to die in a plane crash then the probability of just me dying in 3 years time due to smoking.

padd b1975 · 23-07-2014 7:58am

MultiUmm wrote: »

It amazes me that despite all the ad campaigns about how toxic smoking is there is still such a high number of young people who smoke. I know among my close friends from college nearly all of them smoke (one started this year) and I'd know a lot of people to see who are smokers as well. All of them are under the age of 25. I'm guilty of 'social smoking' myself, it seems like a great idea after a few drinks until the morning after.

The tobacco industry is far from dying, it's recruiting new customers each day.

This is what I constantly fail to understand.

How anyone under the age of 30 basically can ignore the well publicised health dangers, anti social aspect, bad breath etc etc and start this disgusting habit which isn't exactly in the 'one hit and your addicted' bracket.

You would have to admit it takes a certain level of stupidity to do this.

Gongoozler · 23-07-2014 8:01am

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

Sorry but anyone can die at anytime. Think about you dying in a car crash tomorrow would do to the people who care about you. You'd be more likely to die in a plane crash then the probability of just me dying in 3 years time due to smoking.

Yeah but if you die in a car crash that's your fault, that's also wreck less as far as I'm concerned. Thing is very few people give much consideration to the things they do and how they affect others. I would class continuing to eat McDonald's when you're 25stone as inconsiderate.

mariaalice · 23-07-2014 8:13am

nocoverart wrote: »

What the Ad fails to tell us is that Gerry smoked about 60 fags a day for many a year, not the norm for an average smoker. He was a drastic case and was like a walking Sellafield TBF.

While all that might be true, the level of delusion in that statement is funny, all smoking can give you cancer the other thing I have got from this thread is the amount of minimising and denial, btw I have no time for smug people who say don't smoke near me or who say its easy to give up. I have never smoked but I know how hard it is for people to stop, but don't fool yourself about the harm you are doing to yourself.

I wonder is it a protective mechanism i.e I only smoke 10 but he smoked 60 so I will be alright.

Boskowski · 23-07-2014 5:46pm

mariaalice wrote: »

I wonder is it a protective mechanism i.e I only smoke 10 but he smoked 60 so I will be alright.

yes it is.

Funny this thread of all things actually brought it right back into my mind that I'm like stankratz, I want to give them up but 'not just now'. ah feck I said and haven't smoked one since that last post last night. feels quite good actually :pac:

Smoking

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